ABSTRACT
Today’s local governments are sometimes challenged by critics who allege bias in appointment and hiring practices. Women and minorities, they charge, are underrepresented among employees and on citizen boards and commissions. By applying the logic of binomial probability distribution, local government managers and analysts can analyze the numbers and gauge the probability that their government’s current proportion of women or African-Americans or Latinos in the workforce or serving on citizen boards would occur if there is no discrimination in citizen appointments or hiring practices.
