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Abstract
Women make up 70% of the U.S. nonprofit workforce, raising important questions about the existence and extent of active representation in that sector. This five-chapter dissertation uses the theory of representative bureaucracy to examine women’s issues and representation within nonprofit organizations through a feminist theoretical lens. Chapter 1 presents the relevant foundational scholarship surrounding representative bureaucracy, feminist theory, and nonprofit organizations. Chapter 2 considers whether increasing the number of women in leadership in these organizations positively impacts female executive director pay. Quantitative analysis revealed little evidence of active representation by women, and suggested disadvantages for female executive directors. Chapter 3 uses thematic analysis to examine sexual harassment policies in nonprofits, exposing them as gendered spaces that may codify barriers to the prevention and resolution of sexual harassment. Chapter 4 applies thematic analysis to parental leave policies in nonprofit organization, finding that they embrace traditional gender roles that have historically marginalized women and threaten families, center traditional family structures, overemphasize the medical aspects of pregnancy and childbirth, and privilege the organization over the employee. Chapter 5 summarizes findings from chapters 2, 3, and 4, pointing out that, even in a field dominated by women, there are still inequities in pay and gender discrimination within the latent messaging of organizational policies. Taken together, this dissertation offers nonprofit practitioners insight into creating more equitable and just organizations and encourages them to rethink the messages they may be sending in their organizational policies. Contributions to the field include an expansion of the theory of representative bureaucracy, using feminist theory to examine the impacts of patriarchal hegemony on active representation by women and considering organizational policies as a space where active representation may take place. Further study is needed to examine why women do not actively represent other women and pursue avenues to address gender inequality in nonprofit organizations.