Women are more likely to lead local governments in small, rural communities than in more urbanized areas, Nathan Lee reports for local-government research outfit CivicPulse. Nevertheless, fewer than one-third of local governments with more than 1,000 residents have appointed women to top roles, though women make up 47 percent of the U.S. workforce. How does your community stack up?

Women are most likely to lead the smallest towns: 38% of communities with a population of 1,000 to 5,000 are led by women, compared to 27% in communities of 5,000 to 10,000, Lee reports. Women are least likely (21%) to lead communities with 50,000 to 100,000 residents. The share of women in such roles has been increasing by less than 1% per year, meaning the nation as a whole won't reach gender parity among local government leaders until around 2048.

Read the full article about women in rural governments by Heather Chapman at The Rural Blog.