Social service work provides very low antecedents to job satisfaction mainly due to the high stress, relatively low financial reward, and often heavy work load. The study of job satisfaction is extremely relevant today as social service providers shoulder increasing levels of need, while monies for social service budgets nationwide are cut. An understanding of job satisfaction is then essential to equip and to retain social service workers for these ongoing challenges. The purpose of this study is to determine if job satisfaction in the social services is influenced by gender and/or race. This study utilizes the Survey of Organizational Excellence (SOE) (Lauderdale, 1999) to assess the relationship between gender and job satisfaction in State social service employees in Texas. This study examines female employees' level of job satisfaction, in particular those of ethnic and racial minority backgrounds, in comparison to the level of satisfaction of male social service employees. The participants of this study were 26,301 State Social Service employees in Texas. All participants are social service employees involved in direct social service delivery. Female participants represent 75.8% of the participants (N=12,872) and males represented 23% (N=3,946). The ethnic/racial demographic breakdown is as such: 17% African American, 29% Hispanic/Mexican American, 50% Anglo American/White, 2% Asian American/Pacific Islander/Native American, and 2% Multi-racial or Other. The results of this study revealed significant differences in the levels of job satisfaction for female and male employees, as well as those of ethnic minority backgrounds. The results indicate that for the attribute of “work and personal life balance” the mean scores for women (M = 3.22, SD = 1.13) was significantly lower than men (M = 3.26, SD = 1.11), t (6504.179) = -2.21, p = .05. On the job satisfaction attribute of “opportunity” the mean difference for minority women (M = 3.43, SD = 1.15) is significantly greater than the mean of minority men (M = 3.37, SD = 1.18), t(10486) = 2.316, p = .02. Similarly, on the attribute of “pace of work”, minority women (M = 2.99, SD = 1.17) scores are significantly less than minority men (M = 3.15, SD = 1.15), t(10546) = -7.053, p = .01. This study contributes to the scant literature on job satisfaction with findings about the relationship of gender and race to job satisfaction in the social services. The results revealed that women find less satisfaction than men with their work and personal life balance, as well as, the pace of their work. Additionally, minority female employees have higher levels of job satisfaction than Anglo-American/White female employees but lower satisfaction than minority men. These results could be indicative of the theory of hegemonic masculinity whereupon even marginalized men benefit from a privileged status over women. The findings of our study may facilitate the development of effective retention strategies. These retention strategies implemented to ensure job satisfaction will be especially pertinent to the social services and to social service works face even greater challenges.