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PARTICIPANTS LISTEN TO SPEAKERS AT THE PAST READY TO RUN IOWA WORKSHOPS. THE WORKSHOPS ENCOURAGE WOMEN TO RUN FOR POLITICAL OFFICE. PHOTO COURTESY OF THE CATT CENTER FOR WOMEN AND POLITICS
Story County has achieved genderbalance, however representation statewide still stagnates By Robbie Sequeira Gannett
D
espite women outnumbering men in 90 of Iowa’s 99 counties, their membership on local boards and commissions has yet to reach 50 percent, a new report from Iowa State University’s Carrie Chapman Catt Center shows. That’s despite a 2009 law that requires gender equity and balance on Iowa’s municipal commissions, committees, boards and councils. The report, based on 2020 data, found that 14 counties — including Story — have achieved gender balance on seven appointed boards and commissions, but that the improvement in equity has been slow since the first few years after the law took effect. “Since the law came into effect, (gender-balance) has improved, both in terms of the number of women holding seats and the numbers boards that are gender-balanced,” said Kelly Winfrey, assistant professor at ISU and coordinator of research and outreach for the Catt Center. “But the biggest improvement was when the law was
enacted in 2012, and when we did our next data analysis in 2014 — and it’s still improved but it’s much more gradual.” The other counties that have met gender-balance requirements, according to the Catt Center data, are Allamakee, Clayton, Dallas, Floyd, Guthrie, Hardin, Harrison, Lee, Madison, Ringgold, Van Buren, Wapello and Winneshiek. In Iowa, if a board carries an even number of members, a particular gender cannot make up more than one-half of the total membership. For odd-numbered boards, the rule for gender balance is half minus one. The Catt Center created the Gender Balance Project to compile the data because the state does not require cities and counties to track or report gender-balance statistics. The new report shows an increase in gender-balanced boards from 59 percent in 2018 and 67 percent in 2020. Winfrey said, however, that the number of women being appointed to leadership positions on boards and commissions has not increased. FACETS | JULY 2020 | 13
