New law aims to get more women on boards, commissions

The good news: The Iowa Legislature created hundreds of jobs for women. The bad news: The hours can run long and late, the work is often tedious and may be controversial, and pay is low or non-existent.

Don't let that discourage you, says Lt. Gov. Patty Judge, who pushed for a new law that requires all local boards and commissions have nearly equal number of men and women.

The law, adopted this year and effective in 2012, is similar to a state requirement for state boards and commissions. It does not apply to elected offices.

Women are woefully underrepresented on Eastern Iowa city boards and commissions, a Gazette check shows.

Web site lists show the male-female split on city panels is 61 percent to 31 percent in Cedar Rapids and 59 percent to 41 percent in Iowa City. In Coralville, women hold about one-third of the positions and in Marion, they make up one-fifth of city panels.

A spot review of area counties found women make up 20 percent of all of the board and commission members in Benton County and 21 percent in Delaware County. In the city of Manchester, women held about 15 of 73 positions.

Delaware County Supervisor Shirley Helmrichs is trying to change that and welcomes the legislative prodding. Delaware County had one of the better male-female board ratios in an Iowa Commission on the Status of Women survey: women make up 40 percent of the positions on four key boards the commission examined.

That's not good enough, Helmrichs said, “but it's way closer than it was 10 years ago.”

The county board is appointing women as fast as appointments come up, she said. “If they're able to come to meetings and equally qualified, they get appointed.”

Helmrichs conceded, though, it's often hard to find anyone willing to serve: “There's not much competition for these appointments.”

The Commission on the Status of Women survey found that although women outnumber men in 90 of the state's 99 counties, just 18 percent of the members are women on county boards of compensation, planning and zoning, condemnation and adjustment.

The commission found women accounted for 27 percent of the seats on those boards in Johnson County and 22 percent in Linn County.

“Stretch the comfort zone a little bit. Try it,” Judge recently advised women. “I think there are so many talented women out there that just need a little encouragement to step forward, and I think if they do the rewards to their community and to the state will be immeasurable.”

Rachel Scott, the Commission on the Status of Women's division administrator, said the new law's goal is “better representation of the community.”

Dianne Bystrom, director of the Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics at Iowa State University, said Iowa will be the first state in the country to require such gender balance on government boards and commissions. “Hopefully, it will have some benefits to Iowa in getting more women to not only serve on boards, but to run for office as well,” Bystrom said.

It will take more than a law, however, to achieve gender balance, said Allen Kemp, executive director of the Iowa League of Cities. He noted that women outnumber males on boards for libraries and human services and men dominate veterans commissions and licensing boards for plumbers and electricians.

In Cedar Rapids, for example, women hold a 6-1 advantage on the Arts Council, and 11 men and no women serve on the Construction Code Review Board.

“There's nothing that makes one gender more beneficial than the other” on those boards, Kemp said. “It's been cultural.”