Gazette image ignores women’s contributions

As a founding member of the recently formed non-partisan organization called 50/50 in 2020, I was disappointed in the Monday Gazette cover photo depicting the “political tug of war.”

The 50/50 in 2020 mission is to achieve political equity for Iowa women by recruiting, training and mentoring women in sufficient numbers so that by 2020, Iowans will have elected women to fill 50 percent of the Iowa Legislature, the Iowa delegation to the U.S. Congress and office of governor.

Hillary Clinton was a viable presidential candidate in the last presidential election, and Sarah Palin is expected to be one in the next. And yet your photo would have us believe that the political tug of war for candidates is still a “boys only” game.

Iowa women make up 53 percent of Iowa's registered voters and turn out to vote in higher percentages than men. But only 23 percent of the seats in the Iowa Legislature are held by women, and Iowa has never elected a woman governor nor sent a woman to Washington as a U.S. senator or representative - a status we share with only one other state in the entire country: Mississippi.

Women of Iowa bring a wealth of experience, education, common sense and hard work to the political arena. Political equity is a matter of fair representation and an accurate reflection of society as a whole.

Your photo didn't measure up to the contributions women have made and will make.

Lee R. Clancey

Cedar Rapids