Gender equity mandate for city boards and commissions effective Jan. 1

All five members of the current Cedar Rapids Board of Adjustment are men. Four of the city's five Board of Ethics members are women.

But, come the new year, such gender congruence on city and also county boards and commissions will be in violation of Iowa law.

Starting Jan. 1, those appointive groups must have a balance of male and female members, or as close as possible for groups with an uneven number of members, according to the law that Iowa legislators passed in 2009 requiring compliance by 2012.

Only after a community makes a “good faith effort” for three months to find a volunteer of the correct sex will it be let off the hook and allowed to maintain a lopsided board, according to the law.

“The intent is to provide opportunities for women at the local level,” said Rep. Mary Mascher, D-Iowa City, who introduced the bill nearly three years ago.

Local boards can serve as launchpads to more influential political posts, she said. Iowa is one of two states - Mississippi is the other - that hasn't sent a woman to Congress or elected a female governor. “We view this as an opportunity to get women involved in running for political office,” Mascher said.

Critics say the new law has no teeth and ask who defines “good faith effort” or decides whether a city or county has made one. Mascher conceded that there are no specific sanctions.

“But I don't think any county will want to be out of compliance," she said. "If anything, it will be a black mark for them, and they don't want that.

Critics also say some communities, especially those in rural Iowa, don't have a pool of diverse candidates qualified to serve on all its boards.

That's no excuse, Mascher said. “More than 51 percent of the population is women, and women volunteer in larger numbers than men do,” she said. “It could be a challenge in some areas, but it just means they might have to go out and ask women.”

Progress is slow

The law was drafted to take effect three years after its approval to give communities time to get into compliance, Mascher said. Some have done that, but others have work to do, said Christopher Larimer, University of Northern Iowa associate professor of political science.

Larimer began studying Iowa's boards and commissions after the law's passage to determine what it will take to achieve balance. He surveyed groups in 20 cities of varying population in all of Iowa's congressional districts, including Iowa City and the Cedar Rapids area, and found 21 percent more male members than female and 63 percent more male chairs than female chairs.

He also reported hearing little discussion about the new gender requirements.

“When we started our observations in 2010, they were still not talking about the law,” he said. “It's only been in the last couple of months that we've heard them saying, ‘We need to figure out how to be gender balanced.'”

Some groups - like historic preservation and parks and recreation boards - naturally draw a balance of male and female applicants, Larimer said. But groups like library boards, which attract more women, and planning and zoning boards, which draw more men, face what Larimer called “serious issues.”

“And there is no enforcement mechanism,” he said. “There is no gender police car that is going to be driving around the state to count the number of men and women on a board.”

Also, groups that currently are lopsided, like the Board of Adjustment in Cedar Rapids, won't have to make immediate changes. “It could be two to three years before you really see balance,” Larimer said.

Efforts in the Corridor

David Lodge, chairman of the Cedar Rapids Board of Adjustment, said this is the first time in years his group has been without a female member. He doesn't think striking a balance will be difficult.

“I think our council is very very good about striving for gender equality,” he said. “I would assume there was a lack of applications for that particular board.”

[pullout_quote credit="Rep. Mary Mascher, D-Iowa" align="left"]“But I don't think any county will want to be out of compliance. If anything, it will be a black mark for them, and they don't want that.”[/pullout_quote]

The Cedar Rapids City Council passed its own resolution in 1993 giving priority to maintaining gender, ethnic and racial balance on boards and commissions. Mayor Ron Corbett said the council is committed to that goal, even if it takes additional recruiting.

“We are just going to have to work harder on some of the boards that we don't get applications from women to be on,” Corbett said.

Most of Iowa City's boards and commissions have been balanced in anticipation of the new law. Even the city's seven member planning and zoning board - which commonly draws more male interest - has four female members.

“We knew the law was changing,” Iowa City Mayor Matt Hayek said, “so we decided to get in front of that by implementing the gender balance requirements last year.”

Iowa City set up a new template for filling open board and commission slots, Hayek said. Now, when a seat becomes available, the city considers only applications from the less represented gender for 90 days.

“And many of our commissions generate significant interest from both men and women,” Hayek said.

Communities with fewer women involved in the political arena might need to work harder to comply with the law, state officials said.

But that's the idea. Danielle Plogmann, spokeswoman for the Iowa Department of Human Rights, said she doesn't expect every board to be into compliance next week but is hopeful for a culture shift over the next few years.

“The goal is to move in that direction,” she said. “Any movement in that direction is a move in the right direction.”

GENDER BALANCE

In a 2011 survey of Iowa boards and commissions:

• 20 cities
• 50 meetings
• 165 board and commission members were men
• 136 were women
• 31 men held position of chair
• 19 women held position of chair

Source: “Assessing Gender Dynamics in Local Government” study

IOWA FEMALE LEADERSHIP

• 32nd: State's ranking for female representation at the state level
• 21.3 percent of the state's legislators are womeN
• 42 male senators -- 8 female senators
• 76 male representatives -- 24 female representatives

Sources: UNI political scientist Christopher Larimer, Iowa General Assembly