Iowa bills itself as being a great place live, but a report out today says Iowa’s only an average place for -women- to live. Suzanne O’Dea Schenken is chairwoman of the Status of Iowa Women report steering committee. She says she’s very dissatisfied with Iowa’s national rankings. While Iowa ranks 4th in the nation in terms of the percentage of women who are registered to vote, O’Dea Schenken says Iowa’s still never sent a woman to Congress nor has it ever had a woman Governor. Also, the report says Iowa has a high number of women working but they’re not paid well and few are managers. She says they’ll be calling on state leaders in the public and private sector to see what it will take for Iowa to become “the excellent state for women.” The report was published by the institute of Women’s Policy Studies in Washington D.C., a nonpartisan, nonprofit scientific research organization. O’Dea Schenken says Iowa’s rankings are all in the middle of the road. In terms of political participation, Iowa ranks 25th in the U.S. In employment and earnings, we’re 20th. For socio-economic autonomy, we’re 21, and for health and well-being, Iowa has a B-minus. O’Dea Schenken says Iowa needs to strive for more. She says this is Iowa. a state that’s touted as a great place to live, but it’s not a great place for women to live.She says “we need to be the best in the nation, not average.”
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