Governor Kim Reynolds has signed a bill into law that repeals the gender balance requirement for government boards and commissions in Iowa.
Reynolds said it lets anyone with a passion for service fill slots on boards and commissions at the state and local level, “so that they can be filled by the best candidates available.”
A state law passed in 1987 had required all boards and commissions in state government to have an equal number of men and women. In 2009, Reynolds was a state senator who opposed the now-repealed law that extended the gender balance requirement to local government boards.
“I believed then, as I still do now, that our focus should always be on appointing the most qualified people,” Reynolds said, “and that includes engaged citizens with a genuine interest in serving their state or local government as well as individuals with valuable experience that directly relates to that position.”
Reyonlds held a bill signing ceremony in her statehouse office early this afternoon. Guests included lawyers and a plaintiff who won a federal lawsuit over the gender balance requirement for a state commission that nominates judges. “We appreciate all of your work in helping us get this across the finish line as well,” Reynolds said.
During debate of the policy earlier this year in the Senate, Republican Senator Chris Cournoyer of Le Claire, said women don’t need an insulting system that uses gender quotas to fill board seats. Reynolds invited Cournoyer to speak at today’s ceremony.
“Our foremothers who fought hard over
many, many years to get us a seat at the table,” whether it was the right to vote, Title IX or countless other ways are smiling today,” Cournoyer said, “They got us to the table and it has been up to us to show that we belong there and we have.”
Democrats in the legislature who opposed the bill say having an equal number of men and women on a board improves discussions and decisions, plus that local involvement is often a springboard to running for public office. According to the Center for Women and Politics at Iowa State University, women occupy about a third of the seats on local boards and commissions. The center’s director says the gender balance requirement also led to men being more involved in local cultural commissions, like library boards which had typically been filled with women.