DES MOINES, Iowa – Despite a 2012 Iowa law requiring gender balance on county and city boards, the ratio of men to women serving in those offices hasn't evened out, and a new report says improvement has mostly stalled.
The research from Iowa State University shows that only four of Iowa's 99 counties have achieved gender balance on all their appointed boards and commissions.
Lead author Kelly Winfrey, an assistant professor with the Greenlee School of Journalism at Iowa State, says those four counties – Harrison, Jasper, Scott and Winneshiek – managed to balance the numbers of women and men on all seven of their boards and commissions.
"In 2014 and 2016, we saw some big improvements,” Winfrey states. “And then this time around, very small improvements – and in some cases, there were actually fewer gender-balanced boards than there were the last time."
The data was collected over a six-month period from late 2017 to early 2018. Women now make up 34 percent of board members and 24 percent of board chairs in Iowa counties. But that's up only 1 percentage point in both categories from 2016.
Winfrey says the highest female representation is on boards of health, with 78 percent showing gender balance.
The Iowa Department of Human Rights says women make up more than half of Iowa's population and outnumber men in 90 of 99 counties. But women have historically been underrepresented in the areas of local government that make economic decisions.
Winfrey says in some cases, there aren't many women applying to serve, although some counties make it easier than others to find openings and learn about the application process.
"Part of the gender-balance law is that in appointing these boards, there's a responsibility to try to recruit more women,” she stresses. “And that's something I think that there's not enough of as well, is just trying to increase your applicant pool so you have more women to choose from."
Overall, the report found nearly 59 percent of boards and commissions statewide are gender balanced. But it notes most of the progress was made between 2014 and 2016, and appears to have stalled since then.
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State Rep. Susie Lee - D-Las Vegas - said she wants women in Nevada and across the country to wake up, as she contends far-right extremists are wanting to restrict in-vitro fertilization and other assisted reproductive technology.
Lee joined her Democratic colleagues in calling for the passage of the Access to Family Building Act, which would establish a legal right to IVF and other services - overriding the state's effort to limit or ban access as was achieved in Alabama.
As someone who used IVF to have her own family, Lee said she feels like it is an important piece of legislation.
"I feel that any Republican who says we support IVF should be signing on to that," said Lee. "Instead, what we've seen are these non-binding resolutions. Well, if you really believe that women should have a right and families should have a right to pursue and build a family, then sign onto the bill."
Lee said only one House Republican has signed on to support the Access to Family Building Act.
In the Silver State, a coalition of reproductive rights groups have launched an effort to place an amendment on the November ballot to safeguard abortion rights in the Nevada constitution.
Organizers say they'll also aim to use frustration over the recent Alabama ruling to garner support for their ballot measure.
Alexa Solis is deputy director for the nonpartisan and nonprofit organization called Planned Parenthood Votes Nevada.
She said while it is too early to say what the Alabama decision means for IVF as a whole, she says we live in a world where people travel to states like Nevada where abortion is legal.
"So if there were more rulings or legislation or other actions that would take us in the direction of this Alabama decision," said Solis, "you could see a world in which people are once again forced to travel for care that they should be able to get in their home state."
According to a recent CBS News-YouGov poll, an overwhelming majority of Americans believe IVF should be legal.
The poll was conducted following Alabama's court ruling which ruled that frozen embryos should be considered people.
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Nearly 80% of California women age 40 and older say they are highly motivated to vote, according to a new survey from AARP.
Researchers for the new "She's the Difference" California survey polled 1,600 women and found many are highly concerned about political divisions.
Kate Bridges, senior research adviser for AARP, said older women are an influential voting bloc.
"Not only are they sizable in number, but they consistently vote," Bridges pointed out. "In the 2022 election, they cast a third of the ballots, while only making up about a quarter of the full electorate."
Survey respondents' top issues, in order, are threats to democracy, voting rights, jobs, education, political division, and inflation. Also of high importance are gun violence, election security, crime, housing costs, abortion, racism, immigration and climate change.
Lucia Del Puppo, senior vice president of Los Angeles-based FM3 Research, reported almost half of women said they are less financially secure than they expected to be at this age and they want elected officials to focus on protecting Medicare and lowering the cost of living.
"The things that were most helpful were lowering the cost of food, protecting Social Security, lowering the cost of utilities, decreasing taxes, and lowering the cost of health care."
The survey found if the election were held now, 53% of respondents would favor Democrats, 29% prefer Republicans, 4% would go with another party and 13% are undecided. Among those survey, 92% said a candidate's values are the most important criteria when deciding who gets their vote.
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The state has plans to demolish 26 Wyoming State Hospital buildings in Evanston, but some local residents believe the site, which dates back to 1886, is an important part of the town's cultural and historic fabric and should be preserved.
Vickie Fruits, a retired Wyoming State Hospital employee, worked for 37 years at the facility, which treated patients with mental illness. The hospital was the town's largest employer, and she said the majority of workers were women who played a range of roles, including some not traditionally held by women at the time.
"Registered nurses, LPNs, 'aides' back then but eventually they had to be certified nursing assistants, they would be in housekeeping, the cafeteria, social workers, doctors, quite a few female doctors," Fruits recounted.
The hospital still operates in a consolidated newer building. Once a large residential facility with up to 600 residents at a time, it mostly offers outpatient services today. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003. The Wyoming Department of Health has said the buildings are old and beyond repair, and could begin demolition as early as July of this year.
Proponents of preserving the campus pointed to feasibility studies showing repurposing buildings would cost about three million dollars less than demolition.
Jim Davis, chair of the Evanston Historic Preservation Commission, said the architecturally significant brick buildings are still in good shape, and could be turned into housing and other uses to fuel the local economy into the future.
"When the buildings were occupied by the state, there were full-time electricians, full-time carpenters, full-time painters," Davis explained. "The buildings have stood the test of time and have been well taken care of. And they can be repurposed."
The 110-acre campus sits atop a hill overlooking town, and was designed to aid in patient recovery. There are expansive lawns and shade trees, and there was once a lake where residents could go fishing. Fruits added the hospital was also a model for self-sustaining communities.
"When I first started up there, there was the post office, there was a bowling alley, there was a tennis and a basketball court," Fruits recalled. "We had a dairy and garden. We pretty much supplied all of our own food."
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