The Iowa House passed a bill on Monday that would eliminate gender-balance requirements for boards, commissions and councils in Iowa. Senate File 2096 passed on a party-line vote as Republican State Rep. Jane Bloomingdale pointed out a recent district court decision that ruled the gender-balance requirement is discriminatory and violates the equal protection clause.
Democrats, however, disagreed. Democrat State Rep. Adam Zabner said getting rid of the gender-balance requirement makes Iowa’s boards, commissions and councils less representative of the people of Iowa.
“Part of how we do that is to make sure that they have gender balance,” Zabner said. “The best person for a board is the one who makes it representative of the state of Iowa.”
Zabner added that the exemption in current code, which eliminates the gender requirement if a qualified person is not found within 90 days, provides an avenue to ensure boards and commissions are full.
Democrat State Rep. Elinor Levin spoke against the bill as well. Levin said the only reason to get rid of the requirement is to make sure fewer voices are heard.
Levin said fewer voices and fewer individuals will have the opportunity to serve on boards, commissions and councils because of the proposal. She said men will make up the majority of people on boards, commissions and councils because they have the “loudest voices” in Iowa.
Democrat State Rep. Beth Wessel-Kroeschell said the state just celebrated Iowa women’s basketball player Caitlin Clark last week. Yet, Wessel-Kroeschell said, without government mandates affording opportunities for girls in sports, Clark wouldn’t have had the opportunity.
“To attain equality, those who have the power must share it,” Wessel-Kroeschell said. “However, those who have the power struggle to give it up.”
Wessel-Kroeschell said she hopes nobody in the Iowa House would think overturning Title IX is a good idea, comparing that idea to the proposed legislation.
She finished by claiming the bill would take Iowa backward.
Bloomingdale closed the debate by noting much of what the Democrats talked about was from 40 or 50 years ago.
“These are antiquated laws,” she said. “We don’t need gender balance. This isn’t about men, it’s not about women — it’s about gender balance. It’s unnecessary. Gender balance often causes us to eliminate some of the most qualified candidates and that’s the last thing we want to do.”
