During my travels over the weekend I missed a very important front page offering in Sunday’s Sioux City Journal by Bret Hayworth, “Wanted: Women Lawmakers.” No, there isn’t much information in the article that regular EE readers won’t already know, but it is always good to see reporters and news outlets outlining and reinforcing the issue. (Note, that statement isn’t intended at all to be a slam toward Bret, who has reported on women in politics specifically previously and hit-and-miss in several peripheral news pieces.)
In November, voters will fill three positions on the Sioux City Council, and 11 are seeking the positions.
None of the 11 is a woman.
Women comprise 50.8 percent of the 307 million national population and 50.6 percent of Iowans are female. But 89 years after getting the right to vote — Women’s Equality Day was commemorated Thursday — it’s a man’s world in tri-state elective bodies.
Roughly one in five lawmakers in the tri-state legislatures are women, which has been the norm the last decade. In the South Dakota Legislature, 21 of 105 members are women. In the Nebraska Unicameral, 10 of 49 senators are women, although none represent northeast Nebraska. In the Iowa Legislature there are 34 women among the 150 legislators…
Don’t miss these tidbits at the bottom of the article:
- None of the five Sioux City Council members is a woman.
- None of the five Dakota County Commission members is a woman.
- None of the five Union County Commission members is a woman.
- One of five Woodbury County supervisors is a woman.
- One of six Sergeant Bluff City Council members is a woman.
- One of the nine South Sioux City Council members is a woman, Mayor Sandra Ehrich.
- Two of the seven Sioux City School Board members are women.
- 10 of 49 Nebraska Unicameral members are women.
- 21 of 105 South Dakota Legislature members are women.
- 34 of 150 Iowa Legislature members are women, 25 in the House and nine in the Senate.
- 24.3 percent of state legislators nationally are women, an all-time high, as 1,791 women serve among the 7,382 seats.
