In the last two years, Iowa cities made measurable strides toward achieving gender balance on public board and commissions, according to Iowa State University’s Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics.

Between 2016 and 2018, city boards and commissions saw a 6 percent increase in the number of women represented on boards and commissions. Of the 211 cities surveyed by the Catt Center, this brings the total number of cities that have achieved gender balance on all boards to 63 percent.

“The improvements are a positive sign,” Kelly Winfrey, interim director of the Catt Center, said in a release. “It means cities are doing a better job following the law and our city government is becoming more representative.”

The Gender Balance Project launched in 2014 in an effort to hold officials accountable and to measure the effectiveness of a law passed by the state of Iowa in 2012, which requires all city, county and state boards to be gender balanced. 

In the past two years, the greatest improvements were seen on waterworks boards, planning and zoning boards, and airport boards. 

To see other data, as well as a list of cities that have achieved gender balance on all boards, visit the Catt Center’s website.