Only four of Iowa’s 99 counties have achieved gender balance this year on all appointed boards and commissions, according to the 2018 Gender BalanceProject study conducted by the Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women in Politics.

This is down from the 2016 Gender Balance Project study that found six counties had achieved gender balance. In total, just under 59 percent of Iowa’s county boards are gender balanced, an increase of only 0.28 percent from 2016.

The Gender Balance Project has been conducted by the Catt Center every two years since 2012 as a way to track the progress of a 2009 Iowa law requiring gender balance on appointed county and municipal boards and commissions. The state has required gender balance on state boards and commissions since 1987. 

The law extending this requirement to county and city boards went into effect on Jan. 1, 2012.

This year, Harrison, Jasper, Scott and Winneshiek counties achieved gender balance on all seven of the boards and commissions studied, while 15 other counties fell one board short. The percentage of boards that were balanced reached 58.64 percent in 2016, up from 49.53 percent in 2014.

Women are better represented on boards of health, which are 78 percent gender balanced, while representation on compensation boards is much lower at 40 percent.

In addition to boards of health, the majority of boards of adjustment, boards of review, conservation boards and veteran affairs boards are gender balanced. However, the majority of compensation and planning and development boards are unbalanced.

“The gender balance law went into effect in 2012, so there was likely a push to increase women’s representation on these boards soon after,” said Kelly Winfrey, coordinator of research and outreach at the Catt Center. “As time has passed, the numbers have started to plateau. And, while the state requires gender balance, there is no enforcement mechanism to ensure counties are making every effort to balance their boards. We need a renewed focus on achieving gender balance.”