As we start a new decade, the Cedar Rapids Gazette published a story on New Year’s Eve looking back at the previous decade through the strides women have made in the political realm. The headline reads, “The decade Iowa’s political glass ceiling cracked,” and to be honest, we couldn’t agree more.

According to the article, the decade closed with 30% of Iowa’s lawmakers being women — up from 23% in 2010. Iowa still has a ways to go to reach complete gender parity, but when we consider where we started — in 2010, Iowa had never had a female governor, U.S. senator or U.S. representative — the progress women made is irrefutable.

The tide started to turn when, in 2014, Joni Ernst became the first woman from Iowa elected to the U.S. Senate. In 2015, Linda Upmeyer became Iowa’s first female speaker of the house.

The biggest shift in momentum came after the 2018 midterm election when women not only in Iowa but across the country made history and accomplished numerous firsts. More than 100 women were on the Iowa ballot in the 2018 midterms, with more than 80% succeeding past the primaries and into the general election.

In 2018, Kim Reynolds narrowly won the race for governor, beating Democratic challenger Fred Hubbell, to become the first female governor elected in Iowa. Women also made significant gains in the Iowa House of Representatives, capturing nine additional seats.

Abby Finkenauer, a Democrat from Dubuque, finished about 16,000 votes ahead of Republican 1st District Rep. Rod Blum. Finkenauer joined Cindy Axne, the winner in the 3rd Congressional District, to be the first women from Iowa to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives. Additionally, a record 35 new women won House seats in 2018, beating a previous high set in 1992.

And the momentum doesn’t appear to be letting up anytime soon. USA Today says 2020 is poised to become yet another Year of the Woman. Besides the four women running for president, we’ll see two types of female candidates in 2020 — those who ran previously, lost and immediately got back in the game, and those who never thought they would run for office until they saw another woman like them capture a seat and open a door for them.

USA Today puts it simply: Women candidates no longer consider themselves a novelty, and many are realizing they can run for office and they can make a difference.