After 10 years, Johnson County continues to comply with gender balance
Iowa’s Gender Balance Law will reach its 10th year since passing in the next few months. Many counties in the state have struggled with compliance, but not Johnson County.
Pedestrians cross Clinton Street and enter the Pedestrian Mall in Downtown Iowa City on Monday, June 27, 2016.
December 10, 2018
As the Gender Balance Law approaches its 10th year after implementation, a majority of the counties in the state have struggled to comply with the law. However, Johnson County hasn’t.
Iowa’s Gender Balance Law passed in 2009 and was put into effect in 2012. The law required specific governing boards and committees in the state to have a balance of women and men.
The reason Johnson County doesn’t have issues complying with the law is it mandates gender balance for every board and committee in the county, not just the required ones, Johnson County Supervisor Lisa Green-Douglass said.
Before the law existed, Johnson County informally had a gender balance on its boards and committees. It didn’t have a policy before the law went into effect, Johnson County Supervisor Rod Sullivan said.
After the Gender Balance Law was passed, county officials knew they were in compliance. Before that, the officials weren’t sure the county was balanced, Sullivan said. The county now works harder to stay in compliance and advertise longer for available positions on boards and committees, he said.
“Ironically, what’s happened is we’ve had a lot of women serving and not enough men,” Sullivan said.
Even with the amount of interest the county has had from women, it still tries to balance the boards and committees as best it can, Sullivan said.
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The county’s success with achieving gender balance comes from the talented and qualified people in the county willing to serve on boards and committees, he said.
The state only requires certain boards and committees to attempt to achieve gender balance, Green-Douglass said. Sometimes, even after advertising for openings on boards and commissions, the county can’t find women interested in working on certain boards. There are some boards that get more interest from a certain gender compared with others, she said.
The law states if a county has made an effort to find a qualified person for a position on the board or committee to comply with the law but is unable to, it can appoint the most qualified person regardless of gender.
After the Gender Balance Law was passed, Iowa City followed Johnson County’s lead in going above and beyond what is expected of compliance with the law.
“Iowa City chose to implement the law to ALL boards and commissions and started doing so before the effective date,” City Clerk Kellie Fruehling said in an email to The Daily Iowan.
In the last year, Johnson County has made an effort to have a larger social media presence and now has someone devoted to social-media outreach in an effort to advertise open positions, Green-Douglass said.
The Board of Supervisors has seen increased interest in applications to serve on boards and committees after increasing advertising, Green-Douglass said. It has allowed the supervisors to ensure that people all over the county know there are positions available, she said.
“We have a balance of gender in our population,” Green-Douglass said. “If we were to have predominantly male committees, it wouldn’t reflect the population. Everyone should have voices in decision-making and leadership roles regardless of gender.”
