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Pushing for more women in the Iowa Legislature

MUSCATINE, Iowa – A group of women wants to change the face of politics “I feel like there`s a lot of little boys in the sandbox that it`s my way or...

MUSCATINE, Iowa - A group of women wants to change the face of politics

"I feel like there`s a lot of little boys in the sandbox that it`s my way or no way and we really need to collaborate and work together," said Ann Rhinehart.

They want to see more women in the Iowa legislature. 50/50 in 2020 is an organization to push more women into politics. The goal is to have women make up 50 percent of the Iowa legislature by the year 2020.

"In Iowa, we have only 23 percent women in the Iowa legislature, women make up 53 percent of the population," said Jean Llyod-Jones, co-founder.

The toughest challenge is convincing women they can run for office.

"From what I`ve seen women tend to think they`re not qualified that it requires some kind of experience level to be ready to run and that`s definitely not true so I think having groups like this is going to change that," said Lauren Whitehead, a councilwoman in Solon, Iowa.

The group holds different events like their "Step Up" event to hopefully get more women like Rhinehart interested.

"To be honest I`m very tired of what`s going on in politics today and I`m tired of just moaning about it and not doing anything," said Rhinehart.

Even though Iowa has its first female U.S. Senator and first female governor, the group says more representation is needed.

"We`re pretty sure in the legislature women would be a really good influence but there have to be enough of them so that they can have a real impact," said Lloyd-Jones.

The organization also hosts a two-day seminar at the state capitol in Des Moines. People get to explore both the House and Senate chambers and have a Q and A session with legislative leaders and the governor.

 

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