Unbalanced Pieces

Here's some significant more information about the Ragister report regarding gender balance on county boards and commissions in Iowa (Just The Two Of Us).

The state law that mandated gender equity on all county boards and commissions was enacted last year.

The mandate does, however, offer some flexibility.

The law requires counties to make “a good faith effort” to appoint a qualified person to fill a vacancy on any board, commission, committee or council while maintaining gender balance. If a suitable candidate of the appropriate gender can’t be found after three months, the law allows officials to appoint a qualified applicant of the majority gender.

Every county that submitted data for the study had at least one gender-balanced board or commission with just a single exception, rural Hamilton County, which had none.

While much of the focus has been on the under representation of women, the Catt Center also highlighted examples where municipal boards, such as public libraries, include too few men.

It seems a wee bit silly to worry about gender specific when the issue is public service period and the scientific community is united in that fact.

Focus on upping citizen participation, when that happens and if balance becomes an issue, then it may be worth studying.