More Iowa women are running in — and winning — local elections

After feeling dissatisfied with the state of politics last year, 36-year-old Courtney Clarke decided it was time for her to step up and run for the Waukee City Council.

Incumbents typically win their seats in re-elections, but Clarke, a business professional, ousted Brian Harrison.

"For a while, I felt like I was called to do more," Clarke said. "I also have been a bit dissatisfied with the state of politics in general, and the contentiousness and sitting on the sidelines was no longer an option. I wanted to lend my voice to the effort and make sure the people I know are represented well."

Clarke is a part of a wave of women in Iowa and nationwide who are running for office. In the past month, several Iowa city councils have become majority-woman for the first time.

Dianne Bystrom, director of the Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics at Iowa State University, said the message from women who enrolled in the center's nonpartisan campaign training after the 2016 presidential election was clear: They felt the need to take action after their expectation of seeing the first female president was thwarted.

"I have not seen anything like this in my lifetime, where women's energy after a presidential election went into local-level elections," Bystrom said.

Nationwide, more women are running for office after feeling energized from the presidential election and participating in movements like the Women's March, Bystrom said.

A record number of women nationwide have announced their intentions to run for Congress in 2018, as well.

As of Jan. 31, 50 women had announced their plans to run for the U.S. Senate and 403 plan to run for U.S. House in 2018, according to Rutgers Center for American Women in Politics.

That's more than double the number of women who had indicated plans to run for Congress by that date in 2015.

In Iowa, women have defeated incumbents on their way to a variety of firsts. In Waterloo, two women ousted sitting council members on an all-male city council. Dexter elected a 26-year-old black mother in the town of fewer than 700 to its city council. A 32-year-old woman ousted a 75-year-old incumbent in Cedar Rapids. Decorah elected its first female mayor.

Several city councils across the state became female-dominant for the first time, including Ankeny, Waukee and Coralville.

The ISU center for women and politics says that, in 2013, the most recent year for which it has data, 1,006 Iowa women ran for city council seats, while 2,510 men ran.

However, while a small number of women ran, most of them won — 83 percent won their seats they ran for, though most were open or unopposed seats, Bystrom said. The success rate is on par with the 81 percent of men who won their seats.

While ISU is still collecting data from 2017 and 2015 city council elections, Bystrom said, it appears the data will show a record-breaking number of women ran for office.

"When women run, especially if they’re running in an open seat race or one where there’s not an incumbent, they have as good a chance as a man, sometimes better, to be elected," Bystrom said. "It comes down to getting more women to run for office to increase those percentages."

For 42-year-old Meghann Foster, public service wasn't anything new to her. She’s worked on campaigns and served on the Coralville Planning and Zoning Commission.

After hearing there was going to be an open seat on the Coralville City Council, she decided 2017 was the right time to run for office for the first time.

Foster won, with over 1,000 votes.

“I was so humbled,” Foster said. “It really was a dream come true for me, because I am passionate about public service.”

Iowa still has an imbalance when it comes to gender equity in elected offices.

There are 28 women in the 100-seat Iowa House and six in the 50-person Iowa Senate. Joni Ernst's election to the U.S. Senate in 2014 was the first time Iowa had sent a woman to Congress, and Iowans have never elected a female governor (Gov. Kim Reynolds took over after Gov. Terry Branstad resigned to take a job in the Trump administration).

Nationwide, Iowa ranks 28th in gender equity when looking at the state Legislature and executive positions such as governor and lieutenant governor, Bystrom said. City councils and school boards are still predominantly male as well.

Barriers exist for women running for office. One of the biggest is political ambition.

In research conducted at American University in 2013, studies of women and men who are "potential candidates" for political office, such as lawyers, business leaders, educators and political activists, shows there's a disparity between the genders for people interested in a political career.

The research gives five different reasons for the gender gap between men and women interested in a political career:

Young men are more likely than young women to be socialized by their parents to think about politics as a career path.

Young women tend to be exposed to less political information and discussion than young men.

Young men are more likely than young women to have played organized sports and care about winning.

Young women are less likely than young men to receive encouragement to run for office from anyone.

Young women are less likely than young men to think they will be qualified to run for office, even once they are established in their careers.

While the disparity is low among boys and girls, it grows once they reach high school and college. In college, the political ambitions of women decrease while men's increases, reaching a gap between 11 percent and 16 percent, Bystrom said.

Some women also report societal pressures to wait to run for office until their children are grown. The average age of women in office is typically older than men because they wait until their kids are out of the house, Bystrom said.

The other challenge for women is not seeing a representation of themselves in politics.

“Women have to be asked an average of three times before they’ll even consider it, while a man will stand up and look In the mirror and say, ‘I should be governor,’” Bystrom said.

There are reasons to view more women in office as a positive, Bystrom said. In Congress, women have historically shown more willingness to collaborate and sponsor bills with politicians from other parties.

An example is a government accountability bill sponsored by Ernst, a Republican, and Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, a North Dakota Democrat.

"Women tend to be less partisan and more collaborative. This happens not only at the congressional level, but at the state Legislature, (where) women tend to be focused more on problem-solving than men," Bystrom said. "They also tend to be less corrupt."

For Foster, there were some challenges with running for office.

Because the pool of candidates was larger and people announced their intentions to run for Coralville City Council earlier than expected, the length of the campaign increased — turning it into a six-month venture rather than two months.

Foster has five children, ages 17, 15, 12, 10 and 4. With the time spent campaigning, Foster had to spend less time with her kids.

“That was very difficult for me, because I felt, like, especially in the end, I wasn’t spending any time with my 4-year-old,” Foster said. “You’d be leaving and the kid was crying and saying ‘Mommy, I don’t want you to go.’ I think that’s unique for women running, especially.”

Clarke's children are 12, 10, 5 and 1. Particularly with a baby, she said, it was difficult to leave her children for extended periods of time to campaign.

Both women, however, said their families supported them and boosted their campaign.

"When we woke up after the election, my kids were thrilled for me," Clarke said. "No one can run for office without a support structure, and that’s something I think women do view as somewhat of a barrier with running."

Clarke said she's unsure yet if there will be any differences in policies put forward with a female-dominant city council in Waukee, but she said it's positive to have more diversity and women in leadership positions.

"I think it’s really important for people to be able to see themselves in their leadership, and if women don’t see any elected officials, it’s hard to see themselves in that role," Clarke said.

When it comes to creating policy, Foster said, her "mom skills" are coming in handy.

"Moms have a lot of experience with listening and responding and making a decision," she said. "It doesn’t mean you’re going to make everyone happy, but that’s what we do as moms."