Iowa - Drake Political Review

<h1>Majority Women, Majority Republican</h1><h6><i>What does Iowa’s female representation in Congress mean for women in politics?</i></h6>

3Aug

By Darby HolroydNo Comments

Iowa, Local

Majority Women, Majority Republican
What does Iowa’s female representation in Congress mean for women in politics?

Art by Rachel Hartley Despite the rocky history of women’s representation in Iowa, it remains one of the few states with a majority of women representing it in Congress. Six years ago, Iowans elected a woman to the U.S. Senate for the first time. Three years later, the state elected two women to the U.S. House for the first time. It’s safe to say that women’s political leadership is a new phenomenon in Iowa. Republican Joni Ernst serves as one of Iowa’s two senators. She is joined by Republicans Rep. Ashley Hinson and Rep. Marianette Miller-Meeks as well as Democrat Rep. Cindy Axne. These women sit as three of the state’s four representatives. On top of this significant representation in Congress, Iowa also has a female governor, Kim Reynolds. This female-dominated political l...

Missing: Iowa’s Sign Language Interpreters
Communication access for deaf Iowans suffers under decline of interpreters and training programs.

Art by Amanda O'Brien The interpreter training program at Iowa Western Community College in Council Bluffs began and ended with Carolyn Cool. She was a graduate of the program’s first class of young sign language interpreters in 1980. Cool immediately started her career interpreting in the legal and medical fields across central Iowa. Then, 12 years later, she returned. To live in her hometown. To work at Iowa Western. To teach new interpreters everything she knew in the same place she learned it. “It just was like the ideal job,” Cool said. “I remember saying to my husband one time, I don't know when I get paid and I don't know how much money I make because that was so irrelevant to me and I had so much fun going to Iowa Western every day.” Much of that fun was building...

The Green New Deal in Iowa
Natural disasters, clean energy and new agricultural practices. How would the most progressive environmental policy to date affect Iowa?

Photo by Austin Goode / Illustration by Lila Johnson The Green New Deal has often been lauded as a plan catered to liberal coastal elites, but not much attention has been paid to how it would affect midwestern states like Iowa. However, with climate change already rearing its ugly head, some Iowans believe the Green New Deal is essential for ensuring the state’s prosperity moving into the future. In 2019, 48% of likely Democratic caucusgoers supported the Green New Deal, according to the Des Moines Register. The Green New Deal The Green New Deal, originally introduced by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts in 2019, is a congressional resolution with the goal of tackling climate change in the U.S. The proposal calls on the federal go...