By Iowa Sen. Claire Celsi It’s no secret that despite progress in equalizing gender-based child care roles, women are still primarily responsible for locating and facilitating child care arrangements for their children. When those arrangements fell apart during the pandemic, women were more likely to stay home with kids who Read more…
By Jodi Selby, vice president – senior risk operations and compliance manager; and Jayme Fry, vice president – commercial relationship manager, Bankers Trust When you think about career development or professional development opportunities, what comes to mind? Most often it’s trainings, conferences, professional organizations and master’s programs. But when you Read more…
A conversation with a former and a current nonprofit executive director on making space for women of color in leadership By Emily Blobaum, Fearless editor On Sept. 2, 2020, Laurie Schipper addressed a two-page letter to Iowa Coalition Against Domestic Violence board members. “It has been a challenging and reactive Read more…
One year since the start of the women’s recession, hundreds of thousands of moms have been forced to leave their jobs — and grapple with the consequences. By Chabeli Carrazana | The 19th Editor’s note: This story was originally published by The 19th, a national nonprofit news organization that focuses Read more…
By Emily Blobaum, Fearless editor Dr. Patricia Kallemeier is rarely seen around the DMOS Orthopaedic Center office without her white coat. Yes, she wears it because it has deep pockets and keeps her warm. But as one of three women out of a team of 30 doctors at DMOS, she Read more…
By Holly Elbert, Partner and Mechanical Engineer, BBS Architects | Engineers If you would have told my 16-year-old self I would be living in Ames and working in Des Moines at 42 years of age, I would have said, “No way!” Growing up in Des Moines, I was convinced I Read more…
By Angelina Hemphill My experience in Scouts BSA has been an incredibly irreplaceable opportunity. I began getting involved with the program long before I even realized. As a younger sibling going along on family events and outings, I quickly picked up many skills and got very much involved. Once I heard Read more…
By Emily Blobaum, Fearless editor Last year, Olivia Samples had a dream of starting a conference around Black maternal health. Samples, a nonbinary Des Moines-based doula who serves Black and queer families, decided the conference would uplift the positive things happening in the community. It would center Black birthing people, and Read more…
By Emily Blobaum, Fearless editor When Amanda Jones found out she was pregnant in 2018 at age 25, she was surprised. She and her fiance, Aaron, had been dating for 1½ years and were both working as servers in Longview, Texas — Amanda at Cheddar’s and Aaron at Buffalo Wild Read more…
By Melissa Vine | Executive director, Beacon of Life Barriers for women and nonbinary folks can be systemic, such as earning 82 cents on the dollar for every man, or they can be individual acts of discrimination. The systems in place support the continuation of individual acts of discrimination because Read more…