Survey: Respondents share thoughts on gender representation in politics, policy
This coverage is from the Business Record’s annual survey on women’s and gender issues as part of our Fearless initiative. While nonscientific, we believe the results of this questionnaire illustrate current opinions about Iowa women’s equity in and outside of work. Read previous coverage here.
We asked: In the past five years, do you feel women have made significant progress in obtaining gender parity in politics?
Overall average:
Yes: 42.5%
No: 57.5%
Percentages of just respondents who identify as women or nonbinary:
Yes: 36.5%
No: 63.5%
Percentages of just respondents who identify as men:
Yes: 55.1%
No: 44.9%
We asked: What, if any, policy or legislative changes do you think would help women?
Local level:
“Create better housing opportunities.”
“Affordable child care.”
“Programs and funding for women-owned businesses, education training.”
“Eliminate DEI.”
“Better access to reproductive care, including birth control and abortion care.”
“Invest in affordable child care solutions in rural communities where child care options are lacking.”
“Many potentially helpful policies are not possible due to restrictions on local control established by the state, but anything that can reduce household costs is helpful (child care, housing, etc.).”
“Elected women need to stand up against their male counterparts, and male voters need to support the movement.”
“Maternity leave paid for everyone at a liveable wage.”
State level:
“Right to make health care decisions.”
“The strict laws on abortion are hurting women. I know women who have had issues obtaining a medically necessary abortion as a result of the current legislature and got ill as a result.”
“Require equal parental leave, and stop the abuse of maternal disability to hide paid leave given to only one parent. Pass state FMLA requirements for smaller companies and potentially more recent hires (especially for insurance at employee rates).”
“Enhanced child care support, reversal of anti-DEI policies, reversal of policies that limit local control.”
“Protections for women’s sports and spaces against predatory men, school choice, encourage women to look at the skilled trades as an alternative career path.”
“Better support for child care, reinstate gender balance for boards and commissions.”
Federal level:
“Implementing paid family leave for all parents, equal pay legislation, protections for reproductive rights, workplace discrimination laws, measures to address violence against women.”
“Reinstate Roe v. Wade.”
“Funding science and research, funding education, funding everything being slashed right now.”
“Support legislation that supports caregivers and enhances the quality of life for older Americans in the final chapter of life.”
“Support public schools and LGBTQ.”
“Stop rolling back DEI.”
“Tax billionaires instead of the middle class. Look at the tax payments based on gender; women are not in the billionaire status, so find ways that help lower- and middle-class women – when you do it, it will help all.”
“Federal student loan limits and/or forgiveness, family leave.”
2 Comments
Amanda Thomas · September 2, 2025 at 6:33 pm
Why are women and non-binary persons lumped together? If “binary” is 1) women and 2) men, then “non-binary” implies a third category (as it says in the name). It would be equally confusing to put men and non-binary persons in the same category, yet this doesn’t happen.
Macey Shofroth · September 3, 2025 at 2:13 pm
Thank you for your comment. In instances where we wanted to show the gender breakdown of commenters, we lumped together women and non-binary respondents in order to keep the minoritized responses together. Because there were only a few non-binary responses, we didn’t feel like we should create a separate category.
Comments are closed.