On Wednesday afternoon a small but mighty group gathered in Marion to begin statewide discussions on the plight of women, the challenges facing organizations that serve women and the legislative targets and goals that will soon be developed by the Iowa Commission on the Status of Women.
The meeting, organized and hosted by the state agency, marked the first time in roughly 30 years that public hearings were held outside of the state's centralized metro area. Next week the Commission will continue public hearings in the cities of Urbandale and Storm Lake.
What may come as a surprise to those who have not sat in on such meetings is that abortion -- that hot-button issue that seems to emerge during each election season -- was not a topic of discussion. Those who attended the meetings -- representatives from the Iowa Department of Corrections, the Domestic Violence Intervention Program, the Iowa Policy Project, Five Giant Steps, the Iowa Coalition Against Sexual Assault and the Iowa Coalition Against Domestic Violence among others -- were instead fixated on the kitchen table issues that adversely affect women in Iowa. This is not to say that women's health, including reproductive health, was not a concern among those in attendance. It was just that this group of women and one man, Commissioner Tom Carnahan of Davenport, understand that reproductive health is just one piece of the puzzle when it comes to women's issues.
Robin Robinson, project manager for Five Giant Steps, provided the Commission with information related to early childhood development that was specific to Linn County. This project, which was born from the Cedar Rapids Area Chamber's and the Cedar Rapids Community Foundation's Fifteen in 5 initiative, focuses on the area's youngest residents.
"[Five Giant Steps] is an information conduit and we are responding to current needs, such as in relation to the flood recovery efforts in this area," Robinson said.
Robinson presented the Commission members and other meeting participants with printed documents outlining the current state of child care programs in Cedar Rapids and Palo following the June floods. The 2008 floods, according to those documents, affected local licensed and registered child care settings that serve a total of 1,547 children. Of that total amount, 32 percent are child care settings that had major flood damage and have subsequently closed. To date, it is uncertain if these providers will re-open and again service the community. An additional 16 percent also suffered major damage, have not yet restarted operations, but plan to be operational at some point this fall.
Flooding also impacted services being offered by the Domestic Violence Intervention Program, which serves Cedar, Iowa, Johnson and Washington counties, as well as the Cedar Rapids-based Waypoint Services, according to Kristie Fortmann-Doser, DVIP executive director. The most pressing need this organization has going into the 2008 legislative session, however, is monetary.
"Since 2002 nine dual -- domestic violence and sexual assault -- programs have closed or been forced to merge with other programs in state because of lack of funding," Fortmann-Doser said. "During a time when DVIP has seen a nearly 100 percent increase in services in the four county area we serve, the program has lost roughly $140,000 in funding from the state. These monies in the past have been offset through the Iowa Attorney General's Office, but it is our understand that offset will no longer be available."
Without the offset and while facing further federal and state funding cuts, the program is facing a potential 41 percent funding loss.
The Commission was also given a glimpse into Iowa wage equity from Beth Pearson of the Iowa Policy Project. Despite women comprising nearly half of the state's workforce, according to Pearson, disparities persist between the genders.
"For instance, although women in Iowa are more likely than men to receive a post-secondary education, they are also more likely to be in poverty and to earn a lower wage than male peers," Pearson said, citing her organization's recent study on women and the economy.
She recommended the Commission look at policies that would provide paid family leave for women in the workforce.
One of the problems outlined by many in attendance is that women seeking services in Iowa (as well as many women incarcerated in Iowa) have dual barriers. For instance, not only may a woman be a victim of sexual violence, but she might also be a substance abuser. A woman who is earning less and trying to work her way out of poverty might be hampered by problems associated with finding and affording quality child care or transportation to a higher paying job. In this way, many of the issues surrounding the betterment of women as a whole are multifaceted and don't lend themselves to single solutions.
The Iowa Commission on the Status of Women will continue to host the public hearings and then will develop their legislative priorities for the 2008 session.
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