Women In Iowa Politics: Parts 1 to 5

In Billy Wilder’s terrific 1948 romantic comedy, “A Foreign Affair,” actress Jean Arthur, who died in 1991, played a character that has yet to exist in real life: an Iowa congresswoman.

Recently, in a five-part series for Iowa Independent.com, I examined the cultural, social and political reasons by this awfully embarassing fact: Iowa has never elected a congresswoman or a woman to the U.S. Senate or governor's mansion.

It’s interesting to watch this movie in 2007, to see the casual cigarette smoking in all places, the cruise-ship sexism of the Americans in Berlin, the antiquated speech and other cultural relics — and then realize that the back story for the marquee character is more progressive than anything that actually has happened for women in Iowa politics in the last 59 years.

Here are links to the five-part series:

1. Part 1: 1948 Movie More Progressive Than 2007 Iowa.
2. Part 2: The Hillary Question.
3. Part 3: Could 6+6=0?.
4. Part 4: Smiling Without Looking Stupid.
5. Part 5: The Woman Who Should Be First In Iowa.