When Jean Lloyd-Jones was a new mother, a friend recommended that she hire a babysitter for one afternoon a week and take time for herself to go to the library, the museum or just take a walk. She decided to spend that time at the local meeting for the League of Women Voters.
“It was so fascinating. The women were so intelligent and so well informed, and I just loved it,” Lloyd-Jones said.
It was the start of her life in politics. She became the state president of the League of Women Voters, serving from 1971 to 1975.
“I used to say it was a 60-hour week and no pay,” Lloyd-Jones said of her volunteer position.
Minnette Doderer, a trailblazing politician and the first woman to serve as the president pro tempore of the Iowa Senate, asked Lloyd-Jones what her plans were after her time as state president with the LWV ended.
“And I said, ‘Well, I'm going to go home and alphabetize my spices,’” Lloyd-Jones said. “[Doderer] said, ‘Why don't you run for the Legislature?’ and I said, ‘Oh, I couldn't do that, I'm not qualified.’”
But Doderer invited Lloyd-Jones to clerk for her, and after a few days she realized she could do the job.
“There are no qualifications, except as we used to say, a pulse. So, yes, I can do this, and yes, I think I want to do this,” she said.
After losing her first bid, Lloyd-Jones won a seat representing Iowa City in the Iowa House, where she served four terms. She then served two terms in the Iowa Senate. In her time as a lawmaker, she helped establish Iowa’s gold standard reapportionment policies for legislative districts and helped to pass the law requiring Iowa children and babies to be buckled up in the car.
She also ran a Senate campaign against Sen. Chuck Grassley. After the questioning of Anita Hill during the Supreme Court confirmation process for Justice Clarence Thomas, 1992 was dubbed the Year of the Woman, as more female candidates ran for the U.S. Congress. Lloyd-Jones lost to Grassley, but said women have brought a different perspective to policy-making than men.
“They seem to be more interested in looking around and seeing what this bill might impact, what other people might be hurt by it or helped by it, and my observation was that men seem to just focus on getting this bill passed, and they don't want to give up an inch because that would make them seem weak,” she said. “Women aren't so concerned about that feeling, and they are not so concerned about getting the credit for it.”
She reflects on her path through politics in her memoir, A Woman’s Place: My Life as a Public Servant.
To hear this conversation, listen toTalk of Iowa, hosted by Charity Nebbe. Samantha McIntosh produced this episode.
