Iowa Pauses to Applaud Women of the Past, Present and Future

Women in Iowa and across the United States came together Sunday to celebrate both 87 years of women’s suffrage and current day female accomplishments. Three Linn County women were recognized for years of hard work in the community and region on behalf of women and girls.

“I was honored with this [award],” said former Iowa television journalist Amy Johnson Boyle while serving as emcee of the event. “I only bring that up because it was one of the most meaningful evenings and honors that I received in my life. To be recognized by women in the community for what you do for women in the community… well, to me, there’s nothing better than that. The three women who are going to be honored here tonight should feel very, very proud.”

The three honored in Linn County as Women of the Year came from diverse fields and backgrounds. Each, however, found a way to advance the plight of women in Iowa.

Kathleen J. Hall

Hall is a retired Cedar Rapids preschool teacher. Retirement, however, has not slowed her down. She continues to volunteer by teaching adults at the Lincoln Learning Center and the Katheryn McAuley Center. She was instrumental in organizing a tutoring program for African refugee children. She also serves as a resource for the community’s home school population. She also volunteers for People’s Church, Women for Peace Iowa, One Thousand Grandmothers and Indian Creek Nature Center.

“As a teacher, you have the children for such a short time — such a little bit of their lives — that to make a real difference you need to go into their homes and work with their families,” Hall said in her acceptance speech. “So, I began a home visit program, taking learning materials and modeling how to use them, and I spent an awful lot of time listening. I met some wonderful young women who were struggling. They wanted above all else to give their children every possible opportunity. I learned there first-hand that, in order to improve children’s lives, you need to support women and to increase their opportunities.”

Hall said that volunteering and working as an advocate for women and various community groups has changed her life.

“I’ve become a lot more political. I’ve been involved with Women for Peace for a long time, which not only empowers women but it works on real women’s issues. Peace seems to me to be the ultimate women’s issue. It is our children who are being trained to kill and sent off to kill or be killed.”

Her remarks ended with a quotation from Eleanor Roosevelt: “Do one thing that scares you every day.”

“That’s my challenge to you,” she said. “Do one thing that scares you everyday because the second thing won’t scare you quite as much. I can guarantee you that you will grow and that in almost every situation you will get back so much more than you gave.”

Kristi Thomson

Thomson manages St. Luke’s Breast and Bone Health and has been part of the women’s health field for 30 years. She is a co-chair of Oncology on Campus, a fundraiser for Iowa Breast Cancer Action Foundation, and has served as president of that organization’s board. She has provided educational programs for the public and professional organizations, volunteering up to 500 hours a year. Through both her professional and volunteer efforts, she has mentored and educated a population that is 99 percent female.

“I believe that all of my passion and my compassion throughout my career is largely due to my family,” she said. “My mom and dad taught me a tremendous work ethic. Although my dad died about five years ago from cancer, he definitely taught me passion and compassion. You never saw him walk down the street without having a smile or giving someone a hug. That has emanated throughout my career.”

Thomson believes her life is blessed because of her career and the opportunities she has to help others.

“Whatever I can do to promote health and well-being for women and whatever I can do to help promote the education of those around me is what I’ll do throughout the rest of my career,” she said. “I really feel blessed and that’s such a nice thing for anyone to be able to say. There’s not a day that I dread going to work — never has been, never will be.”

She added that if the time did come when she no longer wanted to go to work, she’d “walk the other direction.” At the end of the day, however, she says it is her family and co-workers that keep her focused and happy while she helps others.

“I look forward to serving the entire community for some time,” she said. “Even after I retire, I’ll still serve.”

Ruth E. White

White is also a former educator, having served the Cedar Rapids Community School District for more than 30 years. While there she also served as the academic adviser for minority students and as human relations facilitator for staff. She began two programs — the Academy for Scholastic and Personal Success and the Toward Advance Placement program — both of which continue to serve minority populations in the Cedar Rapids area. Following her retirement, White served as administrator of the Commission on the Status of African Americans and as director of the Iowa Department of Human Rights. She is currently a consultant for the Iowa Accountability Project.

Sarah Harris, a former student of White, wrote in a letter of recommendation for the award: “I was lucky to receive the gift of a role model who reflected my experience. She encouraged but also demanded that I always did my best and she made learning exciting. She was a huge inspiration for me, always believing in me and continuing to do so in my adulthood.”

“Many of the accomplishments that I am credited with are just what one does when one is in the educational realm,” said White, who has a Ph.D. ” I believe that education is one of the noblest callings and also one of the most underrated callings. The influences that I have on students over the past 30 years may or may not have changed their lives, but, as an educator, that’s just what we do. It’s not anything we think is worthy of special recognition.”

White added that if there is one thing within her career that has stood out from that of other educators, it has been her focus on minority students.

“As we know — and as you can tell by looking around this room — the number of people of color in this community is small,” she said. “I believe that has an impact on the ability and willingness of many young people of color to learn. … When I saw young people of color floundering I realized that it might have been because they had no strong, positive role models around them.”

She said that belief was the spark for the creation of both the targeted educational programs.

“There is a theme in my career,” she said. “It has to do with minority advancement and minority achievement and that’s what led me to accept the governor’s invitation to come to Des Moines after I retired. I was called away from Des Moines because I was needed to help care for my grandson. So, I’m back in the community, still doing things that impact women and minority people — just on a more local level.”

Another former recipient of the award, former Cedar Rapids Mayor and Cedar Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce President Lee Clancey, told those in attendance that women had come a long way, but not quite far enough to completely shatter the glass ceiling.

“Thirty-six years ago, as women we were struggling with glass ceilings and artificial barriers to employment and advancement,” she said. “There was concern with the needs of working women because it was found that a woman’s greatest handicap was a lack of adequate role models for success. In the research I did for this talk, unfortunately, I consistently found things have not dramatically changed in the last 36 years.”

Politics, in particular, is an area, she says, in which women have not made enough advancement.

“As much as women have accomplished in other endeavors,” she said, “[politics] is still one area in which women have, unfortunately, a long way to go. This is a profession that impacts each and every one of us on a daily basis that is full of opportunities and is wide open to women. As you are probably aware, women are surging into almost every profession available in American life. … Politics is one of the last holdouts for women achieving success — along with major corporate board rooms.”

Clancey says much of this can be chalked up to gender stereotyping, but that the lack of women in the public conversation is not good for society.

“I believe that women have the potential to be the kind of leaders who will shift paradigms, encourage and mentor others and celebrate diversity,” she said. “It’s long past time for equal representation with women at the political table, in corporate American board rooms and in leadership positions at all levels. Not only are women wanted to run the nation, they are desperately needed to run it in order to bring important issues to the forefront.”

On Aug. 26, 1920, women’s right to vote was affirmed with the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution. Since 1971, this anniversary has been celebrated by Congressional Resolution as Women’s Equality Day. The Linn County celebration, just as those throughout the nation, recognizes both the historic anniversary and women’s continuing efforts toward full equality.