Minnette Doderer, from Iowa City, became a member of the Iowa House of Representatives after a special election in 1964, beginning her three and half decades in the Iowa legislature. She served in the Iowa House of Representatives from 1964 to 1968 and from 1981 to 2000 and in the Iowa Senate from 1969 to 1979
During her service, she continually challenged the double standard women faced and continue to face in politics.
“In that time period for a woman to kind of call out the press for sexism was unique, because that could so easily be perceived as complaining or whatnot,” says Kelly Winfrey, an assistant professor at Iowa State University’s Greenlee School of Journalism. She joined the eighth episode of From the Archives to offer context for Doderer’s remarks to journalists on two occasions: one in 1970 and the other in 1982. In both instances she is forthright with reporters about how women, particularly political candidates, don’t receive the same news coverage as men.
From the Archives was made possible through a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
