Category: Iowa Women / page 4

Sally Pederson
Sally Pederson


Sally Pederson served as Iowa's 45th lieutenant governor from 1999 to 2007.  A native of Vinton, Iowa, Pederson was born January 13, 1951. She graduated from Iowa State University in 1973. Following, she became an executive at Meredith Corporation in Des Moines, Iowa, and served as the senior food editor for Better Homes and Gardens. As lieutenant governor, Pederson advocated for individuals with disabilities and led the Vilsack-Pederson administration's initiatives for health care and human services. She worked to expand access to health care for children, ensure fair prices of […]
Katie Porter
Katie Porter


Katie Porter has served in the U.S. House of Representatives since 2019, representing California's 45th congressional district from 2019-2023 and the 47th district since 2023. On Jan. 10, 2023, Porter announced that she was running for the U.S. Senate seat held by Dianne Feinstein, who was to retire at the end of her term but subsequently passed away before the term ended. Porter came in third in California's top-two open primary system, behind fellow California U.S. representative Adam Schiff (Democrat) and former baseball star Steve Garvey (Republican). Porter was born […]
Kim Reynolds
Kim Reynolds


Kim Reynolds became the first woman to serve as governor of Iowa on May 24, 2017, when she replaced Governor Terry Branstad after he stepped down to become U.S. ambassador to China. Previously, Reynolds had served as the lieutenant governor of Iowa from 2011-2017. On Nov. 6, 2018, she won the election for governor, Iowa's first elected female governor. Reynolds was born on August 4, 1959, in Truro, Iowa, and grew up in St. Charles, Iowa. In 2016, while serving as lieutenant governor, she received a Bachelor of Liberal Studies […]
Gertrude Rush
Gertrude Rush


Gertrude E. Rush was a lawyer, civil rights activist, suffragist and author, and the first African American female lawyer in Iowa. Rush was born on August 5, 1880, in Navasota, Texas. After graduating from high school in Quincy, Illinois, she was a teacher from 1898 to 1907. In 1907, Rush married Des Moines attorney James B. Rush and began studying law with him while working in his office. She earned a Bachelor of Arts at Des Moines College (now Des Moines University) in 1914 and a law degree through correspondence […]
Mary Safford
Mary A. Safford


Mary Augusta Safford, a Unitarian minister and suffragist, was the leader of a group of female Unitarian ministers known as the “Iowa Sisterhood” that founded Unitarian congregations across the Midwest. Safford was born on December 23, 1851, near Quincy, Illinois. She studied for a year at the University of Iowa before leaving due to illness. She returned to Illinois and worked as a teacher while studying on her own. After speaking at the annual meeting of the Iowa Unitarian Association in Humboldt, Iowa, in 1880, Safford was ordained by the […]
Mary Louise Smith
Mary Louise Smith


Mary Louise Smith devoted more than 60 years to improving the political process at the local, state and national level. A native of Eddyville, Iowa, Smith began working in politics in the 1950s in Eagle Grove. Although she twice ran for and won a seat on the Eagle Grove School Board, she decided that the organizational work of politics most appealed to her. In 1964, Smith was elected as Republican national committeewoman for Iowa and served until 1984. She served as the chair of the Republican National Committee from 1974 […]
Rowena Edson Stevens
Rowena Edson Stevens


Rowena Edson Stevens was born on April 25, 1852, near Columbus, Wisconsin. She earned a bachelor’s degree from Iowa State College (now Iowa State University) in 1873, a member of Iowa's State first graduating class. She taught school in Iowa and Nebraska from 1873 to 1876, then married John Stevens, a 1872 graduate of Iowa State. The Stevens family lived in Ames from 1876 to 1893, then moved to Boone, Iowa. Stevens was a strong supporter of women's suffrage. She served as president of the Political Equality Club in Ames […]
Lyn Stinson
Lyn Stinson


Lyn Stinson was born in Opelika, Alabama, but has made her adoptive home of Burlington, Iowa, a better place. During her tenure at Community Action of Southeast Iowa, Stinson developed a community food program, which helped families learn to plant gardens to supplement their food budget, and set up a summer meal program for low-income children. She also founded the Women in Waiting program, a support group for women whose loved one is confined to Fort Madison prison. Stinson has been a leader and member of several state and community […]
Grace Trout
Grace Wilbur Trout


A Maquoketa-born woman led the way to women’s suffrage in the state of Illinois and later across the United States. Her name is Grace Wilbur Trout and she was born in 1864 in Maquoketa. She became known as “The Woman Who Never Fails.” That may be because Grace Trout never gave up on her fight to gain the vote for women. On June 11, 1913, after going so far as to block the way of any legislators who might be tempted to leave the capitol before a vote was taken, […]
Linda Upmeyer
Linda Upmeyer


Linda Upmeyer served in the Iowa House of Representatives from 2003-2021. She was the first woman to serve as speaker of the Iowa House. Upmeyer received her Bachelor of Science in nursing from the University of Iowa and her Master of Science in nursing from Drake University. Upon obtaining these degrees, Upmeyer went on to pursue a career as a registered nurse practitioner. From 2008-2010, Upmeyer served as House minority whip. In 2010, she served as House majority leader. Through her committee memberships, Upmeyer served as chair of the Human […]