Former Colorado Congresswoman and former 1988 and 1992 Democratic presidential candidate Patricia Schroeder spoke Tuesday evening about the lack of women in politics.

Schroeder shared her frustration of how women are not taken seriously in politics with a crowd of approximately 100 people at the Benton Auditorium in the Scheman Building.

When she began her campaign for U.S. House of Representatives, she was asked several times how she was going to be a mother and a congresswoman. Her response was, “I have a brain and a uterus and they both work,” she said.

During her campaign for presidency, she said she was always asked about her clothes and her family. Schroeder said this was very frustrating because she thought the important issues she had addressed were not being heard.

Schroeder said America is a visual society and holds a certain image of what the president is supposed to look like but no woman looks like it. America also has a hard time electing women to positions of high political power because America never had kings and queens, Schroeder said. When the equal rights amendment was up for ratification, Hawaii was the first state to endorse it and Schroeder thinks this is because Hawaii has a great history of queens and of dual working families. Americans “haven’t seen women in our history, but they have been there but only in the shadows,” she said.

Schroeder reminded the audience Iowa has not elected women as governor, senator and congressional representative.

Barbara Mack, associate professor of journalism and communication, said, “Very little makes me ashamed of my state, but the fact a woman has not been elected as governor, senator, or congressional representative is one of those things. Schroeder’s comments are right on target.”

Natalia Romanova, graduate student from Russia, came to the lecture to learn more about how the U.S. government works and said she learned women in the United States have a long way to go to reach equality in politics.