Joni Jenkins

Joni L. Jenkins (born December 6, 1958) is an American politician and a former Democratic member of the Kentucky House of Representatives, representing District 44[1] from 1995 until 2023.

[2] She also served as Minority Leader in the House from December 2019 until January 2023.

Jenkins earned her BA from the University of Kentucky.

In the 2000s, Jenkins began caucusing with other female legislators (including Susan Johns, Ruth Ann Palumbo, Eleanor Jordan, Mary Lou Marzian, Kathy Stein, and more) to track legislation in their individual fields of expertise and work together to affect legislation more easily than they could have done alone.

One early victory involved "building statewide opposition to a bill that, before their organized effort, likely would have gone unnoticed and passed easily, [...] removing the requirement that educational institutions offer women's softball as well as men's baseball, violating the spirit if not the letter of Title IX.