|
|
Click image to view full size
President Peter Noakes welcomes Caroline Easton and Helen West to membership.
Apologies for the headline, which is by courtesy of John Burgess. It is rather clever and you will never forget their names, will you? Rotary was started in February 1905 but despite lots of talk and pressure, it was ‘men only’ until 1988/89 when the Council on Legislation changed our rules. In the previous year, there had been a U.S Supreme Court ruling making it discriminatory to keep women out of clubs such as Rotary. Until that legislation, our American cousins had felt that women in Rotary would “put doubt on their viability and make it very difficult to function”. Their words not mine. However with legislation to force them to comply, they adopted the ruling and 83 years after foundation, women were admitted. The rest of the world had to follow suit. It was not long before the world realised that Rotary had been missing a great deal under the old policy. How things have changed. Did you realise that worldwide, 75% of clubs have women members. 10% of district governors are women? In District 6400 (North America and Canada) 25% of its club presidents are women ----and it all seems to work very well. Recently the first lady R.I. director was appointed. They are getting to the top and certainly deserve to be there.
It very much looks as if we have been very lucky with our first two ladies who seem very keen to adopt our ideals and are prepared to do the work. A little bird tells me that our third lady, due soon, is similar. We are indeed blessed so lets make them very welcome. This is probably the most important time to be wearing your name badge so that they can see who you are.
|
|
|
