"Being a woman in Rotary is one thing, but being a young (in the sense of Rotary) one with young kids is another. My funniest memory is attending my District Governor Elect training in San Diego January 2009. Our son Brayden was only 9 months old, who travelled with us, so first we got the strange looks of travelling with a child, & then when asking husband Mike questions on Rotary District 9920, & him advising that you had better talk to the wife, as she is the DGE, I seriously thought there would be a few heart attacks happening.
We are old school though, as remember the badges for the DGEs were rimmed with blue, while spouses were pink. Honestly, while times are changing, for Rotary sometimes not fast enough. How I dealt with this, was trying not to laugh, & have to admit, loved shocking many of my fellow DGEs. Coming home to be District Governor, I am sure there were many that wondered what our Nominating Committee had done, but did enjoy showing them in the end that age doesn’t matter. If you have the wonderful team I had, are organized & love what you do, the world is your oyster. It was the best year of my life."
- Leanne Jaggs, Past Governor of Rotary International District 9920 Inc, and member of Rotary Club of Manukau City Sunrise Inc, Auckland, New Zealand
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“My husband Colin was a Charter Director of our Rotary Club of St Johns in 1989. Members at that time were perplexed to be asked “should women be invited to join or not?”, as everyone thought that women should be a part of Rotary, and that feeling remains today.
Apart from one isolated example since becoming a Rotarian in 1993, I have simply been treated as a Rotarian, so being a woman in Rotary hasn’t been an issue.
Rotary has gone from strength to strength since women were admitted to Rotary. We have added another dimension and a different perspective. One amusing memory about a then male-only club that I visited as District Governor in 2004-2005 was when kindly offered a drink, I replied “a red thanks” (meaning wine). My face obviously dropped when handed a Lion Red beer, that was quickly replaced, and undoubtedly someone else enjoyed the beer!
Rotary should represent the demographics of its surrounding community, so a logical place to start is a closer gender balance, meaning we need more women in Rotary, and while we tend to next think of ethnic groups or younger people in our community, another demographic is families – specifically more couples in Rotary.”
- Beryl Robinson, Past Governor of Rotary International District 9920 Inc, and member of Rotary Club of St Johns Inc, Auckland, New Zealand.
Blog Editor's comment: Beryl and Colin Robinson are members of the same Rotary club, and Leanne and Mike Jaggs are also both Rotarians, but in different clubs.
Related Links:
www.rotarywomen.org.au
Rotary Video Magazine - Women in Rotary
Blog Editor's comment: Beryl and Colin Robinson are members of the same Rotary club, and Leanne and Mike Jaggs are also both Rotarians, but in different clubs.
Related Links:
www.rotarywomen.org.au
Rotary Video Magazine - Women in Rotary
