A mesmerising mouthful

Assistant governor Philip Wilson congratulates a runner up in the best dressed pinnies competition who is hot stuff!  The overall winner was assistant governor Pam Deal.

-        Words and photos: Farida Master, News Editor, Times Newspapers Ltd, of the Rotary Club of Somerville, NZ

 

She’s hilarious and a selfconfessed nomad at heart. “Most of my travels were triggered either by running away from a man or running towards him,” said the feisty food author Peta Mathias as she brought the house down at the Women in Rotary, Pinnies and Pearls High Tea hosted at Novotel Hotel Ellerslie in Auckland , New Zealand on Sunday March 13.

The culinary tour host spoke about her book Hot Pink Spice Saga: An Indian Culinary Travelogue with Recipes and her romance with cuisines of India, France Vietnam and Morocco.

“If someone invites you and says come home to my mother’s place for dinner, you must say `yes’, even if it is the tuk tuk driver.

 

“Indians are very hospitable and it should be like a dance of exchange,” she told over 150 women at the Women in Rotary fundraiser as they feasted on their salmon and dill sandwiches, orange and poppy seed cake, macaroons and mini date scones with cream and berry jam.

The event was organised by assistant governor Sue Fairburn with the help of other Rotarians, their partners and Rotary International Youth Exchange students.

 

“Restaurants are for visitors. If you want to know the culture of a country you must experience its cuisine. “Don’t have continental breakfast at the hotel and act like a tourist,” the culinary queen said. The red-haired food adventurer regaled the audience with a hilarious account of her 11-hour train journey in India, where she spent all her time thinking of how she could kill her friend for suggesting train travel in a second class sleeper coach. Among the guests were Rotary district 9920 governor nominee Malini Raghwan, who travelled from Suva to support the International Women’s Day celebration, as well as Leanne Jaggs, the outspoken past district governor, also master of ceremonies for the gathering. The only three men in pinnies and pearls who were clearly outnumbered and spent all their time sportingly serving the women bubbly and high tea were past district governor Alan Eyes and assistant governors Philip Wilson and Bart Signal.

A Woman’s Worth – celebrating women in Rotary

The March Rotary Down Under magazine is dedicated to the wonderful work of women in Rotary.

When Paul Harris and his mates formed Rotary back in 1905, there was no mention of Rotary as an organisation for men to the exclusion of women.  Women have always played an important role in Rotary yet they comprise only 16% of Rotarians world-wide.  Some clubs in New Zealand-based districts (although still the exception) have 50% or more women ... often driven around couples joining the club.

Read The Winning Edge on page 12 of this issue and you will be insisting your club increases its gender diversity to ensure your club performs as well as it can as that increased diversity is likely to yield better outcomes as women bring their special touch … it simply makes sense. 

As one woman Rotarian said “Have we made a difference? You bet we have!” 

Read this exciting issue and pass on your magazine to other women in your community who would make good Rotarians so they might consider joining your club, or send them the link to read on-line (this issue from 1 March) at www.rotarydownunder.org  

Related Links:

Rotary contacts via 0800 4 ROTARY (in New Zealand), or

www.rotarysouthpacific.org

Women in Rotary

The following two submissions were requested by Editor Mark Wallace for Rotary Down Under magazine:

"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