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Timeline for women and Rotary |
| Prepared by RGHF Senior Historian Lyn Kenney |
| 1906: First constitution adopted
by Rotary made no reference to gender, referring only to “persons”. No
one planned on women members. 1910: At this first Rotary Convention in Chicago, some delegates made the first attempt to officially sanction “Women’s Auxiliaries”. It was rejected overwhelmingly. 1911-1917: Women formed clubs based on the Rotary Club concept in Minneapolis, led by Dr. Gertrude Stanton, an optometrist and in Duluth, MN, led by Irene Buell, the first woman attorney in Duluth. 1912: Belfast, Dublin, London and Manchester Rotary boards discuss whether to elect to allow women members or to allow them to attend luncheons. They decide against both. At the Rotary Convention in Duluth when the International Association of Rotary Clubs was formed, some women attended as delegates and Ida Buell spoke to the convention seeking support for women’s clubs. The idea was rejected. 1914-1915 and beyond: RI Boards continued to vote their disapproval of Women’s Auxiliaries. This was all, of course, normal for the times when women did not even have the right to vote. 1914: On a special train bound for the RI Convention in Houston, Rotarian Henry Brunier’s wife Ann was the only woman on board. Rotarians started calling her “Rotary Ann”. The train was met by Guy and Ann Gundaker. The term “Rotary Ann” stuck. 1921: Four pioneering women led by Alwilda Harvey, wife of the Chicago Club President, convened a luncheon meeting of 59 women and formed the “Chicago Women of Rotary”. RI refused to allow them to use the name “Rotary” and they ignored them and membership grew to 250 members. 1923: The new movement was chartered in Illinois as a non-profit Corporation. RI insisted the name be changed to “The Women of the Rotary Club of Chicago.” RI released a supplement to their 1920 “Manuel of Procedure” at the RI Convention in Scotland which included a formal prohibition on women members of Rotary, or women’s clubs that used the Rotary name. It did, however, finally permit a “ladies Auxiliary”. 1921: The Bristol Venture Club in England formed as a Rotary Club for women. By 1923 they had 151 members. Venture Clubs eventually merged in 1930 with the Soroptimists, which had formed in 1921 in Oakland, CA. 1924: British wives formed “Inner Wheel” led by Mrs. Margrette Golding, a nurse. Inner Wheel is one of the largest women’s service organizations in the world with over 100,000 members in 100 countries. 1928: The first Rotary Ann Auxiliary was formed in Oklahoma City. This term is still used in parts of the world today. 1935: Paul Harris wrote in his book “The Rotarian Age”, “I hope that the organizations of the Rotary type now in existence will increase until the time arrives when there will be clubs for all business and professional men and women and youths who are imbued with the ideal of service.” 1949: At the Salmon Idaho Club, Edwina Nicholls attended Rotary for many years after taking over her deceased husband’s Ford dealership. She was the first woman car dealer in the U.S. Her daughter’s son, Jack Selway, started RGHF. 1949: The Rotary Foundation began admitting women as Ambassadorial Scholarship recipients. 1950-1977: A number of unsuccessful attempts were made to provide for the admission of women in Rotary. A proposal to allow women as honorary members was also rejected. 1976: The Duarte Rotary Club in southern California, a club of 8 members, voted to invite 3 women (Donna Bogart, Mary Lou Elliot and Rosemary Freitag) to join. Rotary DG Paul Bryan, advised the club to list the women with only their initials for their first names. RI accepted the new members. 1977: The Duarte Club held its 25th Anniversary celebration, which included RI officials. Front and center were the 3 women. The reaction of RI was predictable. 1978: On March 27, the Duarte Rotary Club’s charter was terminated because they refused to terminate membership of the women. Duarte renamed itself the “EX-Rotary Club of Duarte” and they had Rotary pins made with an X through them. The Club continued their efforts to get women recognized as Rotary members through official channels and even sent a representative to the 1978 RI Council on Legislation in Japan. The matter on whether the Duarte Club had violated the RI bi-laws was put to a vote and was a resounding yes by 1060 to 34. 1978: In June, the Duarte Rotary club filed suit in Los Angeles Superior Court. 1983: Judge Max Deutz ruled against the Duarte Club. 1986: On Sept. 16, 1986, the Appeals Court in California stated: “the state’s ban against sex discrimination by a “business establishment” applies to Rotary Clubs subject to regulation under the state’s Unruh Act.” It thus barred RI from revoking the charter of the Rotary Club of Duarte for admitting women members in 1976. Women were allowed to join Rotary Clubs in California. On June 30, 1987, Duarte’s charter was returned and backdated to Sept. 16, 1986. In 1986, following this ruling, RI appeals the case to the California Supreme Court who refuses to hear the case. RI then appeals the decision to the Supreme Court. 1986: In the Fall, the Seattle International Club (chartered in 1984) inducted 15 women into their club known as the “Seattle 15” and filed a lawsuit against RI in the Federal District Court in Seattle, petitioning the court to enjoin RI from revoking their charter. They also file a brief in the Durate Case. 1987: The January issue of The Rotarian Magazine addresses the question: “Do Women Belong in Rotary?” Every Rotarian was ask to write to RI and express feelings in the matter. 1987: RI took their fight all the way to the Supreme Court. On May 4, the Supreme Court affirmed the 1986 ruling of the Court of Appeals of California in a 7-0 opinion. Two justices abstained: Sandra Day O’Connor whose husband was a Rotarian and Harry Blackman, an Honorary Rotarian. The ruling affected most service organizations including Kiwanis and Lions Clubs. 1987: Following the Supreme Court ruling, a California DG in his comments at a Rotary District session stated: “This is a case of the mouse that roared”. The Duarte Club adopted this as their motto. 1987-88: On July 1, Sylvia Whitlock became the first woman president of a Rotary Club- the Duarte Club. Sylvia attended PETS in Feb. prior to assuming office with 290 men in attendance. She was ask: “Is food any better now that women are in Rotary?” and her response was: “No, because we’re not cooking!” 1989: At the Rotary Council on Legislation, RI voted to open up membership to women throughout Rotary. 1995: On July 1, eight eligible women took office as Rotary’s first women District Governors. They included: Janet Holland, Mimi Altman, Anne Robertson, Donna Rapp, Gilda Chirafisi, Olive Scott, Virginia Nordby and Reba Lovrien. All are living and active in Rotary except for Mimi Altman. Her daughter by the same name is active presently in Rotary. 1997: PDG Gilda Chirafisi from District 7230 becomes the first woman in RI to serve as a club President twice at the Riverdale, NY Club. 1998: In January, PDG Virginia Nordby becomes the first woman delegate to the RI Council on Legislation in India. 1998: Dr. Catherine Hamlin receives RI’s highest honor, the Rotary Award for World Understanding. 2005- 2007: On July 1, 2005, Carolyn Jones, PDG District 5010 in Alaska, became the first woman trustee of the Rotary Foundation. 2008-10: Anne Mathews from South Carolina became the second woman trustee of the Foundation. 2008-10: Catherine Noyer-Riveau, a physician from France became the first woman Director of RI. 2012-13: Nan McCreadie took over as the first woman President of RIBI (Rotary International of Great Britain and Ireland). 2011-13: Elizabeth Demaray from Michigan became a Director of RI. 2012-13: Elizabeth Demaray became the first woman elected Treasurer of RI. She died in 2012 and never completed her term. 2012-14: Anne Mathews and Ann Britt Asebol, from Sweden, became Directors of RI 2013-15: Celia De Giay from Argentina and Mary Ann Growney-Selene from Wisconsin became Directors 2013-14: Anne Mathews from South Carolina became the first woman Vice-President of RI. |
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