“My fellow delegates, I would like to remind you that the world of 1989 is very different to the world of 1905. I sincerely believe that Rotary has to adapt itself to a changing world,” Frank J. Devlyn, who would go on to become RI president in 2000-01. | As a charter member of a club nearing 50 years of service I have been asked by some of my Rotary friends why we have so few female members sharing Rotary in the Pakuranga Club. There is a lot about Rotary that has changed since 1970; the year we were chartered. Elements of chauvinism still existed. Even many female partners still regarded Rotary as the domain of the top male executives, most of the gatherings of which still had that look of gender inequality. |
Ah, but the members were to be ultimately saved from that humiliation as a result of the club receiving from a Wellington club a somewhat surprisingly enthusiastic endorsed request for the transfer of a female member from their own ranks to those of our own club. What was one to do but abide by the principles of fairness which the Rotary Club of Pakuranga proudly advocated?
And so the transfer was effected.
It was not long before rumours began to circulate that this new recruit was somewhat reluctant to partake of duties and some had the audacity to suggest that that the new member in question appeared to be more interested in some of the members themselves rather than what they stood for. Ultimately our new recruit was put to the test. She was named to give the vote of thanks for the incumbent speaker. On the scheduled evening, during the meal the programme organizer came up to the table where our lady and, just coincidentally this scribe, were seated. She was asked politely if she was prepared and ready. At that moment it became clear that she had not read her bulletin. She quickly grabbed her handbag and headed for the wash room, seemingly to get herself together but alas that was not her intention and, I kid you not’ was and never has been seen again. This scribe quickly got things together as far as the meeting was concerned and all was well.
So you see we were never given a fair go from the start, when it came to sharing our proud club with members of the opposite sex.
I hasten to add that though albeit somewhat slowly, and of course understandably, women have come to form an extremely valuable part of our Club membership and we all look forward to growing that number and to one of those fine ladies becoming our president for 2020-21 year.