With diversity being a core value of Rotary International, the pioneering efforts of an Australian initiative, “Women in Rotary”, has sought to provide aspiring women with greater access to networking and mentoring opportunities through Rotary amongst both male and female business and community leaders.
Women in Rotary's signature event, The International Women's Day Breakfast in Melbourne on 5 March 2015 draws over 1000 men and women and supports charities helping disadvantaged.
Rotarians, you are asked to consider the following clip from Rotary Australia; and how we can spread the word that women are welcome in Rotary and encourage female membership of our Club?
Yours in Rotary
Conrad Martens
President 2014-15
“In Search Of Women In Rotary
After more than 20 years since women were first admitted into Rotary, the perception that women are not allowed or welcome in Rotary continues in many regions. Perhaps this explains the alarming statistic that just 18 per cent of Rotarians worldwide are women.
Why does this matter?
The low number of women in Rotary matters for two main reasons.
First, women represent a large, untapped pool of potential volunteers.
At the heart of each Rotary club are its volunteer members. However, over the past decade there has been no growth in the total number of Rotarians worldwide, with many clubs struggling to maintain members. In fact, were it not for the increased number of women Rotarians during this period, Rotary would have over 115,000 fewer members than a decade ago!
Gender diversity is thus vital for maintaining and expanding Rotary’s membership base. This is particularly so given that in some places the rate of volunteerism among women is higher, and growing faster, than that of men.
Currently, we have about 1.2 million Rotarians worldwide. If we had a 50/50 gender split, we could arrest the decline in the number of Rotarians and build up a volunteer base of more than two million Rotarians. Imagine what a difference that would make!
Second, more women in Rotary is likely to help us better deliver our services.
It is not that women make “better” Rotarians. Rather, increased diversity yields better outcomes, and clubs that reflect the communities they serve may be able to better engage those communities and meet their needs.
In the corporate world, research has repeatedly linked greater gender diversity on companies’ boards with better financial returns: of Fortune 500 companies, for example, those with more women board members outperform those with the least by 53 per cent in return on equity! One of the key reasons for this, it is thought, is that women offer a differing and complementing perspective to that of men. Put simply by the former Chairman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission, William Donaldson, “monolithic backgrounds are destined to foster monolithic thinking”.
What next?
Increasing the number of women in Rotary is not about fairness or equality. It simply makes sense if we want to continue doing what we have been doing for more than 100 years.
There is a large and growing number of women in senior business and community roles with a great deal to contribute through Rotary. Why are they not gravitating towards us? This is our loss.
The questions remain: How do we change the perception of potential women volunteers? How do we attract them to Rotary? What strategies do the District Governors and Presidents of today have planned, and what are their ideas for tomorrow?
We need to work hard to encourage more women to join Rotary and dispel the myth that they are not welcome. The future of Rotary depends on enthusiastic membership.
In Melbourne, for example, over the past two years we have celebrated International Women’s Day with a large breakfast, which we hope sent a strong message that women are very much a part of Rotary, while also raising funds for local causes. After just two years of running the event, we had nearly 1000 men and women attend in 2013, with other successful events in the UK and Canada.
As a fellow female Rotarian I throw this challenge to both men and women: How do we increase female membership and spread the word that women are welcome in Rotary?
What a wonderful morning! Organized by Graeme Isaacson in his usual professional manner, our ladies, Youth Exchange Students and several guests joined us at the Marriott Hotel in Surfers Paradise. What a feast!
There were no formalities, just good ol' Rotary fellowship. Good to see that John Ellemor, who had been unable to attend in recent weeks due to a medical condition, obviously is on the way back to the top. His charming daughter Lynne gave him a lift into Surfers. John assured me that he is planning to be back at the Yacht Club in the new year.
Our Exchange Students Laura Burtscher (incoming, from Austria) and Felicity Cooper (shortly leaving for Finland) together with her mum Sarah (see below with Sergeant Andy Bell), were joined by Gaelle Ameye (n picture with Laura) who hails from Belgium and is currently on Exchange at Yamba. And, in addition to our partners, it was great to meet again with Debbie Cohen and Jan Lutz.
Thank you, Graeme, for organizing and seeing this event through with your usual impressive precision.
"The role of the District Governor is that of a facilitator, not a manager" Wendy declared. Well, and facilitate she certainly has done and without doubt will continue to do. We (that is Wendy, her partner Charles and your club's Board) started at a 06:15 am (yawn...!) meeting for an early morning coffee at a swank coffee shop on Tedder Avenue. There was no doubt who was facilitating: Wendy came up with ideas, suggestions, "you know, you could get a grant for that"... anything to assist us to push our projects further. On to the Yacht Club for the club meeting...
It is not uncommon that, when it becomes known that the District Governor is visiting, a substantial portion of the members find any excuse they can to stay away. Not with this one! We had a very healthy turn-out, thank you very much! (Ever thought of standing for Parliament, Wendy??) "I joined Rotary 15 years ago" she said. "Same reason as Paul Harris started it all: I wanted to meet other Small Business people. And I couldn't really join a Netball Team..." Her partner Charles promptly got drawn in: working in Papua New Guinea, he realized that "... there is so much to do. I need to become a Rotarian".
Wendy skillfully praised our club's achievements (you know what they are) and our club's "heavy lifters": Darrell Brown (Assistand Governor and Minister for just about everything else), Gerald East with his huge involvement in Youth Exchange at District level, Ray Higgs with The Rotary Foundation and in particular with the Peace Fellowship program, Doug Lipp who found himself a second full time job as District Treasurer, Ian Mayberry who looks after Insurance, Neil Thurlow who does the District Directory, Simon Brook who is on the District's GSE Team committee...
Wendy's partner Charles' personal crusade is to support of 'Operation Cleft'. In essence: $250 will pay for the reconstruction of a child's face with a cleft palate. Naturally, not just that child's physical face, but his or her entire future: speech pathology is included. They child will actually be able to have a life!. The charity primarily supports children in Bangladesh.
Wendy urged us to take Rotary membership seriously. "Since July we lost 10 members. We need to renew".
So, have another read of President Conrad's message at the top of this bulletin. Whom are you going to give the gift of Rotary friendship to?
Over the three days from Thursday to Saturday last week, a number of members of Surfers Sunrise “rattled the tin” at the Runaway Bay Shopping Centre to collect for Polio Plus. Whilst the effort of the number of hours spent may appear to be meagre wages for the amount raised, nevertheless some $1,150 will buy immunization against Polio for over 1,800 children. Actually, it will buy immunization for some 5,400 kids, since the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation are matching Rotary 2 Dollars for every 1 Dollar raised by Rotary. In the Western World, Polio has become practically unknown for the past 40 years. Only 3 countries, Nigeria, Afghanistan and Pakistan are still reporting Polio cases.
A big thank you to the members who donated their time (not necessarily in order of beauty… ☺): Chief Organizer Geoff Croad (4 sessions - see photo above, together with a happy donor),Angus Miller (2 sessions), Darrell Brown (2 sessions), Franz Huber (2 sessions) Alex Batcu, Doug Lipp, Larry Murray, Andy Bell, Conrad Martens, Bruce Rigg, John Franich, and Barry Lea.
Congratulations to Heath and Sara Hill on the birth of their daughter Victoria Louise!
And you may have wondered whatever happened to John Ellemor... Did he miss the bus coming up from Palm Beach? No, according to his daughter Lyn, John has had a bowel cancer successfully removed & is doing well. He is a little slower & hasn't been able to get to the phone to answer it. She wants to bring him along to a meeting before Christmas.
Well, John, you were certainly keeping quiet about it! We wish you all a speedy recovery.
"I got into trouble for being rude to Doug Lipp" our Sergeant opened up, "I said that he was fat." OK, I'll pay the fine... (I think Doug was expected to - and did - pay anyway...) President Conrad was collecting at the Polio Plus do. His comment that "certain types, like Asians, never donate". So, Andy went out of his way to challenge this view, and proved him wrong! They did, actually one put in a nice fat bill! Daryl Sanderson on the other hand was rendered speechless: a nice young lady approached "with not an awful lot of clothing on, and no money..." Gerald East abused the Sergeant because there was only one pad with the members' names to tick off at the door? Do we really only have one pad? Yes, only one per year, confirmed Neil Thurlow... Larry Murray: trying to imitate Ray Charles? (he referred to the sunglasses, not the voice... ☺) Terry O'Shea, have you forgotten how to use a telephone? There I was waiting and waiting for you to call... And, there was a certain game of Rugby on last Saturday, in which a certain team again achieved glory. Anyone who did not support the All Blacks, pay up!
At last Wednesday's meeting, District Governor Wendy Scarlett officially announced Darrell Brown's membership to the illustrious Paul Harris Society. Membership is awarded to people who gift the at least $1,000 US annually to The Rotary Foundation. At the same time, Darrell Brown received his Paul Harris Fellowship pin with 3 Sapphires, indicating that, in effect he is a quadruple Paul Harris Fellow. Congratulations, Darrell!
Wheelchair Trust Chairman Daryl Sanderson is looking for more volunteers
OK, so you have gone through your list of potential future Rotarians... but not everyone may want to commit to be an active Rotarian, for various reasons, be that time commitments, financial etc.
Daryl Sanderson needs more volunteers at The Shed! They meet every Saturday morning. Perhaps you could bring it to the attention of a couple of your friends? Communicate with Daryl directly on 0408 729 118 or by email to daryl.sanderson@gmail.com.
were joined by Gaelle Ameye (n picture with Laura) who hails from Belgium and is currently on Exchange at Yamba. 
And, in addition to our partners, it was great to meet again with Debbie Cohen and Jan Lutz.
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"The role of the District Governor is that of a facilitator, not a manager" Wendy declared. Well, and facilitate she certainly has done and without doubt will continue to do. We (that is Wendy, her partner Charles and your club's Board) started at a 06:15 am (yawn...!) meeting for an early morning coffee at a swank coffee shop on Tedder Avenue. There was no doubt who was facilitating: Wendy came up with ideas, suggestions, "you know, you could get a grant for that"... anything to assist us to push our projects further. On to the Yacht Club for the club meeting...
Last minute post, provided by Darrell Brown:
And you may have wondered whatever happened to John Ellemor... Did he miss the bus coming up from Palm Beach? No, according to his daughter Lyn, John has had a bowel cancer successfully removed & is doing well. He is a little slower & hasn't been able to get to the phone to answer it. She wants to bring him along to a meeting before Christmas..jpg)
At last Wednesday's meeting, District Governor Wendy Scarlett officially announced Darrell Brown's membership to the illustrious Paul Harris Society. Membership is awarded to people who gift the at least $1,000 US annually to The Rotary Foundation. At the same time, Darrell Brown received his Paul Harris Fellowship pin with 3 Sapphires, indicating that, in effect he is a quadruple Paul Harris Fellow. Congratulations, Darrell!
