Good morning Gentlemen,
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?
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Simon Brook was easy fodder because by the time that he took up his post on the door, John Franich had taken most of the money. Mitch Brown bought himself a little fun car, a Fiat Bambino, so everyone had a bit of fun at his expense. Gerald East was fresh off the boat from his cruise and feeling very relaxed in very bright yellow joggers that he had purchased from Harbour Town. Mario Fairlie told one of the funniest stories yet, how he went to flick a cricket out of the window at home, and somehow ended falling on the floor and grazing himself. Ian Mayberry looked resplendent with his new haircut, and was sitting next to Bruce Rigg who had just purchased a new home in Melbourne. Unfortunately the home was a little too far from the race track. Peter Morgan failed to use his lawyer skills to negotiate salt and pepper at his table, so he stole it off Any’s table instead. Daryl Sanderson was fined for being the man machine that he is. Terry O’Shea was fined for coming back. Chris Thurtell was fined for telling a story about the old days working and drinking with Terry [I don’t think that Chris understands what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas). Andy proved himself to be a Kiwi again, by fining all Aussies who watched the Bledisloe Cup rugby match. 
Our Youth Exchange Student from Austria Laura Burtscher gave her presentation in a traditional Austrian dress, a Dirndl that her grandmother made with her own hands when she was a young girl. Laura showed one picture of her beautiful home set amongst the green grass and flowers and near the beautiful lake at the village of Hard am Bodensee, and then another picture of the family ski lodge in a blizzard. Then of course she spoke a little about her lifestyle, as well as that of Austria, history, and the country’s economics etc. It would be enough to make Franz homesick. Laura also showed pictures of her Interact Club. 
Don't miss next week's meeting: Our District Governor Wendy Scarlett will visit our club. Welcome, Wendy!
Download Isabelle's latest report from France! (Her host parents run a first class hotel. She is served 3 course lunches, introduction to duck hearts (coeur de canard sounds sooo much more sophisticated!) ... well, it's tough, but somebody's gotta do it.. ☺) Click on the link at right..JPG)
