Namrata Sharma

For the first time in the 115-year history of the Rotary International (RI) a woman has been elected as the first woman president for 2022/23! Jennifer E. Jones, founder and president of Media Street Productions Inc. - an award-winning media company in Windsor, Canada, has broken yet another glass ceiling. RI has a membership of 1.4 billion people with over 46,000 clubs globally. So why is women leadership needed in RI? A few women Rotarian leaders from India, Pakistan and Nepal gathered in Kathmandu on 25th December 2021 hosted by the Rotary Club of Kopundole (RCK) and the Rotary club of Dharan Foothills (RCDF). Here, the Rotarians from South Asia (SA) highlighted the role of women leaders.

“It is common sense that, when half of the members of any club, society, country don't participate actively, the country/society cannot perform at its optimum,” said Shilshila Acharya, who is an environmentalist and a young Rotarian of RCK. Giving an example of the civil unrest in Nepal and the eroding of earth resources, she shared that different leadership qualities are required during different times. “When Maoists were at war there was leadership with violence, brute power, and no compassion, but for peacetime politics, they needed different leadership. They went to peacetime politics with the same mindset and leadership. This is why they are now struggling big time as they have not been able to manage the change in leadership.”

Female leadership
An environmentalist of international repute, Acharya emphasised the fact that the symbiotic relationship between people and the earth has been very violent, too. “In the case of our relationship with the earth, during the past 2-3 centuries we have had a very violent relationship that only involves extraction, competition and physical power. But now, because of the urgency of the planetary crisis, we need more collaboration, more empathy, healing, restoration of the earth's ecosystems if we want to preserve life on earth,” she further opined. It is simple logic that we now need more females in leadership for sustainability everywhere.
Shahnaz Ramzi, a Rotarian from Karachi, Pakistan, and a TV personality, shared her experience that the concept that has been implanted in women in SA that they have been “given” the opportunity to do anything needs to be removed. There needs to be collaboration with men and women but women have the ability to lead and excel to achieve humanitarian objectives that RI is working on. Jayshree Chabbrani, a chair of the network Rotarian Women Leaders, spoke of the fact that organising the gathering of women leaders in rotary from SA in Nepal during this pandemic did pose several challenges but with the proper network and management capabilities it became a reality. She promised to support the RCK by helping children in handwriting consciousness and stressed that networking among SA Rotarians is a must.

Among the various difficulties for women to climb up the ladder of leadership, tackling the gendered responsibilities that women are shouldering is of paramount importance. Dr Jyotsna Rimal, a dentist and president of RCDF, mentioned that true to the RI spirit towards women leadership, she was inspired to establish a women-only rotary club in Dharan where women from diverse professional backgrounds took up the challenge of fostering leadership qualities in women.

Jitendra Rajbhandry, the District Governor Elect for year 2022/23 of Rotary District 3292 which governs the rotary clubs of Nepal and Bhutan, emphasised the fact that he felt proud to be entrusted with this responsible position when RI was having the first woman president. He committed that he had already commenced planning for his tenure and had already included capable women in different leadership positions. One of his interests was to make sure capable women held and were encouraged to perform well during his tenure to make a difference in the way rotary functioned.

In 1905, Paul Harris, a lawyer from Chicago lawyer, organised the first Rotary Club. Although the purpose of Harris then was to have a club for professionals and businessmen, he realised that he should steer it towards more meaningful work and RI quickly grew on to become a global humanitarian organisation. Until 1989, the constitution and bylaws of Rotary International stated that Rotary Club membership was for males only. According to the Women in Rotary site, in 1978, the Rotary Club of Duarte, California, USA, invited three women to become members.

The RI Board withdrew the charter of that club for violation of the RI constitution. The club brought suit against RI claiming a violation of a state civil rights law that prevents discrimination of any form in business establishments or public accommodations. The Court of Appeals and the California Supreme Court supported the Duarte position that Rotary could not remove the club's charter merely for inducting women into the club. The United States Supreme Court upheld the California court indicating that Rotary clubs do have a "business purpose" and is in some ways public-type organisations.

Strong message
There are several examples in different clubs in various countries where women started defying the men-only provision within the club. The change to the RI constitution was made at the 1989 Council on legislation, with a vote to eliminate the "male-only" provision for Rotary clubs and districts all over the world. Since then, women have become members and leaders of clubs and districts throughout the world. The struggle of women to reach the top position in any organisation is still ongoing all over the world. With Jennifer Jones in the RI driving seat, a strong message of letting capable women rule goes out. Men of substance should welcome this and not take it as a threat.

(Namrata Sharma is a journalist and women rights advocate. namrata1964@yahoo.com Twitter handle: NamrataSharmaP)