First Woman to Preside over Rotary International (Aired on November 22, 2020)

RadioRotary is especially delighted to be able to interview Jennifer Jones, who for the Rotary Year 2022-23 will be president of Rotary International (RI), the first woman in the 115-year history of Rotary to achieve that high office. Until a little more than 30 years ago, there were no women officially in Rotary—a club in California that accepted women in 1977 was dropped from RI for this violation of rules. But ten years later the US Supreme Court ruled that Rotary could not reject members on the basis of gender, and US clubs began to admit women. The Canadian courts also recognized that Rotary clubs should be gender neutral and, in 1989, RI agreed, allowing clubs around the world to admit women members. President-nominee Jones, from the Windsor-Roseland Rotary Club (which spans Canada and the US), joined Rotary in 1997 and has been active at club and district levels ever since, becoming a director and a vice-president of RI. In her RadioRotary interview she tells her story and discusses how the Rotary Polio-Plus experience has provided thousands of workers who have been dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic. She reveals that RI has officially added protection of the environment to the six areas of focus and speaks of her interest in making the young-persons Rotary, Rotaract, a gateway to the full Rotary experience.

Learn more:

President-Nominee Jennifer E. Jones: https://www.rotary.org/en/jennifer-e-jones-makes-history-becomes-first-woman-named-rotary-president-nominee

Rotary International: https://www.rotary.org/en

History of Women in Rotary: https://www.rotary.org/en/history-women-rotary

Windsor-Roseland Rotary Club: https://www.roselandrotary.com/

CATEGORIES

Environment

Health

PolioPlus

Rotary International

Women

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