The Rotary Club of Los Altos recently marked a milestone in its history: The number of women members in the originally male-only organization now equals the number of men.
President-nominee Donna Verna announced the 50-50 membership statistic April 20 during a program celebrating the induction of the newest woman club member, Perrie Erickson, thus creating parity in the Los Altos club for the first time.
Rotary International was founded in 1905, initially for circles of businessmen. It took 82 years after founding the first all-male Rotary Club in Evanston, Ill., for women to be admitted, and they rapidly joined the 46,000 Rotary Clubs worldwide.
Admission of women was an uphill battle officially decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1987. The progression of women’s roles in the 1.4 million-member service organization was based on “recognition of their accomplishments, influence and value in their communities,” according to Rotarian Richard Henning, former Foothill College dean and vice president.
To be recognized and share in grant funding, individual Rotary Clubs must abide by the Standard Rotary Constitution, which deleted the word “male” in 1950. However, women still were not accepted as members in the all-male clubs. In other countries, despite the gains of U.S. women in business and government, nearly half of Rotary International’s directors argued at first that admitting women would change the camaraderie of club meetings, because the status of women was not considered equal to men at that time. Since then, times and social mores have dramatically changed.
The impetus to admit women began in Sri Lanka, was encouraged by some leaders of Rotary International and spread to the Rotary Club of Duarte in Southern California, which admitted three women around 1980. Reacting to this “rebellion,” Rotary International withdrew the Duarte club’s charter for violating the organization’s constitution, only to reinstate it later, based on ensuing legal decisions. In 1986, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the California Court of Appeal in the Duarte case and formally announced the ruling May 4, 1987. Based on the Unruh Act, the decision declared that a California Rotary Club has a “business purpose” and may not refuse to admit women solely on the basis of their gender, later adding the bases of race, religion and ethnic origin. Since that ruling, other Rotary Clubs in the U.S. and most other countries followed California’s lead.
Women step up in Rotary leadership
In Los Altos, Henning initiated a membership milestone by proposing Elizabeth Barkley, dean of the Fine Arts Division at Foothill College, for admission as the first woman member of the Rotary Club of Los Altos in May 1987. Male club members welcomed Barkley with courtesy, though a few needed time to adapt to the new member.
In the ensuing years, 11 of the numerous female members have been selected for Los Altos club leadership. They include civic leaders in the community – mayors and council members, school district superintendents and influential business leaders. Marge Bruno served as the first woman club president in 1995.
Subsequent leaders included Ginny Lear in 2000, Mary Prochnow in 2002, Cynthia Luedtke in 2004, Marlene Cowan in 2005, Tracie Murray in 2009, Mona Armistead in 2011, Kenny Gjerseth Warren in 2014, Bonnie Burdette Walker in 2019 and Kathy Berry in 2020. Verna has been selected to begin her term in July 2024.
Today, approximately 15% of Rotary Club members worldwide are women.
For more information, visit losaltosrotary.org.
