Forty women in our club owe their membership to the Rotary Club of Duarte, California

Rotary’s bylaws originally did not permit woman members, so in 1978 when the Rotary Club in this Los Angeles suburb admitted three women, the club charter was terminated. A long court battle ensued and on May 4, 1987 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that women could not be excluded from membership.

U.S. Rotary clubs had long campaigned for changes in RI’s bylaws, but were blocked by clubs in other countries. After the court ruling, RI’s Council on Legislation amended those bylaws and thousands of women began to enjoy membership in the nation’s oldest and largest service club.

Two years later several clubs elected women club presidents and in 1995 six districts installed woman district governors. Today we have women on RI’s board, mostly from our part of the world, and some day soon it will select a woman international president- -perhaps Mary Beth Growney Selene from Madison, WI who now serves as one of 18 on the RI board,