April

Garry Shirvington Birthday 10th April
Sandy Astill Birthday 13th
Brian Fowler Anniversary 13th
Bev Cheeseman Anniversary 8th
Ron Cheeseman Anniversary 8th
Dean Wofenden Anniversary 26th

Recent Photographs

President's Message

Women in Rotary

PRESIDENTS MESSAGE

This Friday at our meeting we have the American GSE team as guests at our Club. It is the only presentation they are giving while they are in Cairns. The group is from Arizona and there is a team leader and four team members.

We have our Anzac day dawn service on the Esplanade followed by breakfast at the lagoon. We are having it this year in conjunction with Cairns Club.

If any members are interested in going to the cocktail party at the showground on Friday 7th of May. The cost is $65 per head for those people that might be interested in attending, please let me know.

Our District conference is on the weekend of May 01 in Darwin, for all those late acknowledgements they are still taking applications.

We had a tennis and Tequila evening at my house, probably the only night we had rain so the tennis did not happen but there was plenty of Tequila.

PRESIDENT ROBYN

Leonard Stadnick. 33 years old. World's tallest man. 2.53 metres tall. Lives in Kiev. Still Growing! One Giant Man	An Iraqui weapon of mass destruction! 2 Giant Spiders!

Last Week. The Editor was in Byron Bay!

Our Paul Harris Fellows

Rotarians

Sandy Astill, Max Bryant, Graham Cossins, David Court, Jeff Crofts, Rupert Crossland, Herman Ehrlich, Bob Fowler, Col Koppen, Bernie Mullins, Jim Watson, Denise Mitchell, David Kirchner,

Honorary Members

Ted Elliot OAM, Brian Fowler, Beres McKeown, Bernie Mullins, Les Trevenan

Past Club Members

Geoff Canton

Non Rotarians

Christine FairbrotherMargaret Jarvis Geoff GuestLou Piccone Lionel Williamson

WOMEN IN ROTARY

strength and vitality to rotary

Female Rotarians now number almost 140,000, about 12 per cent of the total membership.

by Wayne Hearn From Rotary Down Under

For most of the 850,000 active Rotarians who joined the organisation after January, 1989, it is hard to imagine Rotary clubs without women. That was the year the Council on Legislation enacted the measure, advanced by current R.I. President Jonathan Majiyagbe, to allow Rotary clubs worldwide to admit members of both genders.

Sylvia Whitlock, Rotary's first woman president

Two years earlier, a U.S. Supreme Court decision cleared the way for women to join U.S. clubs. Like the rest of society, Rotary was changing with the times.

Was the change overdue? Few today would say it wasn’t, but no more overdue than the overall movement toward gender equality that saw women advance into professions and positions of authority previously controlled by men. Once that happened, it was totally appropriate for Women to be considered for membership in a vocationally classified organisation such as Rotary.

Other major volunteer service organisations, such as Kiwanis International and Lions Clubs International, opened their ranks to women at about the same time. But it’s less important to rehash how and when women first became Rotarians than to examine their status today and reflect on their contributions and accomplishments. “I believe that the addition of women represents the single greatest force for Rotary growth since the chartering of the first international club in Winnipeg, Canada, in 1912,’’ said Samuel L. Greene, who will chair R.I.’s 2004-05 Membership Development and Retention Committee.

“Not only have women added to our membership growth, but they’ve helped inject new life into Rotary clubs through their ideas and enthusiasm.’’ Samuel Greene’s vice-chair for next year, Alana Bergh, is a past governor of District 5010 which embraces Alaska, U.S.A., the Yukon Territory of Canada and Eastern Russia. She believes that admitting women was Rotary’s way of “recognising that women today make up a major part of the business and professional circles in most communities.’’

Female Rotarians now number almost 140,000, about 12 per cent of the total membership. “Wouldn’t it be wonderful,’’ asked Samuel Greene, “if each of those 140,000 Rotarians brought in one other woman as a member? That would bring the total to 280,000, and all they have to do to accomplish that is ask someone to join.’’

In 1995, eight U.S. women reached a milestone when they assumed the office of district governor. By unofficial count, 48 of this year’s class of District governors-elect are women, representing 16 countries. Rotary’s senior leaders are unequivocal in encouraging clubs to recruit qualified women aggressively and are leading by example as they consider candidates for committee appointments and other positions at the international level. Above all, they agree, women must have the opportunity to succeed based on their qualifications.

“I try to look at who is the best person for the job, not at the gender,’’ said R.I. President-elect Glenn E. Estess Sr., who appointed Alana Bergh to the vice-chair’s slot on the membership committee, positioning her to chair the panel in 2005-06. “I don't think women want to be selected or judged on the basis of gender, but rather on their qualifications.’’