Editor’s Note: the following is an excerpt from President-elect Ian H. S. Riseley’s speech to the 2017-18 District Governors January 16, 2017
“When we look at the specific challenges in our clubs, which we must help them to address, two of them stand out to me. One is the gender balance in our membership. The other is the average age of Rotarians.
It has been 28 years since our Council on Legislation voted to admit women to membership in Rotary. Yet the percentage of women serving in our clubs is only just over 20 percent up from about 13 percent 10 years ago. At that rate, it will take us another three decades to get to where we should be: gender parity, with as many women members in Rotary clubs as men.
Three decades is far too long to wait to achieve a Rotary that reflects the world in which we live. We need to make it a priority now.
Of this class of 539 incoming district governors, we have 103 women. And you are fabulous examples of the women we need in Rotary — women as leaders who will help Rotary connect with, and represent, and better serve, all of the members of all our communities. We need more like you.
The second critical challenge in our member demographics is our age. Paul Harris was 36 years of age when he called that first Rotary meeting together in Chicago in 1905.
Today, only 5 percent of our reported membership is under the age of 40. Just 5 percent! The great majority of members are over 60. And that is based on age reporting that covers only half our membership base. It doesn’t even include the people who don’t want to tell us how old they are.
Think about that for just a moment. Now consider what Rotary stands to look like 10 or 20 years from now, if we don’t get very serious, very soon, about bringing in younger members.
It is imperative that we find new and better ways to consistently attract and engage younger members so that we are constantly creating new generations of members and leaders. This is essential for our organization to flourish.”
We the 4 
January 21, 2017 at 11:48 am
John, thanks for raising the issue of gender equality. I have been wondering for some time about the appropriateness of official RI making this issue mainstream. Let me say that I know my Club would be lost without our one-third female Members, and thank God for them all. But the number of Clubs worldwide that still do not admit women is truly stunning. (I apologize that I can’t give the number; I stumbled across it a couple of years ago, and lord google is not forthcoming now. But I believe it was in the 20% range.) There are biases that exist in cultures that serve Rotary that obviously have withstood the thirty years of this change. Isn’t the active promotion of this by RI a form of cultural imperialism? Is it in the best interests of Rotary to expect values like this to be reflected worldwide? (Or perhaps there’s a wink-wink going on in the background?…) Doesn’t a truly international organization needs to be sensitive to individual beliefs?
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January 21, 2017 at 4:02 pm
Ken, you are correct it is in the 20% range. My club is very close to 50/50. And like yours the women are our dynamos as are our most recent male recruits. It certainly can be conceptualized as cultural imperialism and yes Rotary has turned a blind eye to the issue where the society doesn’t support it. The country with the lowest % is Japan. That should be no surprise. The surprise is Germany. That is part of the historical evolution of Rotary in that country. There it was the gentry who adopted Rotary whereas in America it was a middle class movement. I do think it is appropriate to raise the issue however because as our clubs demonstrate it is good for Rotary.
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January 21, 2017 at 8:03 pm
Thanks John. I guess my expectations are naive. You are right, women are the best thing to happen to Rotary. I can’t imagine my Club without them. We had a few oldtimers who were anti for awhile, but they have all seen the light, and enjoy the fact how much the ladies accomplish so they don’t have to…
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