This history was researched, written and copyrighted by Douglas Rudman of the Rotary Club of Carrollton-Farmers Branch, Texas, regarded worldwide as the foremost authority on Women in Rotary. Additions and corrections are always appreciated. 

Behind the Seattle-International District decision to admit women     The Duarte, California, club admitted women because the club had only eight members and was dying in 1977, and California law would not let them discriminate against either sex. It was a reaction to existing circumstances.   The Seattle-International District club admitted women in a proactive move, which had its roots in the formation of the club in 1984. Governor’s Special Representative Lloyd Hara, in his survey of the Pioneer Square-International District area, talked to people in the area, and quickly assembled a possible profile. The profile and the comments he received, led Hara to feel that the club would be highly diversified and multi-ethnic in membership, if it fairly represented the business people in Pioneer Square and the International District to the south.   The organizing members agreed with most all of the charter provisions from Rotary International except one. To make the point, they changed the club charter application by crossing out any reference to membership by males or men. Their application was returned by Rotary International, unapproved due to the deletion of the male gender clause, and some other minor changes that were made to mesh with the interests and backgrounds of the chartering members.   The rejection sparked a lively debate among the prospective members arguing whether to accept the traditional charter language or fight. Universally, they loved the concept of Rotary, they just had some questions about the way it was being run. Finally, they approved the standard charter language, but decided to submit a resolution to change the by-laws of Rotary International, by admitting women, at the 1986 Council on Legislation.   On September 18, 1984, the club was chartered. The membership took the early words of Paul Harris to heart, and believed in Harris’ model for Rotary. The club was very multicultural, and considerably younger than most clubs, as most  members were in their 30's and early 40's. They were a new group of people that were challenged to get involved in Rotary, and probably was a contributing factor to the effort to permit women members in Rotary.   The board soon formed a Women-in-Rotary committee. It investigated alternatives and studied procedures for amending the Rotary constitution to admit women as full members. When every one of the “Women-in-Rotary “proposed amendments were overwhelmingly defeated at the Council on Legislation in 1986, club members were insulted and irate. They decided not to wait until the next Constitutional convention, but take action on their own, if 100 percent of the membership agreed with their challenge to Rotary International.   The club’s web site reveals the next part of the story, “On July 31, 1986, the club unanimously voted to admit women. Members such as Bob Hashimoto spoke against discrimination. Because it was believed that admitting only one or two women would create pressure on those individuals, it was decided to admit several women. Ultimately 15 women were proposed and admitted.”   During September of 1986, when it was ready to seek an injunction in federal court to prevent Rotary International from revoking its charter, the Seattle-International District club hired attorney Margaret McKeown, Perkins Coie, as counsel, filed its suit, sought and obtained and injunction against RI to prevent them from forcing the termination of the women members, and publicized its admission of the women.   The classifications of the original women members included Education, Banking, Law, Utility Management, Diplomat, Talent Agency, Travel Agency, Clergy, Charitable Agency Management and State Government Agency Management.     The women became a hit, or at least a curiosity, within District 5030. The club’s second president, Robert Beardemphl, 1985-1986, recalled that when a female member was asked to speak to the Tacoma Rotary club, one of the older members said after her presentation, "Well, now I've seen everything, a woman Rotarian! What is next, a pregnant Rotarian?" At which point our member stepped around the podium, obviously pregnant, and said, "Now you have seen everything!" Bob has publicly reflected that his involvement with the admittance of women into Rotary was one of the proudest achievements of his professional career.   Jim Johnson was the club president during 1986-1987. He had the spotlight on him as the club filed its injunction against Rotary International. While many negative responses were received, Jim also recalls receive many more supportive letters from members of Rotary worldwide. In August of 2002, he reminisced, “I did save all kinds of articles from various sources during my presidency and admission of women into our club. The key point to me was that the women did not force themselves to be included on any agenda of theirs, we selected them as leaders in the community and as potential great Rotarians for our club, which came to fruition! It felt great doing it because we knew it was the right thing to do, ‘and fair to all concerned.’”   Johnson continued, “In recruiting new members back in 1984, I visited my business neighbor, Goodwill Industries, and their president. Ginny McCormick was interested in joining Rotary but because of her sex she was not allowed and we admitted her VP because he was male! Very wrong. I also had personal feelings on the issue because we adopted our daughter Jenifer the same year, and did not want her to potentially be excluded from anything as good as Rotary could be.”   From early member Julie Hungar comes this August 2002 memory, “I also have a funny story about Women in Rotary, one that I told to a woman who worked in Rotary headquarters and was a Rotarian herself. We shared a taxi to the International Convention in Melbourne, and when I told her this story she said I should send it to someone, which I never did.”   “Anyway, it's just that when I joined -- after the original 14 but not too long after, and before the court case was decided -- Rotary was accepting our dues, because they did not want to take any action while the Duarte case was pending. So they cashed our dues checks -- but they didn't send us the magazine! It was a great time -- really a major theme for the early years of the club, and of course Karilyn (van Soest, first woman president of the club, and second in the world) had great stories to tell when she went to PETS and other breakthroughs.   Karilyn Van Soest, 1988-1989 President, remembered her year as the second female president of a Rotary Club in the world, on the club’s web site, as "unbelievable and unforgettable." “Karilyn found herself breaking ground at several conferences, including the International Convention in Philadelphia in May, 1988. Visiting other clubs, the questions that came up seem amusing over 20 years later -- "What will you wear to meetings, dresses or pants?" While she faced rudeness and occasional inadvertent sexism, overall, Karilyn was thrilled with the experience.”   In August of 2002, the club’s membership had grown to 43, a gain of eleven over the previous year. The increase comes in spite of a fierce attempt by Seattle4 to become the largest Rotary club in the world. The president is Stan Miner, who followed Mardie Rhodes, and women are still a major factor in the life of the club, as well as the surrounding clubs; as the Seattle4 president in 2001-2002 was a woman. And, in 2002-2003, District 5030 has its first woman Governor, Rosemary Barker Aragon, a member and Past President of the Rotary Club of the University District of Seattle.