Ingrid Miles is used to taking charge. She successfully ran for selectwoman in Ipswich, then set her sights on expanding affordable housing in town. She also had a career in corporate finance and is a successful real estate broker.

Yet, when she accompanied her husband in 1995 as he presented a slide show to the Ipswich Rotary Club, she felt uncomfortable because she was the only woman in a room full of men.

"It was a little intimidating at the time," she said.

Miles is now the president-elect of the club, notable for a woman who wasn't even sure she wanted to join, and for a group that only allowed women as the result of a Supreme Court decision in 1987.

For decades known as a "good-old-boys club," Rotary was an exclusive group of businessmen that promoted community service. A member's wife, known as a Rotary Ann, might have been involved as a volunteer but would take a back seat to her husband. Now, women are active members and leaders.

"You're going to see more women," Miles said. "We're seeing it now in the presidential election that we have a woman being seriously considered. Nobody's making the point that she's a woman. Everybody's past that."

In 2004, the organization even changed its secondary motto, "He profits most who serves best," to "They profit most who serve best," to reflect the change. Though many countries still have clubs without women, American - and particularly North Shore - clubs have seen an influx of women.

Not only is the female membership growing rapidly; women also are assuming leadership roles originally ascribed to men. Out of 47 clubs in the district that encompasses the North Shore, 18 have female presidents. Ten years ago, there were 13. Women make up about 23 percent of the district's 2,132 members.

"One of the best decisions Rotary ever made was to allow women," said Grace Connolly, a lawyer who is president of Newburyport's Rotary Club. "It opened up half the population of the world."