DISCURSOS - Rotary International

ealized it had been concern for my safety that had led me to believe in a seemingly undesirable
quantity. I dug deep to find the genesis of the beliefs that had excluded this man from my circle
of acceptables. It is a journey we must all take, ideally without the push of a precarious situation.
It is a journey that will serve us well as we seek to truly serve.
When I was invited to join the Rotary Club of Duarte, California, USA, which was at the time engaged
in a court struggle over the admission of women, I learned about the place to which many
women were relegated, in the minds of men and women! We received a few gender-related,
unpleasant telephone calls, and I found myself wondering anew about the deep-seated beliefs
that were leading many to reject the idea that women could be capable Rotarians. Had we looked
around, we would have seen, as Past RI President Majiyagbe described it, women working alongside
men in almost every area of employment, as physicians, professors, engineers, construction
workers, business executives. When the first Rotary bylaws were written, they specified that
Rotarians should be “persons of integrity.” In the ensuing years, when the workplace was largely
populated by men, that somehow morphed into “men of integrity.”
What, then, was the genesis of that belief — the belief that women were not worthy of, or capable
of, being Rotarians and working to provide the same humanitarian assistance that men were
providing? It may not even have been a relegation of women to a place of lesser importance and
value but, I would like to believe, a feeling that women could not and would not do the heavy
work that needed to be done. Or, more likely, it may have been that some men were so invested
in the valor of their commitment to Rotary that they did not want to share it with women.
Either way, the result is that a part of our society excluded, without good reason, another part.
Within our classification system we can find people of every race, color, creed, ethnic origin, and
gender. Our most important requirement is that persons we invite to serve be “persons of integrity.”
We have learned from the presence of women in Rotary that they are capable of adding
much to our ability to serve. They can and do work alongside men, bringing their mystique to the
boardrooms, the work trenches, the financial negotiations, and all of the jobs that they have been
so successful at for the past 25 years.
Yes, there is a gender perspective, but it is not a conflict-producing perspective. Susan B. Anthony
said, “The day will come when man will recognize woman as his peer, not only at the fireside but
in the councils of the nations. Then, and not until then, will there be the perfect comradeship, the
ideal union between the sexes, that shall result in the highest development of the race.”
We need to take time to look deep inside ourselves to find where our biases originate and how
we extinguish them. Younger generations are more accepting because we have taught them —
even if we don’t practice it ourselves — that there is a common humanity, whose generosity is
not segmented by race, creed, color, gender, age, or sexual orientation. At a recent institute with
a younger generations theme, they called their presentation “Rotary — Refresh.” Are we there
yet?
And what about ethnic diversity? Margaret Mead, the renowned anthropologist, said, “If we are
to achieve a richer culture, rich in contrasting values, we must recognize the whole gamut of human
potentialities, and so weave a less arbitrary social fabric, one in which each diverse gift will
find a fitting place.” In many countries, we have a de facto segregation of races, yet in many we
do not, and still Rotary meetings seem to be populated by individuals more alike than diverse. As
we grow new generations used to sharing their space with people of different colors, different
genders, and different sexual persuasions, we can expect to see not just a tolerance for, but a
spirit of inclusion toward, people of different backgrounds, whose common goal is Service Above
Self — a Rotary refreshed!
Chilean writer Isabel Allende said, “Peace requires everyone to be in the circle — each one to
contribute to its wholeness, inclusion.” Mahnaz Afkhami, a lifelong advocate of human rights,
6 International Assembly Speeches 2013