WOMEN YES (the rest of the story)
Now, let me relate a little side story to women joining Rotary. Every three years RI has a conference with representatives from Rotary districts all over the world. It had been held in different amazing locations and the assignment to represent your district was much sought after. However in the late 1990s it was to be held in Chicago. It was not as glamorous a setting so I applied and got to represent our district 6270. It was not only unique to have the meeting in Chicago near the RI headquarters, but new rules for seating were implemented. No longer would delegates from one country be allowed to sit together and sometimes vote as a block. Then I was surprised to see within the agenda that we had an item making women eligible to join Rotary. Wait a minute, we did that years ago. After asking questions, I learned that the previous decision had a caveat; woman were admitted in countries where it was against the law to exclude them. As one might imagine, there were many countries where it was not illegal to exclude women. It was a real pleasure to cast my one vote to help make it possible for women all over the world to join Rotary. The talent pool expanded again!