Your Mark On The World

On World Polio Day, I had the opportunity to sit down with Jennifer Jones who now serves on The Rotary Foundation Board of Trustees and who previously served on the Rotary International Board of Directors and as its Vice President. In that capacity, she reached the highest rank achieved by a female in Rotary. Rotary excluded women until a United States Supreme Court ruling on May 5, 1987 that opened the door for women to join the organization. Jennifer was a reporter who covered Rotary before women were allowed to join and remembers attending at least one club meeting with all men. She was treated well and later, when the opportunity presented itself, she joined. She has risen through the ranks in an unprecedented way. Speculation abounds that she could one day be Rotary’s first female president. In our discussion, we talked about her experiences and thoughts about women in Rotary. She points out that because women slightly outnumber men in the world and are also underrepresented in Rotary, an emphasis