Five
SENSITIVE ISSUES
(cont'd - 4)
However, the most contentious issue concerns, perhaps not surprisingly, the ladies and whether they should be admitted as ordinary members of Rotary. When it comes to women's rights, many men are inclined to become quite irrational, and Rotarians have proved to be no exception. The question, which presumably has been discussed in Club circles on many occasions, was first raised in a somewhat subversive manner in 1970 by president-elect Keith Randall at the 35th District Assembly held at Kuala Lumpur. He wanted to know why Rotary International, while allowing sponsored bodies like the Interact Clubs to have female members did not extend this privilege to Rotary clubs as well. This provoked quite a lively debate, during the course of which the Rotary establishment as represented in the persons of the D.G.-Elect (Dr. Rith Boozayangol of Bangkok), the incumbent D.G. (Dr. L.S. Sodhy of Kuala Lumpur), and the formidable P.D.G. Brig Young threw their not inconsiderable weight against the idea, using arguments that would have scandalized Women's Lib.**
**Dr. Rith Boozangool came up with the line: '...our wives may not like it very much if in the club there are many girl members', while Brig Young proclaimed that Rotary International felt that 'a woman's place was by her husband's side... The woman is complementary to the man and not the man to the woman'.
The matter was allowed to rest there for a couple of years until in 1974 at the 39th District Conference held at Ipoh, Rotarian K.C. Leong of Gombak (famous for his snoozes whilst the conference was in full session) raised the issue once more, but in an impassioned and more direct way than Keith Randall had done. Another lively debate ensued, during the course of which it became clear that opinions were more evenly divided. This time the case against the admission of ladies was more cogently expressed by Geoffrey Sarjeant, the English Rotarian, who was present in his capacity as the President of Rotary International's special representative. He was quite convinced, he told the gathering, that the champions of the ladies 'are thinking of your own charming wives', but, as he went on to point out, unless they had an appropriate classification they would not be able to gain admission anyway, short of a special category for housewives being created, 'and what a discussion that would provoke'. Instead, members would find themselves confronted with 'some terrifying queen of industry.., telling you exactly what to do'. However, Sarjeant also provided a reluctant ray of hope for the protagonists of the ladies' cause, for in the United States there was a strong movement under way to force Rotary clubs to accept lady members. 'I was told when I was at the last Board [i.e. of R.I. Directors] meeting', he confided, 'that it only needed somebody to take a case against Rotary under the Anti-Discrimination Laws for this to be put to the test...'
And so it came to pass that this is exactly what did happen. During the early 1980s, as the result of a test action brought against Rotary in the United States, a Californian court ruled that the movement must indeed admit women members where appropriate, at least as far as Rotary clubs in the USA were concerned. In its wisdom, Rotary International decided to leave the question for individual Rotary clubs in the world at large to decide for themselves.
In District 330 the question was formally raised during the governorship of James Peter Chin, and the issue was debated in the PJ Club during the presidency of Kon Kee San (1989/ 90). The issue was warmly debated and the opinions of members were so evenly divided that the debate ended in a draw.
The case against admission was strongly led by P.P. Michael Teh, whose own wife was well-known amongst Club members. The draw left the uncomfortable Kon Kee San with the 'embarrassing' task of giving the casting vote. Although personally, as he is quick to stress, Kon was not opposed to the admission of lady members, he felt that in a situation where there was no clear-cut mandate for change he should cast his vote for the status quo. So, for the time being at any rate, the PJ Rotary Club unlike a number of its sister clubs remains a male preserve.*
*In this connection, Geoffrey Sarjeant, in the course of his remarks on the issue at the Ipoh Conference, said that he was curious to know whether any purely ladies' bodies, including the Inner Wheel, 'have ever discussed the possibility of having to take gentlemen into their organizations'.
Each of the issues mentioned above could have provided a source
of fractious disunity, but the PJ Club weathered them all. This could only
be because of the strong bonds of fellowship that had been forged amongst
the members themselves, and the strong spirit of Rotary that this implies
was existent amongst them. But the real expression of that spirit is to be
found in the achievements on the Club in its five avenues of service over
the period of thirty years.
