Our Club Charter 8 March 2025

Today the 8th of March is International Women's Day, a day we celebrate women's achievements and raise awareness about gender inequality. This date was purposely chosen for the chartering of our new cause-based Rotary e-club in District 9560 (Queensland, Australia) - the Rotary Club of Empowering Women and Girls. Our club members are from all different backgrounds, locations, ages and a mixture of some being current or past Rotarians, but the majority being new to Rotary International. They live in Timor-Leste, Cairns, Mackay, Hervey Bay, Maryborough, Sunshine Coast, Brisbane and Newcastle. We have one male member but I’m sure we’ll attract more. Thank-you to all charter members for your faith in me and Rotary, and for giving this ago. I absolutely know we are going to achieve amazing outcomes and the rewarding journey ahead of me will be life fulfilling.
Today the 8th of March is International Women's Day, a day we celebrate women's achievements and raise awareness about gender inequality. This date was purposely chosen for the chartering of a new cause-based Rotary e-club in District 9560 (Queensland, Australia) - the Rotary Club of Empowering Women and Girls. I'm especially proud and grateful for the opportunity to be assigned as the club charter President.

Around 12 months prior, I had the great privilege of participating in the annual Rotary International Assembly in Orlando with my husband, an incoming District Governor. Being the partner of a District Governor requires giving much support, time and understanding, hence partners are encouraged to be actively involved in the Governor’s year.

At the 2024 Assembly along with around 540 other international governors and their partners, I was truly inspired. The speeches, presentations, workshops and people I met, opened my eyes and heart to really understand the meaning of Rotary. 

I felt moved by the stories of service above self and started to find myself feeling similar to how I did a long time ago when I was a young army officer. Here I found an international humanitarian organisation which I could be a part of, and that offerred so many opportunities. When I started learning about how Rotary was modernising and the new types of clubs and meetings that were growing in the world, I became even more interested. This included clubs who only met online and clubs who were cause-focused rather than community focused. 

As I considered becoming a Rotarian, I heard about Past World President Shekhar Mehta’s Rotary initiative of Empowering Girls. I also heard about a club who had recently started as an empowering girls club in their community. After returning home and reflecting on this experience and doing some further research, I told my husband (DG Andrew) that I wanted to start a new online cause-based club called the Rotary Club of Empowering Women and Girls. I essentially made this my ‘partners project’. As I started talking about this idea I soon found 22 keen members enabling my dream to become a reality.Our club members are from all different backgrounds, locations, ages and a mixture of some being current or past Rotarians, but the majority being new to Rotary International. They live in Timor-Leste, Cairns, Mackay, Hervey Bay, Maryborough, Sunshine Coast, Brisbane and Newcastle. We have one male member but I’m sure we’ll attract more. Thank-you to all charter members for your faith in me and Rotary, and for giving this ago. I absolutely know we are going to achieve amazing outcomes and the rewarding journey ahead of me will be life fulfilling.