The Rotary Club has been in existence since 1905, but it wasn’t until 1987, when Sylvia Whitlock was elected president of the Rotary Club in Duarte, Calif., that the service organization allowed a female to preside over a club.

Sylvia Whitlock became the first female president of a rotary club when she was elected president of the Duarte Rotary club in 1987. (photo by Aaron Blevins)

Whitlock, who walked into a world that had been dominated by men for the last 80 years, shared her story with the Wilshire Rotary Club of Los Angeles on Wednesday.

“It’s amazing. When we were going through this, we never thought it would make such an impact,” she said prior to her speech.

Whitlock was elected president of the Rotary Club of Duarte in 1987, when Rotary International was battling to keep women excluded in the U.S. Supreme Court. Having been stripped of its charter by the organization’s board of directors for allowing female members, the club was then known as the Ex-Rotary Club of Duarte.

Duarte was also the first club to allow women to join, which they did in 1977. In 1978, the club lost its charter for doing so. After a series of appeals, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed a decision by the Court of Appeals of California to reinstate the club in 1987.

When the Duarte club embarked on the fight, it was a membership issue, not a women’s right issue, Whitlock said. She said the Supreme Court ruling sparked a media frenzy, however.

Prior to that, Whitlock had attended a training seminar that included 310 men and her. She was instructed to wear a coat and tie for pictures, and she marveled at the line to the men’s restroom.

“In the ladies room, it was just me,” Whitlock said.

During that seminar, the District 530 governor, Tim Keen Siu, spoke of the Supreme Court case, and said, “This is the case of the mouse that roared.” The Duarte club stuck with the motto and placed it on its banner.

Though Whitlock is no longer a member of the Duarte club, she serves in the Claremont Rotary Club, helping the local and national organizations in their many missions, from promoting literacy to eradicating polio. She travels to share her experience, and with the 25th anniversary of her presidency upcoming, she has spoken on the subject 15 times this year.

“Rotary is so much richer with the presence of women,” Whitlock said. “We’re all serving, and we’re all capable of serving.”

Kyle Pierce, the Wilshire club president, said she had heard Whitlock speak before, and that it was an “honor and a privilege” to host her.

“What she went through — to bring Rotary to the progressive organization that it is today — is historic, and I think Rotary is that much richer for it,” Pierce said.

The Wilshire club began admitting women in 1987, following the Supreme Court decision. Approximately 40 percent of its 78 members are women, and worldwide, 22 percent of Rotary International’s 1.2 million members are women.

The club’s first female president was Amy Worthington, who was elected in 2005-2006. Pierce is the club’s fourth female president.

The Wilshire Rotary Club meets at noon on Wednesdays at The Ebell of Los Angeles. For more information, visit www.wilshirerotary.org.