Rotary's first female world president: 'It gave me an opportunity to break down barriers'

Rotary International's first female president - who is in New Zealand to visit projects undertaken by several clubs - says the local projects are some of the best she has seen in her global travels.

Jennifer Jones has been visiting the projects in Nelson and Tasman, before heading to Christchurch to appear as the keynote speaker at the South Island Rotary Conference.

A member of the Rotary Club of Windsor-Roseland, Ontario in Canada, Jones became Rotary International's world president in 2022, the first woman to hold that office in the organisation's 118-year history.

She was invited to Rotary in the 1990s, but a decade earlier had worked as a young reporter, covering the club's meetings when women were not permitted to join the organisation.

That changed in 1987 when the US Supreme Court ruled Rotary clubs could not exclude women from membership on the basis of gender.

It would be another 35 years before a woman was appointed as the organisation's world president, something Jones said was a "complete honour".

"It gave me an opportunity to break down barriers in many ways, to showcase to people across the globe where our 1.4 million members live, that maybe we look a little bit different to how some of the stereotypes historically may have portrayed us.

"Perhaps it has opened the door for someone who says: 'if she can do it, so can I', and I am really happy about that."

There are now more than 1.4 million Rotary members in about 46,000 clubs across more than 200 countries.

It was Jones' third visit to New Zealand, a place she said was "one of her favourite countries in the world", having travelled to 57 countries alone in the year she served as president.

While in Nelson, she visited several Rotary-funded projects in Nelson, and said they were some of the best she had seen.

"It's given a very unique opportunity to compare and contrast nations in real time and see what our Rotary family is doing and how local community and regional and national governments are supporting the efforts of our members.

"One of the best parts about being in the South Island is being able to see the breadth and scope of what our people of action are doing."

While in Nelson, Jones visited Nelson Coastguard; a drop in centre for the homeless - Whare Haumaru at the Male Room; the Big Brothers Big Sisters mentor programme' and Nelson Environment Centre's food waste minimisation service Kai Rescue.

She also met with Days for Girls volunteers - who sew reusable menstrual health products.

Richmond Rotary Club member Debra Gibbs said about eight volunteers gather at the former Richmond Information Centre twice a week to sew reusable sanitary pads from donated fabric, that are then bundled into kits and distributed locally and to other countries.

When the kits were distributed, trained individuals also provide education about menstruation, reproductive health and feminine hygiene.

The project is funded by Richmond Rotary and Gibbs said since 2018, volunteers have put together 3600 kits, which often go to girls who would otherwise miss school during their monthly periods.