Female Leadership
NEWS PHOTO • LINDA WAN
Elaine Didier, left, and Kathy Barden-Perlberg both serve as president of two of Ann Arbor's largest service organizations, which 10 years ago did not allow female membership. Didier is president of the Rotary Club and Barden-Perlberg serves as president of the Kiwanis Club.
FEMALE LEADERSHIP
Male-oriented service clubs move with times
By EMMA L. jACKSON
NEWS SPECIAL WRITER
Ten years ago, the Kiwanis and Rotary Clubs reserved membership to men only. Today, two of the largest chapters of these two service organizations in Ann Arbor have female presidents, indicating the transition has been endorsed by the male majority.
Kathy Barden-Perlberg, was elected to a one-year term as president of the Kiwanis Club of Ann Arbor in October. Her involvement with the club follows a course of tradition.
“For me, it’s a family heritage. My father was a past president of the club and my brother is a club member. As a child, I shopped the toy department of the Kiwanis store and as I got older they let me work there,” recalls Barden Perlberg.
Kiwanis opened its membership to women in 1987 - the year Barden-Perlberg came on board. She says the club currently has 180 members, 15 of whom are women.
The Ann Arbor Rotary Club also opened its membership to women in 1987 and current president, Elaine Didier, joined in 1988. She was elected president for a one-year term, ending in 1994. Of about 270 members, women make up approximately 30 of that number.
Didier says her path to Rotary membership was a smooth one.
“I was invited to join by Ray Hernandez (director of the Ann Arbor Public Library) and I was drawn to the club because of the opportunity to be of more service to the community,” Didier says. “I was the first woman elected to the club’s board, which I considered a significant honor.”
Didier is associate dean of the Rackham Graduate School at the University of Michigan. Barden-Perlberg is President of the Ann Arbor Credit Bureau, Inc. Both professionals say they enjoy the diversity their respective clubs offer.
Didier says joining a predominately male organization versus an all-female organization has advantages.
“Some women’s organizations are viewed as more social while Rotary has a more professional atmosphere,” Didier says. “The women have incredibly diverse professions and the men have more traditional patterns of careers: bankers, lawyers, physicians, stockbrokers. The members’ interests and causes are interesting and intellectually stimulating.”
With women at the helm of the two organizations, is it likely they will heavily recruit other women? Barden-Perlberg says no, that her “sales pitch is the same for both sexes.”
Didier sees her position as a trail blazer and says women have enhanced the formerly all-male club.
"The male membership has said that women have brought tremendous energy and vitality to the club,” Didier says. “Being president has been a wonderful and enriching experience and I’m very honored to be the first female president. I’m sure there’ll be many more after me.”