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![A circular, black and white logo with a style suggesting late Art Nouveau or early Art Deco. Soroptimist International describes it as follows: "The emblem consists of a circular disc on which the figure of a woman holds the banner 'Soroptimist' in uplifted arms, spreading sunrays from the background. [From] the banner on one side fall acorns and leaves of oak and on the other side, leaves of laurel. [The] word 'International' completes the outer circle."[1]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aSoroptimist_International_logo.png){kind=logo} | |
| Predecessor | Soroptimist Club, Oakland, California, US (founded October 3, 1921)[1][2] |
|---|---|
| Formation | 1928; 97 years ago (1928)[1][independent source needed] |
| Type | NGO |
| Headquarters | Suite 1, 28 St. Thomas Place,Ely, CB7 4EX,United Kingdom[3][4][5] |
| Website | https://www.soroptimistinternational.org |
Soroptimist International (SI) , founded in 1921, is a global volunteer service for women with almost 66,000 members in 118 countries worldwide. Soroptimist International also offers Associate Membership and E-Clubs.
Soroptimist International has special consultative status at the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) at theUnited Nations, which gives it a voice on important discussion papers. It also allows them to attend the Commission of the Status of Women inNew York each year where the Soroptimist International President leads a delegation.[6][7]
Every two years, Soroptimist International launches a Soroptimist International President's Appeal.[8]
The name "Soroptimist" was coined by combining theLatin wordssoror "sister" andoptima "best", and can be taken to mean "best for women."[9]
The organization has its roots in the Soroptimist movement, started in the U.S. in 1921 by Stuart Morrow,[10] and in particular in the Soroptimist Club ofOakland, California, founded that same year,[11][1] withViolet Richardson as president.[11]Eloise B. Cushing did the major writing of the organization's first Constitution and By-Laws, which was required to file for the Charter; this document went on to serve as the guidelines for all the national and international Soroptimist clubs.[12]
In parallel, in May 1920, a Venture Club was formed inBristol, UK, with encouragement by the Bristol Rotary Club (formed in 1917) withEleanor Addison Phillips (headmistress ofClifton High School, Bristol) as founder and its first president. In 1930, when it was realised that Venture Clubs and Soroptimist Clubs had shared goals, the two organisations amalgamated.[13] In July 2021, to commemorate 100 years of the Bristol Club (and celebrate Eleanor Addison Phillips), a blue plaque was unveiled at Clifton High School.[14]
Sources agree that the Soroptimist movement was influenced by the existence ofRotarianism, though sources differ on the precise relationship between the two. For instance, Davis, in reference to early Soroptimism in the U.S., wrote that Soroptimism was a women's organisation connected to the Rotary Clubs for men that promoted the support of professional women as well as the ideals of service and internationalism.[9] By contrast, Doughan wrote that the Soroptimist movement in Britain originally arose as a reaction against Rotarian and other masculinism among women who saw similar opportunities for service, but had no connection with Rotary men, or even if they did, were unwilling to accept the subordinate position implied by the structure of theInner Wheel.[10]
The Soroptimist Club of London was started in 1923 and received its charter in 1924 from Morrow.[10] Its founding members includedGeorge Bernard Shaw's secretary.[10] Other early members includedSybil Thorndike,Flora Drummond, andMary Allen.[10] The Soroptimist International of London Mayfair commissioned a painted enamel President's badge in 1946 from Arts and Crafts enamellerErnestine Mills, paying seven guineas for it. The design included their founding date of 1942 and commemorates the Alpha Club, founded in 1928, from which they grew, with the chain listing the names of the club's presidents from 1942 to 2006. These included Olympic fencerElizabeth Carnegy-Arbuthnott and comedian Helena Millais. The chain is now held at theV&A Museum. Mills was a member of the Soroptimist Greater London club, for which she created an enamelled President's badge in 1933.[15]
The federation, Soroptimist International of Great Britain & Ireland (SIGBI), was officially formed in 1934.[16]
From 1924 onwards,Suzanne Noël was highly instrumental in the growth of Soroptimism.[10] Inspired by Morrow, who had come to Paris, Noël founded a Soroptimist Club in that city that year,[10] whose membership includedThérèse Bertrand-Fontaine,Cécile Brunschvicg,Anna de Noailles, andJeanne LanvinAlice La Mazière.[11] With the support of her Soroptimist contacts, Noël rapidly expanded Soroptimist internationally,[11][10] founding new clubs in the Netherlands (1927),[11] Italy (1929),[11] Austria (1929),[11] Germany (1930),[11] Belgium (1930),[11] Switzerland (1930),[11] Estonia (1931),[11] India (1932),[11] Norway (1933),[11] Hungary (1934),[11] and Denmark (1936).[11] The inauguration of the first Lithuanian club was interrupted by the start ofWWII.[11]
Prior toWWII, Soroptimists worked to assist refugees fleeing unrest in central Europe.[10] Many Soroptimists themselves ultimately fled from the Nazis' consolidation of power.[10][17] In 1939, many members of the burgeoningKaunas club were killed or deported.[11] In 1943, Marthe Hirsch, the director of a chocolate factory and the first president of the Belgian Soroptimist Club, committed suicide to avoid arrest by theGestapo.[11]
After WWII, Noël resumed expansion.The Communist coup prevented her attempt to found a club in Czechoslovakia in 1948, but she was successful in Turkey (1949) and Greece (1950).[11]
By 1952, at least one club existed in Australia,[18] under the auspices of the Federation of Soroptimist Clubs of Great Britain and Ireland,[18] which included clubs throughout the Commonwealth.[citation needed]Thelma Eileen Jarrett joined this club in 1952 and became a prominent international Soroptimist, being elected president of that Federation in 1972.[18] In 1973, in Sydney, Australia, she chaired the first conference of the Federation to be held in the southern hemisphere.[18]
c. 1988–1990,[19][20] efforts by Soroptimists led to the founding ofCaring for Carers Ireland.[21][22]
At theWorld Summit for Social Development in March 1995, Soroptimist International advocated for girls and women to have universal access to basic education and equal access to higher education.[23] It urged that summit to ensure that specific measures to achieve that goal would emerge from theFourth World Conference on Women (Beijing, September 1995).[23]
In the 2000s, Soroptimist International repeatedly reaffirmed its commitment to theBeijing Declaration,[24][25][26][27] which emerged from the latter conference.
At least as early as 2003, Soroptimist International had gained consultative status withECOSOC and official relations with theWHO.[28]
In 2007, Soroptimist International initiated Project Sierra, a four-year project[29][30] to help disadvantaged women and children inSierra Leone, in partnership with the international charityHope and Homes for Children.[31][32][33]
As of 2016, the Soroptimist movement continues to provide practical assistance for women in need via means such as educational grants, domestic violence shelters, and mammograms.[11]
Soroptimist International is an umbrella organisation with its headquarters inEly, UK.[34]
Within this umbrella, there are five federations:[34] SI of the Americas (SIA);[34] SI Great Britain and Ireland (SIGBI); SI of Europe (SIE); SI of South East Asia Pacific (SISEAP) and SI Africa (SIAF).[citation needed]
Each of these federations in turn contain local clubs.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain.
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