Soroptimist International (SI), founded in 1921, is a global volunteer service for women with almost 66,000 members in 118 countries worldwide. Soroptimist International includes associate membership and e-clubs.
Soroptimist International has special consultative status at the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) at the United Nations, which gives it a voice on important discussion papers. It also allows them to attend the Commission of the Status of Women in New York each year where the Soroptimist International President leads a delegation.
Every two years, Soroptimist International launches a Soroptimist International President's Appeal.
Etymology
The name "Soroptimist" was coined by combining the Latin words ' "sister" and ' "best", and can be taken to mean "best for women." and in particular in the Soroptimist Club of Oakland, California, founded that same year,
thumb|220x124px | right | Eleanor Addison Phillips
In parallel, in May 1920, a Venture Club was formed in Bristol, UK, with encouragement by the Bristol Rotary Club (formed in 1917) with Eleanor Addison Phillips (headmistress of Clifton 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. 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.
Sources agree that the Soroptimist movement was influenced by the existence of Rotarianism, 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. 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 the Inner Wheel.
The federation, Soroptimist International of Great Britain & Ireland (SIGBI), was officially formed in 1934.
thumb|Suzanne Noël
From 1924 onwards, Suzanne Noël was highly instrumental in the growth of Soroptimism. In 1939, many members of the burgeoning Kaunas club were killed or deported. under the auspices of the Federation of Soroptimist Clubs of Great Britain and Ireland, efforts by Soroptimists led to the founding of Caring for Carers Ireland.
At the World 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. It urged that summit to ensure that specific measures to achieve that goal would emerge from the Fourth World Conference on Women (Beijing, September 1995). which emerged from the latter conference.
At least as early as 2003, Soroptimist International had gained consultative status with ECOSOC and official relations with the WHO.
In 2007, Soroptimist International initiated Project Sierra, a four-year project to help disadvantaged women and children in Sierra Leone, in partnership with the international charity Hope and Homes for Children.
The Soroptimist movement continues to provide practical assistance for women in need via means such as educational grants, domestic violence shelters, and mammograms. Within this umbrella, there are five federations:
- Thérèse Bertrand-Fontaine
- Pauline Suing Bloom
- Grace Cuthbert-Browne
- Mary Fisher
- Nellie A. Goodhue
- Anna de Noailles
- Geneve L. A. Shaffer
- Mary Sykes
See also
- Feminism
- Soroptimist Park