Spirit alive and well with women’s group
Local Soroptimists continue advocacy for rights, status
With the right to vote barely under their belts and the term “equal rights” rarely uttered in mixed company, a small gathering of women formed a group to support their gender.
Pioneers of the feminist spirit, the Soroptimist International of Calgary (SIOC) group banded together in 1934 to help improve the lives of women and girls both locally and around the globe.
“When you consider that women barely had the vote at the time the club began, these ladies were out there doing things that were practically frowned upon in society,” says SIOC president Linda Penton.
Soroptimist International was formed in 1921, taking its name from the Latin words, soror, meaning sister, and optima, indicating best.
The advocacy group is ingrained in 110 countries with more than 100,000 members. It even has consultative status with the United Nations.
Through the decades, a strong, spirited core has kept alive the local SIOC’s goal of improving the lives of women and girls.
Celebrating its 80th anniversary, the SIOC isn’t resting on its laurels, instead, it continues to raise funds in support of local and international organizations.
It focuses on economic and social development, health and education, international goodwill, human rights and status of women.
“We raise funds for projects and donate to organizations which are already doing work that fits with our mandate,” Penton says of the 38-member local chapter.
The SIOC has helped raise more than $300,000 for local organizations, such as the Hera Society, the Highbanks Society, the Aboriginal Women’s Support Network, Aventa Addiction Treatment for Women, the Women’s Centre of Calgary, Calgary Women’s Emergency Shelter and the Calgary YWCA.
Members have presented monies for schooling through the Violet Richardson Award, named after the group’s founding president. The award is aimed at disadvantaged girls from ages 14 to 17.
Success stories range from a woman in the Philippines who became a business manager for her small village, to a young Vancouver mother who escaped drug abuse and prostitution to become a lawyer and defend other girls, to many young women who became health-care workers and midwives, helping to lower the infant death rate in underdeveloped countries.
“That’s the kind of thing that just makes your heart swell. You help the one person, but then they go on to help others,” says Penton of the group, which will honour its longtime members and celebrate its 80th anniversary in February.