It’s taken a long time for women to gain influence in Rotary International. Here in the South Bay it started in 1977 when a Rotary club in Duarte brought a lawsuit. That case went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court which ruled in 1987 that women were granted membership. Since then, it’s been all go. Now, in the South Bay six women are presidents of their Rotary Club. The six presidents of their club (pictured above) are business executives, business owners, founders, bankers … and housewives. They are (left to right, top to bottom): Lisa Hemmat-Lupercio of the Rotary Club of Manhattan Beach; Caroline Brady of the Rotary Club of San Pedro; Julie Parton Rosas of the Rotary Club of Palos Verdes Peninsula; Gilda Dyckman of the Rotary Club of El Segundo; Victoria Perez-Thacker of the Rotary Club of Palos Verdes Sunset and LeeAnn Robinson of the Rotary Club of Redondo Beach. The article about women in leadership originally appeared in The Beach Reporter.