Our History

The first Soroptimist club was formed in 1921 in Oakland, California, by a group of women who were interested in volunteer service but who were prohibited from joining all-male service organizations. The name Soroptimist—a coined term interpreted as “best for women,” was chosen for the new club. Other clubs quickly formed in North America, and in 1923 the first club in Europe was established. The first clubs provided women business owners, managers and professionals in different occupational areas the opportunity to meet, and to work together in their communities. In 1928, the individual Soroptimist clubs in North America banded together to create a federation of Soroptimist clubs, now called Soroptimist International of the Americas.

As Soroptimist clubs spread throughout North America in the years before World War II, they attracted outstanding women in the community, such as Bertha Knight Landes, the first woman elected as the mayor of a major American city (Seattle in 1925), and Mercy Ellen Crehan of Vancouver, British Columbia, the first woman certified accountant in Canada. Soroptimist projects and programs often focused on providing assistance to other women in the community, especially in the aftermath of the Great Depression. The war years provided additional opportunities for Soroptimists to assist women. For instance, one project focused on providing assistance to the Lanchow Nursing School in China, while others assisted women in gaining employment.

In the aftermath of World War II, Soroptimist began extending membership into communities in Central and South America. The first club outside of North America was formed in 1947 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. At this time, members also began contributing one penny for each year of Soroptimist’s existence to the Founders Week fund (now the Program Service Fund), which provided fellowships to women working in rare, distinctive and pioneering fields. Soroptimist also sponsored the Women’s Medical College of Pennsylvania during the 1950s with a $25,000 fund, and later sponsored research at the University of Toronto on the plight of the white-collar woman worker...  more...