The Sylvia Whitlock Leadership Award honors one Rotary member each year who has actively worked to advance women in Rotary. It is named for the first female Rotary club president, who went on to lead change for women around the world through Rotary.
A group of Rotarians established the award in 2017. The Rotary International Board of Directors decided in 2021 to make it an official RI award to support the goal of increasing the number of women in Rotary, particularly in leadership positions. There was not a recipient for this award in 2021-22.
Nominations are open from 1-31 August each year. Rotarians and Rotaractors can nominate any member in good standing, regardless of their gender or length of Rotary membership.
Recipients
2025-26: Mayan Raslan, Egypt
“True success is collective. When you succeed, let others rise with you. Empower a woman, and you ignite a force that no obstacle can silence.”
Mayan Raslan is a Rotary trailblazer and advocate for women’s empowerment. A member of the Rotary Club of Cairo Royal, she made history as Egypt’s first female district governor. With more than 40 years of experience in development and vocational training, she established the district’s first women’s empowerment committee, expanded leadership opportunities for women, and implemented districtwide strategies to increase female membership. She has also served as district Rotary Foundation chair, chair of the Egypt PolioPlus Committee, assistant Rotary public image coordinator, and Rotary public image coordinator for Zone 22. She’s also a member of The Rotary Foundation Cadre of Technical Advisers.
Raslan is the president of the Egyptian Feminist Union and the chair of the Alliance for Arab Women. Through her work in these organizations, she taught hundreds of women about microloans, empowering them economically and socially.
Raslan has led large-scale community development initiatives, including economic empowerment programs for women, employment fairs, literacy classes, medical convoys, clean water installations, and vocational training centers. One of her most enduring legacies is leading the construction of one school and the renovation of 20 others in her region. She was recognized with Rotary’s Service Above Self Award and The Rotary Foundation Citation for Meritorious Service. Named as one of Egypt’s Top 50 Influential Women by the Top 50 Women Forum, Raslan continues to leverage her expertise to advance women’s roles in Rotary and create lasting change.
2024-25: Ayda Özeren, Turkey
“I believe in the power of small compassionate actions and the importance of helping women even if it seems like a drop in the ocean. Each act of kindness has the potential to make a significant difference in someone’s life. Empowering women helps to build stronger communities, and peace is only possible when you include women in decision making.”
Ayda Özeren, a Rotary past district governor, is a member of The Rotary Foundation Cadre of Technical Advisers and a Positive Peace Activator. She joined a Rotaract club in 1994 and became a member of the Rotary Club of Izmir-Gündogdu, Turkey, in 2003. Her Rotary career includes leadership roles at the club and district levels and as a participant in a Group Study Exchange.
With a background in finance and banking, Özeren is an author, a mediator, and a professional speaker. She works with leaders and organizations to create peace, resolve conflict, and transform vision into results. Her efforts have supported women and girls in Rotary and beyond, including through scholarships and mentorships. She also has facilitated financial literacy workshops for more than 10,000 women.
Özeren also has taken part in projects that aided people impacted by Turkey’s 2023 earthquakes, such as the Golden Needle Project, started by Rotary and Rotaract clubs before the disaster to help women learn how to use their sewing and embroidery skills to work in the ready-made clothing industry. Women in the program produced clothing for earthquake victims. In addition, revenue from a book that Özeren published in 2021 has provided high school scholarships for girls.
2023-24: Manjoo Phadke, India
“We firmly believe that by coming together as Rotarians, we can create a ripple effect of positive change, transforming lives and communities.”
Manjoo Phadke, 2023-24 governor of District 3131 and a past president of the Rotary Club of Pune Deccan Gymkhana, Maharashtra, India, has used her experience as an entrepreneur and corporate trainer to work for gender equality and promote diversity, equity, and inclusion. She has helped women and girls in India get necessary health care by setting up medical checkup and mammography clinics and has led vaccination and menstrual hygiene campaigns. Phadke has also mentored female entrepreneurs, organized job fairs for young women, and equipped many women with practical skills including digital, legal, and financial literacy.
2022-23: Chin Mei Lu, Taiwan
"We as Rotarians are like lantern-carrying people in the dark corners of society, bringing light to others and helping make the world a brighter place."
Chin Mei Lu of the Rotary Club of Taipei Taimei, Taiwan, has spent more than 30 years working for women, girls, and others around the world. She has helped educate girls in Nepal, immunized children in India, supported girls in Uganda who have learned to sew menstrual belts, and helped people in Taiwan who are blind. Lu traveled to Nepal and India in 2006-07 to assist with a project that enabled girls who didn’t have housing to attend school. She cooperated with local agencies to obtain supplies, food, uniforms, and sponsorship funds for the girls, many of whom were at risk of being trafficked into sex work or child labor.
2019-20: Jennifer Jones, Canada
"I've always wanted to carve my own path. Sometimes that's meant taking risks and making yourself open to new experiences."
Jennifer Jones, of the Rotary Club of Windsor-Roseland, Ontario, Canada, served as Rotary International’s president in 2022-23 — the first woman in that role. She set an example by serving in many leadership positions before that, including as the first woman in her district to become governor and the first woman to be moderator of the International Assembly. Jones, whose background is in media and television production, has worked to raise Rotary’s profile globally and has been dedicated to inspiring, empowering, and enabling women in Rotary — from being more active in their clubs to seeking the highest leadership positions.
2018-19: Diane Collins, Australia
“Rotary is a vehicle that can achieve and help world understanding and peace be possible.”
Diane Collins, of the Rotary Club of Freshwater Bay, Western Australia, Australia, has been committed to the advancement of women in Rotary since 1973, first as the partner of a Rotary senior leader and then as a member. Before joining Rotary herself, Collins encouraged other partners of members to get involved with Rotary’s efforts and to attend leadership events. She successfully advocated that partners be included in sessions at the International Assembly. She has taken part in numerous service projects that have benefited girls and women, including one that delivered 24,000 microscopes to schools in Australia and nearby countries in Asia and the Pacific Islands in order to encourage children’s interest in science.
2017-18: Dean Rohrs, Canada
“We must continue with the mentorship of the women that are coming in our footsteps behind us… We need to be there together. We need to help each other. We need to support. We are women in Rotary.”
Dean Rohrs, a member of the Rotary Club of Langley Central, British Columbia, Canada, and the 2017-18 RI vice president, has helped people around the world as a part of Rotary. Rohrs, who volunteered to assist refugees in Zambia as a teenager, has been part of Rotary initiatives to build a school for girls in Malawi and schools in South Africa. She also took part in water projects in Nigeria, Liberia, and Taiwan, and spent more than a decade working in Russia to grow Rotary and support members there. She has been committed to bringing equality, opportunity and respect to all, through with tolerance, diplomacy and mentorship.
2016-17: Carolyn Jones, USA
“I joined Rotary because I thought I was going to give back to the community. One way I changed was in seeing that we are truly all one world community.”
Carolyn Jones, of the Rotary Club of Anchorage East, Alaska, USA, was the first woman to be president of her club. She was also the first woman to be governor of District 5010, the largest in Rotary at the time, which included Alaska, the Yukon, and eastern Russia. As governor, she visited all 25 Rotary clubs in eastern Russia and founded the Children of Russia project, which helped young people in eastern Russia with grants from The Rotary Foundation. She was the first woman to be a Trustee of The Rotary Foundation, serving from 2005-09. In 2014, she was recognized as a Rotary Woman of Action during a ceremony at the White House.
2016-17: Sylvia Whitlock, USA
“What you do for other people is what really counts. That’s what makes you feel good, too…what you do for other people.”
Sylvia Whitlock is a Rotary pioneer, an educator, a humanitarian, a longtime advocate for women in Rotary, and the inspiration for this award.
In 1982, Whitlock joined a club in Duarte, California, USA, whose membership in Rotary International had previously been revoked because Rotary clubs were not permitted to admit women as members at that time. In 1987, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Rotary clubs could not exclude women from membership on the basis of gender. In the same year, Whitlock served as the first female Rotary club president.
Whitlock, who has a doctorate in education and had a long career as an educator and therapist, is a member of the Rotary Club of Claremont, California. She has participated in National Immunization Days and established a clinic in Jamaica for people who have AIDS. She has also supported an orphanage in Mexico, participated in projects in Nigeria to provide clean drinking water, and raised almost US$90,000 to educate girls in India.