Another male-dominated bastion has recently fallen.
Last Tuesday night the all-male Lions Club of Port of Spain Central, the first lions club formed in Trinidad forty years ago, and the last to remain all-male, inducted two young women at their den on Wrightson Road Extension.
A fortnight ago, Harvard Sports Club voted to allow women into their membership. The two remaining all-male clubs are the Queen's Park Cricket Club, and Clydesdale which stands at the corner of Havelock Street and St Clair Avenue, opposite the oval.
The two ladies who have so bravely ventured into this lions club, made up of men mostly over the age of fifty, are 43 year old Cathy Shepherd and 39 year old Christine Nunes. What made the occasion even more unique was the fact that they were sponsored by their fathers, both past District Governors, Lions Raymond Shepherd and Terry Inniss. In this club, one other Lion, Ron Williams, has sponsored his son, Lion Clint, Corporate Manager Communications with the national airline.
The induction of the two women was carried out by past District Governor, Lion Adrian Franklin, also a member of the club, at a meeting chaired by Vice President, Lion Jack Williams.
As one of the club's banners accidentally tumbled to the ground minutes before the induction ceremony, some Lions thought it an omen. For Lion Cathy, an Information Specialist with the Economic Intelligence Unit of Republic Bank Limited, it was "a sign that sexism has fallen down in this club, that is the banner falling down, no omen."
The graduate of St Joseph's Convent, Port of Spain, who obtained a first degree at the University of the West Indies, and a Master of Library Science at the University of Pittsburgh, explained that two things led to her accepting the invitation from her father to become a member of his club.
"Knowing I would be among the first women in this club. I have been very involved in the women's movement in Trinidad and Tobago where we have a perception of Lions Clubs that they are male dominated, conservative and traditional oriented clubs, and I saw this as an opportunity to not stand on the sidelines and criticise but to become a part of it and influence from within."
"And because I have a lot of experience in other kinds of service organisations, such as, the Rape Crisis Society, Caribbean Association For Feminist Research and Action, and a group called T&T HIV Aids Association, I saw my past experience and contribution relevant to the work of the lions."
Lion Christine, a graduate of Bishop Anstey High School and the University of Western Ontario, is Assistant Manager - Commercial Banking at RBTT Limited's Independence Square Branch. She is married to Brian and has two children, Megan 11 and Brandon 9. There was more than one reason for her decision to leap into a lions den. "First of all I have been around the lions all my life, my father joined the organisation when I was not yet three years old, and have always admired the work they do in the community."
"Also recently I have been helping with the Special Olympics and St Dominic's Home, but rather sporadically as my children were quite young. Now that they are older, it is the right time, especially as I have always wanted to serve the community. I also like the Lions Code of Ethics which is definitely in line with my beliefs and way of life."