Guys rule in local Jaycees
STERLING – Despite dwindling membership, the Sterling Rock Falls Jaycees remains a men-only group.
Some of the group’s leaders say that’s the way it’s always been, that it’s not by design. They say they wouldn’t deny a woman membership – they can’t by law.
But the chapter president said the group avoids open recruiting to diminish the likelihood a woman will seek to join.
The state Jaycees director said she doesn’t believe the Sterling-Rock Falls chapter excludes people from joining, but she’s “not encouraging” the way it goes about finding new members.
She points out that the organization does “tremendous things” for the community.
Of the 77 Jaycees chapters in Illinois, Sterling-Rock Falls is one of two that is all-male.
“Our group, locally, has always been a men’s organization. ... That’s just the way it’s always been,” said Brett Wells, the vice president for community development.
“If a woman wanted to join, we would have to let her. ... That’s the rules.”
That’s because the U.S. Supreme Court in 1984 ruled that the U.S. Jaycees had to give women full voting rights across all local, state and national chapters.
Until then, the national Jaycees had been a men-only organization since starting in 1920.
The Jaycees’ national charter now does not allow women to be excluded.
Both Wells and chapter President Nick Hubbard said they aren’t aware any woman ever has asked to join locally. They said they would admit any woman who did ask.
Yet when Hubbard was asked to provide a phone number people could call to seek membership, he asked that it not be published because he feared legal action from women who might be discouraged from joining.
He said recruiting is done entirely by “word of mouth.”
The chapter accepts people between the ages of 21 and 40 – Jaycees stands for Junior Chamber. Nationally, Jaycees can accept members between 18 and 21, but bylaws allow local chapters to make the minimum age 21 because many members drink during meetings.
Illinois Jaycees Director Kathy Crick said the Sterling-Rock Falls chapter would have to admit any women who asked to join.
“I can see that no one has ever pushed the question. ... If a woman walked in and said, ‘I want to be a member,’ they would have to admit her,” Crick said. “Do they exclude people to my knowledge? No.”
In the meantime, she said, neither the state nor national Jaycees will step in.
“I think the community of Sterling-Rock Falls has accepted the way they’ve always done it,” Crick said. “But I’m not encouraging it.”
Crick largely defended the Sterling-Rock Falls chapter, saying the local organization does “tremendous things for the community,” and that the president needs “a coaching” on discussing the group’s position.
Amy Huffman, an attorney from Sterling, said she has worked closely with the Jaycees for several years on community events and has “never really given it a second thought” that the club was all men.
“They’re a fantastic organization that does fantastic things for the community,” Huffman said, pointing to collections for municipal fireworks and the Needy Kids Christmas, which offers low-income children a holiday meal and Christmas presents.
“Those are big deals for our community,” Huffman said. “If that’s how they want to organize, I have no problem with it. ... My hat’s off to the people that do go to the meetings and spend time away from their families.”
But membership has dropped significantly in the past decade. Hubbard said the organization has lost roughly three-fourths of its active members – those who regularly attend twice-monthly meetings and participate in fundraisers.
The membership decline led to the cancellation of this year’s haunted house in Rock Falls.
“Last couple of years, we’ve been trying to attract new members,” Wells said. “We’ve never had recruiting be an issue. ... It’s kind of discouraging when it gets to that point.”
