Who we are: Soroptimist International is a global volunteer movement.  We commit to a world where women and girls together, achieve their individual and collective potential, realise aspirations and have an equal voice in creating strong, peaceful communities worldwide. There are around 400 Soroptimists in Yorkshire and 17 clubs 72,000 Soroptimists Worldwide There are nearly 72,000 Soroptimists worldwide, the majority of whom belong to their local Club, where they can make friends with like-minded women, have fun and work on projects that help improve the lives of women and girls locally, nationally and internationally. Soroptimist International Great Britain and Ireland (SIGBI) also offers Associate Membership, for busy women who believe in what we do but do not have the time to get involved in Club activities. Soroptimist International (SI) and SIGBI both have consultative status at the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) at the United Nations (UN), which gives us

We work to help improve the lives of women and girls worldwide, using our networks to deliver projects relevant in our own localities or further afield.  Many of the problems facing women and girls are the same everywhere, for example gender inequality, but there are particular problems in each continent, country, region and locality. Our special status at the United Nations  helps us to engage with UN entities as well as Soroptimists worldwide. Our current focus is helping to implement projects which work toward achievement of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs – https://sdgs.un.org/goals). We do this through our own projects and through working in partnership with others at home and abroad. Click on the images behind this link to see projects that are being undertaken in the UK and across the world. PROJECTS IN YORKSHIRE SOROPTIMIST CLUBS Once a quarter Yorkshire members meet somewhere

Yorkshire members talk about being a Soroptimist and why it is important to them: ‘ Being a member of Soroptimist International is important to me because it provides a network of women, who have given me the confidence and ability to help other women’.                                                                                                              Catherine Whittingham. SI Dewsbury ‘Being a member of SI is important to me because it offers friendship with like minded people looking to try and  improve the lives of those who are less fortunate than myself.’              Elizabeth Ellis of SI Scarborough, in

  You are welcome to visit a club you are thinking of joining, and will always find a welcome there if you do join. Soroptimism is a network of friendship as well as activism. Every year the region’s officers  meet with new members from across the region. Yesterday we talked about what engages and motivates us as Soroptimists. Everyone spoke of how the friendships we form endure, support us, make our work enjoyable, enable us to visit Soroptimist clubs wherever we are in the world. Clubs have a variety of social events to which they invite their Soroptimist friends across the region. Clubs also have friendships with clubs across the world.