WHAT
IS ZONTA?
Zonta
International was founded in 1919 in Buffalo, NY during the U.S.
campaign for women's rights and celebrated its 85th birthday on
Nov. 8, 2004. Zonta is the worldwide service organization of
executives in business and the rofessions, working to improve the
legal, political, economic and professional status of women
worldwide.
There
are 1254 clubs in 68 countries with over 33,000 women united in Zonta
goals of giving service and working together to advance the
status of women. Zonta takes its name from the Lakota Sioux
Indian word meaning "honest and trustworthy." Some of
our more famous Zontians include Amelia Earhart, Margaret
Thatcher, Corazon Aquino, Jehan Sadat, Liv Ullman, Celeste Holm
and Sally Ride!
As
early as the 1920s Zonta worked for women and orphaned children
in Smyrna, Turkey and for the education of Serbian girls, and
funded vocational education for girls in the United States. Zonta
has demonstrated a continuing commitment to the education of
women in a variety of programs, especially the Amelia Earhart
Fellowships. Since 1938 Zonta has awarded more than 1,000
Fellowships totaling almost US$5.5 million.
Zonta
has consultative status at the United Nations, including with
UNICEF and UNIFEM, which address critical women's issues in
developing countries. Zonta maintains representatives at UN sites
in Geneva, New York,
Since
1956, Zonta's formal International Service program has provided
more than $6 million for projects benefiting over 2 million women
in more than 25 countries. Past projects included aid to post
World War II refugees in
manufacturing
in Guatemala, funded a revolving loan fund in Egypt, worked to
reduce the incidence of female genital circumcision in Burkina
Faso, vaccinated women against maternal and neonatal tetanus in
Nepal and Afghanistan, combated violence against women and girls
in India, and fought the trafficking of women and girls in Bosnia
and Herzegovina.
For more details, also visit the ZONTA INTERNATIONAL website: http://www.zonta.org