BPW members decide they will disband
By Steve Herring
Published in News on October 12, 2015 1:46 PM
The Wayne/Duplin Business and Professional Women's Club will cease to exist in April after 50 some years of championing causes for business and professional women.
At one point there were BPW clubs in Mount Olive and Goldsboro. The clubs later merged to form the Wayne/Duplin BPW, which currently has only six members.
"Unfortunately, this is the last year that the Wayne/Duplin BPW is going to be in existence," club President Barbara Bozeman said. "We had a very strong membership for a very long time and unfortunately our membership has been waning and our participation has been waning. We have not been able to get it moving like we had hoped to.
"We made the decision about two weeks ago that this was going to be our last year as club. Every year for a very, very long time we have given out two scholarships in April. This is going to be our last year to do that. We are also looking at increasing the number of scholarships that we offer this year because it is the last year."
A large number of the membership has come from the University of Mount Olive and the Mount Olive area, she said.
The last official meeting will be held in April when the club normally presents scholarships.
"So we are just going to do one or two meetings between now and then and determine how we are going to do the final scholarships," Ms. Bozeman said. "Those of us who wish to continue are going to be what (state BPW) considers members at-large. That means we are still part of the state organization."
Club members have been trying hard to not only keep the club going, but to revitalize it by attracting new and younger members, she said.
Unfortunately those efforts have not been successful, she said.
"We are not the only club in the state that has been struggling that way," Ms. Bozeman said. "Then again there are some with a very active membership and dynamic program.
"I really hate to see us go in this direction. We worked really hard to try and not let this happen. I think it is a struggle to offer something that someone wants bad enough to put the commitment in. I think there is a little difference in people's thought processes as to what community is.
"These kinds of organizations at one time were the way to connect you to the community. People have found there are different ways for that. So organizations like us, you really struggle to find that thing of value that enough people are going to get behind or want to be a part of. It is very challenging."
The popularity or appeal of clubs like the BPW was that it offered women getting into business a voice or place that they could go whether it was for assistance or just mutual support, she said.
Even though more and more women are getting into business, there is still that large need, Ms. Bozeman said.
They are just finding other ways to fill it, she said.
One of the focal points of BPW was trying to secure passage of the Equal Rights Amendment, she said.
That has not happened and North Carolina remains one of the holdout states on ratifying the amendment, Ms. Bozeman said.
"An interesting circumstance is I don't think anybody thought we would get to this point where we still couldn't get the ERA ratified," Ms. Bozeman said. "Now we have a generation of women coming up who don't realize that it hasn't been ratified just based on some of the conduct of laws and employers.
"But they don't realize what can happen, or potentially can happen or does go on and why it is so important to have it."