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Kōrero: Men’s clubs

Lions and Jaycees membership, 1944–2006

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Lions and Jaycees membership, 1944–2006

Service clubs grew fast in New Zealand in the 30 years after the Second World War, and were particularly associated with the growth of the suburbs. However from the 1980s, as increasing numbers of middle-class women entered the workforce, there was growing resistance to men spending their spare time on male-exclusive activities. The cities offered increasing opportunities for other forms of recreation attractive to mixed groups, and membership of Lions and Jaycees fell. The decline was particularly marked among the Jaycees, who had an upper age restriction of 40 years. As members reached that age, many Jaycees' clubs closed, and in 2011 there were fewer than 100 members nationwide.

Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi

Te Ara - The Encyclopedia of New Zealand

Source: Vince Boyle, Golden service!: a history of 50 years of Lions in New Zealand and the South Pacific. Wellington: Lions International, 2004; Graham and Susan Butterworth, Jaycee: developers of people, builders of communities. Wellington: Ngaio Press, 2007, pp. 247–248.

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Ngā whakaahua me ngā rauemi katoa o tēnei kōrero

Me pēnei te tohu i te whārang

Jock Phillips, Men’s clubs – Service clubs, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/mi/graph/31289/lions-and-jaycees-membership-1944-2006 (accessed 4 June 2026).

He kōrero nā Jock Phillips, i tāngia i te 10 May 2011.