Denise Alessandrini has spent more than 20 years in the Prince of Piedmont Lodge of the Order Sons and Daughters of Italy in America. As president of the women’s auxiliary, she’s usually at the lodge a couple times a week, helping to plan fundraisers that support scholarships and other worthy causes.

But until April 13, there was one important thing she couldn’t do: vote on lodge business. “Women were always ‘social members,’” she said. “Now, we will be able to attend the meetings and we’ll have a vote.” Alessandrini, 60, who lives just a few blocks from the lodge in Wilmington’s Little Italy neighborhood, was one of about 50 women inducted as full, voting members in the April 13 ceremony.