Private members' clubs to be banned from treating women as 'second class citizens'

13 April 2012

Golf for all: Harriet Harman wants to end private members' clubs restricting female access


Private members' clubs will be banned from treating women as 'second- class citizens' under new laws.

Equalities minister Harriet Harman wants to make it illegal for golf clubs and working men's clubs to restrict women's access or deny them the right to vote as full members.

Only half the 2,500 working men's clubs give women full membership rights while some golf clubs stop them playing at the weekend, restrict access to the course or bar them from the running of the club.

The plans are sure to face opposition from club owners  -  and even equalities groups say the proposals could distract from their key aim of equal pay.

The announcement was made in the Commons yesterday by deputy Labour leader Miss Harman, who has been dubbed Harriet Harperson for her feminist views.

She said it is only fair that existing laws banning clubs from discriminating on the grounds of race, disability and sexual orientation should be extended to include women. The changes will be contained in an Equalities Bill to be published in the coming weeks.

She said: 'Later this month, I hope to be able to set out to the House what the Bill's provisions are.

'But I can say that the Bill will ensure that clubs that offer membership to both women and men will no longer be able to discriminate against women. They will have to treat men and women equally.'

However, the new measures will not affect single- sex clubs such as the Women's Institute.

They will only affect mixed-sex clubs where women have lower membership status than men. The Equality Bill is also expected to give women the right to breastfeed in public places. While the contents of the Bill are yet to be confirmed, ministers have also suggested forcing businesses to conduct 'pay audits'  -  reviewing salaries to ensure men are not paid more than female colleagues.

A spokesman for the Cabinet Office said: 'Where there is mixed membership we believe all should be treated equally, and that women should not be second class citizens.'

Katherine Rake, director of women's equality campaigners the Fawcett Society, said: 'That sort of discrimination has no place in modern-day society, so we welcome this.

'But we hope the Bill also includes measures to ensure men and women are on equal pay.

'But if this legislation does nothing more than allow women golfers to play at certain times, it won't do much to improve equality for the vast majority of women.'

The Conservative spokesman for women, Theresa May, said: 'Having campaigned on this issue for some time, I welcome the fact that the Government has decided to include this in the Equality Bill. However I'm disappointed that it is taking them so long to bring the Equality Bill forward.'


Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in