Golf clubs to face EU ban under gender bias rules
Thursday January 05 2006
in Brussels
GOLF clubs that do not treat women as equals to men are to be outlawed by the European Union.
The new law will ban all discrimination on gender grounds and will mean Irish clubs cannot continue to have a second-class status for women.
But there's one loophole to the new law, since it would let single-sex organisations continue to exist as an expression of "freedom of association".
This could mean golf clubs that held out against admitting women members in any form may be shielded from the directive, while clubs serving both sexes are not. Clubs that admit both men and women but discriminate against one sex by banning them from the bar or restricting tee times will be banned once the directive takes effect.
The clubs still have nearly two years to adjust their ways, as the directive doesn't have to take effect until December 2007.
The issue was raised by the Labour MEP, Proinsias de Rossa, who asked the Commission to confirm if the new directive to prohibit discrimination on the grounds of gender in the field of goods and services would also apply to leisure activities.
He asked if the new law would "deal precisely with the problem of gender discrimination that is still practised in certain golf clubs in Member States?, Last night, EU Commission officials were adamant that all sports activities, including golf clubs would be covered by the new legislation.
In the most notorious case here, Portmarnock Golf Club won a High Court case during the summer to uphold its policy towards women.
The landmark judgment meant women cannot become full members of the exclusive club, but they can continue to play, once they pay green fees. Mr Justice Kevin O'Higgins found at the time that the all-male club could be run on the same basis, as a Catholics-only chess club or a Bulgarian-only Bridge club.
The ruling overturned a District Court decision in May, 2004, that suspended the club's liquor licence for seven days after finding the ban on women members was discriminatory.
The dispute centres on one of the club's rules which provides that the club should consist of "members and associate members who shall be gentlemen properly elected and who shall conform with the rules of amateur status".
The club was founded in 1894 and has 662 members and 625 associate members.
Now the Supreme Court may have to adjudicate on whether the payment of green fees amounts to a form of membership or not.
It's likely the European legal interpretation will be used by the Equality Authority to back up its appeal.
The authoriy had warned that the ruling would set a precedent for the discrimination against both women and ethnic minorities.
