Clause 1 - Discrimination: private clubs
Sex Discrimination (Clubs and Other Private Associations) Bill
4:30 pm
Mr David Wright (Telford, Labour)
It is a pleasure to be here this afternoon and to serve under your chairmanship, Mr. Gale. I have done so before and it has always been an enjoyable experience. I hope not to delay the Committee for too long. I thank hon. Members for supporting me this afternoon.
Clause 1 contains the essence of the Bill, which is about the right of women and men to be members, associates or guests of mixed-sex clubs without being subject to discrimination because of their sex. It also provides that, when men and women are invited as guests of a single-sex club, they must be accorded equal treatment. It might be worth my stating early in our proceedings what the Bill will not do. It will not require that single-sex clubs change their nature and admit members of the opposite sex. It will not force single-sex clubs to admit both men and women as guests. It will not require that women be admitted to mixed-sex clubs on preferential terms to men—indeed, it will outlaw that practice.
The Bill will end the old-fashioned, anomalous, insulting practice of some clubs of allowing women in, but treating them as second-class citizens. It will work by amending the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 from which private clubs are currently excluded. The measure is drafted in terms of discrimination against women because, in practice, it is intended to eliminate that problem. However, as I said on Second Reading, each reference to women applies equally to men. The Bill will protect men, too, from discrimination. Although I shall speak mainly about discrimination by clubs against women, my Bill will equally outlaw discrimination against men.
Clause 1 defines the organisations that the Bill will bring within the provisions of the Sex Discrimination Act: associations with 25 or more members whose membership is regulated by a constitution, so that they are not simply providing services to the public. A club
whose constitution restricts membership to persons of one sex will not be required to change its nature, but when an organisation admits both sexes—even if it does so on unequal terms at present—the clause will make it unlawful for that organisation to discriminate against a woman by refusing her membership or benefits, facilities or services that it provides to members under its terms of membership. That does not mean that a mixed-sex club cannot refuse to admit a woman, but that the terms and conditions of its membership must not discriminate against women.
Guests of mixed-sex clubs must also be treated without discrimination on the grounds of sex. In respect of guests only, the Bill will cover single-sex clubs of 25 or more members. When both men and women are invited as guests, it will be unlawful to treat women less favourably than men. Thus, if a male guest is free to use the main staircase or to buy a drink at the bar in a club, it will be unacceptable to require a woman guest to use the back stairs or to rely on a man to purchase her drinks—a very good thing, too, as most members of the Committee would agree.
The clause is quite long, providing definitions of members, associates and guests. It makes it clear that, for example, trade unions and employers' associations already covered by the Sex Discrimination Act do not fall within the scope of the Bill. A single-sex club that provides honorary or ex officio membership to an exceptional member of the excluded sex does not thereby forfeit its single-sex status for the purposes of the Bill. There has been some debate about whether Mrs. Thatcher could be a member of the Carlton club. I assure members of the Committee that, under the Bill, Mrs. Thatcher could be a member of the Carlton club because the clause would apply in such circumstances. I have nothing further to say about Mrs. Thatcher's membership of the Carlton club, save that I hope that she enjoys it.