Womenpayahigh priceforequality

February 1992

It is now a year since Wexford Golf Club struck a blow for equality by agreeing to offer women full membership and the right to vote on club decisions.

Before last year’s AGM, women could only avail of associate membership which excluded them from holding club officerships or casting a vote at annual meetings.

Then in the midst of a national furore about sexism on the golfing green, the Wexford Club voted by three to one to allow women become full members if they so wished.

A year has passed and note female member of the club has taken up the option. Why? Because in most cases, the status quo is cheaper.

The difference between associate membership and full membership for a single woman golfer is a not insignificant matter of £150 per year. For a couple paying a husband and wife rate, the extra cost in switching to two full memberships would be even more.

Most women members of Wexford Golf Club are paying on the basis of family or husband and wife rates, and to take up the new equal rights offer would cost them dearly.

In any event, women members of Wexford Golf Club enjoy far more freedom than their sisters in Dublin clubs, according to club captain Adrian Doyle.

They have their own ladies section with a committee and officers, they have a ladies day every week, and are also entitled to play golf on other days, when there are no men’s competitions running.

Women in Dublin golf clubs face far greater restrictions than their country counterparts, and to them, full membership appears to be a necessary solution. In Wexford, the offer is open, but nobody is interested.