The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Girls allowed
As another boys’ club opens to females Caroline Lindsay and Jack McKeown meet the women breaking down barriers – and the girls who’d rather stay separate
As doors that were once barred to women are thrown open, some females are still happier out of the boy zone.
So it’s official. Muirfield, the world’s oldest golf club, has entered into the 21st Century. At the second time of asking, members voted by more than 80% to allow women to join the club for the first time in its 273-year history.
Members were asked to allow female patrons last year but the vote fell just short of the two-thirds majority required.
The move prompted worldwide criticism and resulted in the R&A withdrawing Muirfield from the list of clubs where the Open can be held.
However, it’s only a couple of years since the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews – not to be confused with governing body the R&A – accepted its first female members.
Renee Powell was one of the first clutch of women to be made a member of the club, which dates back to 1754, in a ceremony held in February 2015.
The 71-year-old American manages Clearview Golf Course in Ohio but considers St Andrews her second home and was given an honorary degree from the town’s university in 2008.
Her late father Bill was a trailblazer in his own right as the first African American to build, own and operate a US golf course and Renee’s only regret is that he didn’t live long enough to see his daughter join the hallowed ranks of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews.
“The captain hosted a luncheon for us,” she remembers. “The Open was on and it was amazing.
“As I walked into the room I felt my father’s presence and I also felt that all the women before me who couldn’t be members were beside me.
“I wasn’t treated like I was a female member of the R&A. I was treated like I was a member of the R&A.”
Renee was acutely aware that the moment was an historic one.
“It was a fantastic milestone,” she says. “I look at the R&A as the epitome. When they broke the barrier it opened a lot of eyes and created a great deal of awareness.
“I’d certainly never really stopped to consider how remarkable it was that women weren’t allowed in as members in the 21st Century. As soon as you stop to think about it you realise it’s not right. For the R&A to vote to make the change makes others sit up and take notice.
“It felt amazing to be in there as a member – it still does.”
And golf is not the only arena where the barricades are being breached.
Quietly and far less controversial than the Muirfield vote, one of the last allmale bastions in Dundee welcomed its first woman just a few weeks ago.
The Bonnetmakers, one of the Nine Incorporated Trades of Dundee, opened its doors to Mary Crighton on March 8 – International Women’s Day.
The date was a coincidence but an appropriate one for the arrival of the first female member in the organisation’s 521-year history.
“The Bonnetmakers was founded in 1496,” explains its deacon, Grant Lindsay.
“But the last bonnetmaker joined in 1790.” Women have never been banned from the trade – historically they could take their husband’s place if he died – but Mary is the first full member in its history.”
I wasn’t treated like I was a female member of the R&A. I was treated like a member
The 21st Century Trades have little connection with their original professions and the Bonnetmakers now exist as a charitable organisation.
Mary, a 65-year-old partner with Calders solicitors, is thrilled to have made her mark on the history books.
“I was made a member on International Women’s Day, which was quite fitting,” she says.
“It gives me a very nice feeling to be a member – and it’s a lovely link with Dundee’s past.”
While some women are knocking down the doors of previously male-dominated domains, other groups remain resolutely single sex.
Girls now make up 25% of Scouts – they were first allowed to join the venture scouts in 1976 and admission of girls has been compulsory across the movement since 2007. However, the Guides have yet to extend the same gesture to the boys and for Lesley Blyth, county commissioner for Girlguiding Dundee, that’s a good thing.
“It provides an opportunity for girls to thrive in a girl-only space, where they can be themselves,” she says.
The Guides (for ages 10-14) were established by Scouts founder Robert Baden-Powell in 1909 and were followed by the Brownies (ages seven to 10) in 1915, then the Rainbows (ages five to seven) in 1987. Their ethos – to empower girls and young women – has held strong for more than a century.
“We’re still committed to listening to what girls need and delivering new and inspiring opportunities through adventure, friendship and fun,” says Lesley.
However, as the needs of girls have changed, the organisation has listened and evolved too.
“We have established our girl-led peer education programme, training our peer educators to talk about subjects like body confidence, healthy relationships and other issues facing young women,” Lesley continues.
“We continue to focus on championing the voices of girls, lobbying the government as part of our Girls Matter campaign and establishing our youth panel, Advocate.”
Education is another area where the old same sex norms are crumbling but Kilgraston School, near Bridge of Earn is still just for girls. It’s a policy which appears to be paying dividends: the school had the top advanced higher results in Scotland last year.
With just 260 pupils in the senior school, and a small preparatory school, Kilgraston is proud of its family feel and older pupils are encouraged to act as big sisters to the little ones to help develop their leadership skills.
Dorothy MacGinty, head teacher, explains: “Our aim is to help each girl to become a responsible member of society, and to recognise her own selfvalue and capacity to be happy as well as her ability to bring joy to others.”
She believes an all-girl environment is the best way to foster this ethos.
“While many of our girls study subjects like maths and engineering, which, in the past, were considered to be a male preserve, it’s more to do with developing skills that employers are looking for,” she explains.
“They are less likely to do that in a mixed school.”
With a strict uniform code – skirts must be a certain length, hair must be tied back and no make-up is permitted – girls can wake up in the morning without having to worry too much about their appearances.
This frees them from some of the pressures of teenagehood, Dorothy reckons.
“There’s a time and place for makeup,” she says. “And the annual ball with our brother school Merchiston Castle in Edinburgh gives the older girls a chance to dress up and socialise with boys.”
Friendly debates between the two schools and sociable barbecues are also frequent events.
“The girls need to learn how boys reason and argue,” Dorothy continues. “They spend time on and off with the Merchiston pupils from S1 onwards, so they grow up with them, often becoming good friends.
“It’s not that we don’t like boys – it’s just that we like learning in a boy-free environment.”