The Legal Status of Gender-Segregated Clubs and Businesses

[Sir Robin Goodfellow]

Can any law-talkin' folks tell me if "men's clubs" are still legal? What have the courts had to say about this issue?

My mother goes to a gym that is for women only. Well, they market exclusively to women, I don't know what they'd do if a man actually tried to sign up. Can you have a business that expressly states that men (or women) are not allowed?

 

[lionking]

I can only speak for Australia, but women-only gyms can, and do, get exemption from anti-discrimination legislation because it is considered a greater good for some women to exercise in an environment they feel comfortable in. I can't argue with this as there are plenty of other gyms which men can use.

There are still a number of men only (and women only) clubs in Australia, but as they are on private land and don't operate as commercial entities, they can set their own membership rules. Again, I don't see a major problem with this.

Where I do see problems is where certain councils allow use of public facilities, like swimming pools, for Muslim women only. But this is really another subject.

 

[Sir Robin Goodfellow]

I seem to recall lawsuits years ago by women who wanted into golf clubs and the like, but I can't recall the specifics of any of these cases. I can't seem to get much information from Google, for some reason.

 

[Emet]

Here's a link from 2003:

Women-Only Health Clubs
An IHRSA Briefing Paper
Is the exclusion of men from “women-only” health clubs a violation of
anti-discrimination laws?

http://download.ihrsa.org/gr/womenonly.pdf

 

[Architect]

IIRC they are in Scotland but (and I love this) some local drinks licencing bodies were considering removing said legal documentation by way of back-door encouragement for equal rights.

 

[Beerina]

I seem to recall lawsuits years ago by women who wanted into golf clubs and the like, but I can't recall the specifics of any of these cases. I can't seem to get much information from Google, for some reason.

In the US, there was a Supreme Court case where a woman sued to get into an all-men's club because that's where the power brokers operated. IIRC, she won, but that was part of the '70s more liberal courts.

 

[mediocrity511]

I can only speak for Australia, but women-only gyms can, and do, get exemption from anti-discrimination legislation because it is considered a greater good for some women to exercise in an environment they feel comfortable in. I can't argue with this as there are plenty of other gyms which men can use.

There are still a number of men only (and women only) clubs in Australia, but as they are on private land and don't operate as commercial entities, they can set their own membership rules. Again, I don't see a major problem with this.

Where I do see problems is where certain councils allow use of public facilities, like swimming pools, for Muslim women only. But this is really another subject.

They have swimming sessions for Muslim women only or they have women only swimming sessions that happen to be used by Muslims? The latter is the situation we have in the UK, which is a reasonable situation to me, whereas if you had to somehow demonstrate you were Muslim before being allowed in then that would be unacceptable.

 

[Aepervius]

Here's a link from 2003:


http://download.ihrsa.org/gr/womenonly.pdf

The end quote summarize it all:

Laws and the courts have permitted different treatment in public accommodations based
on gender where there is an obvious privacy issue, such as bathrooms or showers.
However, the issue of single-sex health clubs has yet to be fully played out. To date, there
are no federal precedents dealing with this issue. In a changing world of social norms, the
law has some catching up to do. Until courts or legislatures send a clear message, the best
thing a club can do is cover all of its bases and have solid basis for its membership and
hiring policies.

 

[Sir Robin Goodfellow]

Very interesting link. It says that men-only clubs are not necessarily discriminatory, as well.

 

[Puppycow]

The Augusta National Golf Club, which hosts The Masters golf tournament is a men-only club. It was only in 1990 that they accepted their first black member.

ETA: Oh, and it's by invitation-only. You can't apply to be a member, they have to invite you.

 

[Floyt]

ETA: Oh, and it's by invitation-only. You can't apply to be a member, they have to invite you.

Which is probably the safest way to go about keeping a gender-restricted club. Sure, yo momma's allowed to join, but no-one's going to actually invite her!