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A female lingerie entrepreneur is launching legal action against Garrick Club over breaches of British equality laws.
For the first time in 189 years, the “men only” club may be forced to admit women as members.
Founded in 1831, the exclusive Garrick Club has received famous guests with hospitality.
However, the distinguished club does not allow memberships for women. The London-based Garrick club strictly operates on a men-only policy, but that may be about to change.
The Garrick Club welcomes 1,400 male members and has greeted notable guests such as Charles Dickens, H.G. Wells and others, according to the Daily Mail. The Garrick Club is one of the last “men only” facilities in the U.K.
Now, Emily Bendell, lingerie tycoon and founder of Bluebella, is launching a legal case against the men only club citing it breaches the Equality Act of 2010, according to a Reuters report. The act protects women and minorities from discrimination.
The proposed legal action will be seeking an injunction that prevents Garrick Club from continuing its “men only” membership policy, the Daily Mail reported.
Women are allowed as guests in most areas of the club but they are not allowed to obtain memberships. According to the Daily Mail, Bendell calls the men-only policy “discriminatory” and illegal. She added that women are treated like “second-class citizens on the whim of a man.”
Bendell said she was “shocked” to find out that men only memberships were still operating in the U.K., Reuters reported.
“This is a really influential club,” Bendell told Reuters. “It’s excluding women from those connections and all those invisible relationships that propagate power.”
Bendell and her lawyers sent a pre-legal action letter to Garrick Club stating that their men-only policy violates the 2010 Equality Act, The Guardian reported. According to the act, single-sex organisations, such as sports teams, are allowed to operate, but businesses cannot discriminate based on sex.
Bendell’s lawyers contend that because the Garrick Club operates a restaurant and guest rooms, it is unlawful to prohibit women from using the facility the same way male membership holders do.
“Only men are able to become members of the Garrick Club and make full use of the services that it provides,” the pre-legal action letter states, according to The Guardian. “Male members are allowed to bring female guests into the club, but women are not able to pay for themselves when they attend, become members themselves, book the facilities that men can book, access certain parts of the club at all, or access exclusive member events. In essence, women are only able to access the club’s services as second-class citizens on the whim of a man who has to both invite and pay for them.”
Bendell was allegedly motivated to pursue legal action after she wanted to become a member but was not allowed.
The Guardian reported that Bendell remarked that she was treated “less favourably” than a man who sought a membership the same way she did.
“This is a serious issue that needs addressing. I couldn’t believe that these clubs existed, that were men only,” Bendell told The Guardian. “I was just really surprised and shocked. If this was a tiny little club with four members in the in the back of beyond, then that would be one thing, but this is a club in the middle of London with QCs and MPs as members – these are people who are running the country. It is really, really concerning.”
The Garrick Club did not acknowledge a Reuters request for comment concerning the legal action against them.
What do you think will be the outcome of the pre-legal action taken against Garrick Club? Do you think they will begin to allow women to obtain memberships or fight to keep the prestigious club the way it is? Tell us how you feel in the comments.
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