Two major clubs in legal disputes over female representation

Two major golf clubs, one in the US and one in Australia, have found themselves in a legal dispute over allegations that they have discriminated against women.

Less than four percent of Pine Valley Golf Club in New Jersey’s workforce was female so it now must state that vacancies are open to “people of all genders”, while Concord Golf Club in Sydney is facing a tribunal hearing over a dispute surrounding men’s competitions on Saturdays.

Pine Valley Golf Club has agreed to a settlement in a discrimination complaint filed last year by the New Jersey Division on Civil Rights.

According to the complaint, the club recruited employees based on referrals from its mostly male workforce, resulting in the club having mostly male staff. Women, the complaint said, made up less than four percent of the club’s workforce, and often were working in positions in which they did not interact with members.

As part of the settlement, the club has agreed to pay $100,000 [about £80,000] to the New Jersey Division on Civil Rights, and endow two new scholarships worth a combined $100,000 to support women’s participation in golf.

Pine Valley Golf Club has also said it will end discriminatory hiring, housing and membership practices, as well as educate its workforce about the requirements of the state’s anti-discrimination laws, the Inquirer has reported. In addition, it will publicly post job openings and state on them that they are “equally accessible to people of all genders.” It must also advertise a minimum of 75 percent of those openings in at least two major online job posting websites, officials said. Word-of-mouth recruitment, as the complaint alleged was used, can no longer be relied upon as the club’s main method for hiring.

In order to ensure compliance with the agreement, the club will be required to submit annual reports detailing changes in employment and housing.

“The Division on Civil Rights continues to work tirelessly to end the abhorrent legacies of exclusion and misogyny,” New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin said in a statement. “New Jersey will not tolerate gender-based discrimination, and those who violate our laws will be held accountable.”

Meanwhile, Concord Golf Club has been accused of unlawfully discriminating against women by failing to provide equal access to its course and competitions.

Judith Kirby, a platinum member of Concord Golf Club, took the club to an anti-discrimination board last year, alleging women could only play on 18 holes six days of the week instead of seven, while male-only competitions also effectively precluded women on 32 of 52 Saturdays a year.

This was despite amendments to the club’s constitution in 2020 that abolished gender-based memberships in favour of gold and platinum categories open to all.
While the club made several concessions to Kirby, including changing playing arrangements on Wednesdays to give women more time, conciliation failed and the case has now escalated to a tribunal.

“They just won’t admit that they were discriminatory before, and they want me to withdraw the complaint and sign a private deed, and I’m not prepared to do that,” Kirby said.

“We’ve reached agreement [but] we can’t find a way to document that agreement that’s satisfactory to both parties,” club president Ian Crichton said.

In documents handed to the tribunal, Kirby says the club currently has 544 male and 31 female platinum members.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the parties have a history of conflict; in 1994, Kirby took the club to the Anti-Discrimination Board and won women the right to drink in the members’ bar.

Kirby was also aggrieved by a 2022 email from men’s captain Ken Lockery, who said men’s major events were held on a Saturday “so that men working full time during the week are not excluded”.

Lockery said Saturday was the most popular day for men to play, and Tuesday the most popular for women, so it made sense to arrange it that way. Mixed events are held on Sundays.

Concord Golf Club hosted the Australian PGA Championship in the early 1990s and the Women’s Australian Open in 2004.