We are three women, Irene James, Amanda Mitchell and Ellen Whiteley, who have been discriminated against by our local conservative social club.

When we win our case we hope that it will highlight the fact that the equality law is for all areas  and to give other female members of any private clubs the courage and strength to fight male-dominated social environments.

Even though its been a long journey just to get this far we will still be applying to join the committee after the court case as we will not be intimidated by the all male committee.

I have been a member for nearly ten years and wish to pursue a complaint in relation to the unlawful conduct of the Club’s Committee in denying myself along with Amanda and Ellen the opportunity of applying for Committee positions by amending and interpreting the Club’s Rules in a manner which discriminates against the Club’s female members.

We used to really enjoy our free time in the Club but now it is difficult to enter the premises without feeling that we have been ostracised just for standing up for ourselves and our beliefs. We believe that we have a right to be treated with respect in our own Club.

Since February 2016 the case has been handled by our solicitor and a barrister and will hopefully be heard in Manchester Civil Court within the next few months.

Its taken so long to get to this stage as the Conservative Club has refused to hand over documents and using delaying tactics which as not only frustrated us but our legal team and has increased our costs significantly.

Irene is retired and Amanda and Ellen only have modest incomes this is why we are asking for your help. 

We are hoping to raise at least £5,000 to pay for the initial legal work our solicitor and barrister has done. The overall fees are likely to be in the region of £27,000. We will be grateful for anything you can give.

Solicitor Statement.

In this day and age it’s fairly well recognised that we should no longer tolerate women being unfairly treated on the grounds of their gender at work however the reality is that such outdated views can still be found if you scratch below the surface – and not just in the workplace.

What led me to agree to work with Irene, Amanda and Ellen on their case was its slightly unusual background in that it relates to allegations that the Club in question discriminated against them in terms of their ability as women to access the benefits of Club membership readily afforded to it’s male members.

It’s hoped that by bringing this claim Irene, Amanda and Ellen will have the opportunity to demonstrate the importance of eradicating behaviours that frankly have no place in modern society.

Regards 

Tim Fielding

Solicitor and Director

Barker Booth and Eastwood

What the impact of the case will be

We believe this will be the first case to be brought under the Equality Act (2010) against a private members club.

In 2016 it is outrageous that certain individuals and the committee of a members club still have a sexist and outdated attitude to woman.This sort of behaviour that still goes on in that club would not be tolerated in any other business. The impact of the case would be far reaching  for all private members clubs and associations in that they would have to comply to Equality laws and not just by a clubs rule book.

The case summary is below: 

• In October 2010,  the Equality Act came into force
• As a consequence of this the Conservative club in November 2010 at their AGM made a decision not to allow members onto to the committee until after 5 years membership (this is because members only had to be a member for 1 year)
• I held off applying for a Committee position until 2014.  When I did so I was informed that I had not been a member for the requisite period and had my name crossed off the list.  At the time I again decided to bide my time and re-apply in 2015.
• I along with Amanda Mitchell,  Ellen Whiteley  put ourselves forward to go onto the committee in advance of the AGM scheduled for  November 2015.   Shortly thereafter I heard the Chairman making sexist remarks.  Subsequently I overheard the chairman making comments to somebody that he had found a loophole to get the women’s names removed from the list.  In addition my partner had a member approach him and tell him that women had no right to be on the Committee.  It was a combination of these various snippets of information that led me to write to the Committee in October 2015 to clarify the status of my application and putting them on notice that if my name was to be removed from the list again I wanted to know in writing the exact reasons why.
• I was subsequently contacted by the Club’s Secretary and asked to clarify my interpretation of a certain Rule in the clubs rule book 
•  We were also made aware via various members that the chairman was actively seeking to rally male members to put themselves forward for Committee positions in the hope that if it went to a vote at the AGM that I,Ellen and Amanda would not secure the necessary votes to be appointed to the Committee.
• It was around this time that Ellen, Amanda and myself started to be ignored by a number of the existing Committee, including the Chairman, and the President.During this period I became aware of the Chairman and other members making remarks about myself, Amanda and Ellen (some of which I overheard) and members saying that women would ruin the Club.  What was clear to me was what I thought had been confidential discussions with the committee and also confidential letters that we had sent into the Club’s Committee was being openly discussed between members in the club.  
• On the morning of the AGM I was notified by the Club Secretary that my application had been declined on the basis that I wasn’t able to demonstrate compliance with a certain Rule  notwithstanding the representations that I had previously made to the Club Secretary and the Club Committee and the fact that we and all other female members had been deemed full members with effect from the date the Equality Act 2010 came into force. 
•  We wrote to the Committee and Secretary in December 2015 seeking formal confirmation as to why our name's were removed from the list, making the observation that it was quite obvious that the only names removed were the lady applicants which would suggest that some members of the Committee did not want female members appointed to Committee roles. we also warned the Committee / Secretary that if we didn’t receive a satisfactory response that we would take matters further.
• The Club Secretary wrote back to us in December 2015 to confirm that the Committee had interpreted the  Rule as correct meaning that I and the other female applicants remained ineligible on the basis their records confirmed female members were not members until 1st January 2016
• we believe the way that we have been treated by the Club since we put ourselves forward for Committee positions has been disgusting.  
•  When we attended the 2015 AGM I felt humiliated having to sit there whilst male members names were read out for nomination to Committee positions in front of members who well knew that I, Amanda and Ellen had all had our names removed from the list simply because we are female.
• Every time that we go into the Club we feel intimidated and there always seems to be  bad atmosphere.  we have acted with dignity even when we have known that our letters to the Club have been spoken about to members who had no right knowing what was in them and when spoken to in a derogatory manner.
• It seems clear to us that the Club should have implemented the Equality Act 2010 by no later than 1^st October 2010  and it suggests that was done at that time only for the Committee to seek out a “loophole” when we had put ourselves forward for Committee positions in 2015.

Thanks for taking time to read this.

Irene James,  Amanda Mitchell and Ellen Whiteley