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The grass ceiling

Broadcast Date: April 7, 2003

It was a battle between equality and tradition at the Victoria Golf Club in British Columbia. When Jane Murphy joined the club, she hoped that she'd enjoy the same benefits as her husband. Murphy was pleased that she had free reign on the golf course and was a full voting club member. But, she was irked that she was not allowed into the men's lounge to enjoy a post-game drink. When she challenged the club on this issue, it devolved into full-scale war, as heard in this CBC Radio report.

The grass ceiling

• After this CBC Radio report aired, one of Murphy's golfing foursome telephoned to say that she no longer cared to golf with her. "This is a lady I've been playing with for six months," Murphy told the Times Colonist on April 11, 2003.
• Until 1999, the Victoria Golf Club only allowed women to purchase memberships with restrictions. Men were still provided with priority tee times on busy playing days.

• In July 2001 the club held a vote on the issue of the segregated lounge. Voters supported allowing women into the lounge 111 to 82. But the board didn't implement any changes. Murphy subsequently took her complaint to the human rights commission before finally dropping the issue in 2002.
• Exhausted and overwhelmed, Murphy eventually quit the club.

• The most famous course with a restrictive membership policy is the Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia. Martha Burk, chairwoman of the National Council of Women's Organizations (NCWO), has long protested Augusta National's ban on allowing women members. In 2005, Burk targeted the sponsors of the prestigious Masters tournament. "All of these corporations have policies against underwriting discrimination, and all are in violation of those policies," she said in the National Post, April 8, 2005.

• In 2002 a New York Times editorial suggested golfer Tiger Woods should boycott the tournament over the issue of allowing women members at Augusta National. It argued that because of Woods' considerable influence, the club would have to reconsider their restrictive stance. Woods did not boycott the tournament and said the club was entitled to run the course according to its own rules.

• In 1997 the Rosedale Golf Club in Toronto reformed its restrictive membership policy towards Jews. The issue came to light when former general manager Michael Geluch brought forward his case of wrongful dismissal to the Ontario court. Geluch said that he had been fired for questioning the restrictive membership practices before the club board.

• Ontario Superior Court Justice Susan Himel said of Geluch's case, "The membership policies that were in existence at Rosedale until recently were arbitrary, potentially discriminating and offensive in a modern, civilized society." Geluch won his case and was awarded $500,000 in 2004.

The grass ceiling

Medium: Radio

Program: The Current

Broadcast Date: April 7, 2003

Guest(s): Mary Everts, Sally Hemion, David Isle, Jane Murphy, Ken Murphy

Host: Anna Maria Tremonti
Reporter: Teddy Katz

Duration: 19:06

Photo: Woman sitting on golf course © kpshaughnessy. Image from BigStockPhoto.com.

Last updated:
March 31, 2009