Clubbing to gender

In some of Kolkata's clubs, gender discrimination still remains the in-thing.

Gender discrimination is hot news, the bhadralok mandarins of Calcutta Club have discovered. Lately, Calcutta Club has been much in the news because it still does not permit women to be full, voting members.

The patriarchal bias in the club's constitution came to the fore last year when Kalyani Chaudhuri, principal secretary in the state government's public works department, warned that its privileges could be withdrawn because of the "obsolete rule".

And then, early this year, the governor, Gopal Krishna Gandhi, came into the picture when he refused to attend the "Foundation Dinner", traditionally a stag affair, saying that he couldn't go because the invitation did not extend to his wife. That, quite naturally, led to an extended bout of bad press.

Ironically, the club created in 1907 was a revolt against prejudice, the European prejudice against Indians (especially in the Bengal Club, where no Indian was allowed).

Dilip K Bose, the club president, feels that there is no bias against women: "There's no restriction on women's entry. Only the men's bar is off limits for women. Come to the club on any day, and you'll see many more women than men."

Of course, there are "" all of them wives or daughters of members. "We also have a ladies' committee, formed of the wives of members, which oversees everything, from changing the upholstery to choosing the curtains." Indeed, what is a paltry right to vote against such important privileges?

"Every club has its own nature," offers Bose on a more philosophical note, "It takes time to change." There's obviously more to it than just that.

For starters, the will to induct women members, which in turn will result in changing the club's constitution by a two-thirds majority of the 3,500 members voting in an extraordinary general meeting (EGM).

The annual general meeting, scheduled for July, will not do, and there's no proposal to hold an EGM. So for now, it's stalemate.

Of course, opening the club's gates to women does not mean they will come flooding in. Take the case of Bengal Club where women began to be inducted from 1988. At present, there are around 1,000 members and only 91 of them are women. Of the 50 inducted in the last six months, only 2 were women.

Says Ram Ray, the club spokesperson, "I have been a member for nearly three decades. I have never seen a rush among ladies for Bengal Club membership."

It's a similar story in Calcutta Cricket and Football Club, popularly called CC&FC, which began allowing women in June 2001. Currently, only 25 of the 1,487 members are women, although U K Ganguly, the club president, does say that single lady applicants are given priority and considerations. In the other clubs of the city too the scenario is not much different.

After all, just paying lip service to gender justice and giving women the right to be voting members is easy; what's difficult is to overcome age-old biases even as women step forward to claim their rights.