Bear Hill Golf Club ordered to give women equal opportunity
Published on December 2nd, 1998
CAMBRIDGE, MA - Diane Wanders once was asked to serve beer at a Bear Hill Golf Club tournament in which she was not allowed to play. Those days are over. Judge Hiller Zobel ruled in Middlesex Superior Court Tuesday that the Stoneham club must let women play in all tournaments at the club, including those once open only to men. "The record shows that the plaintiffs, as women, received treatment different from that accorded men," Zobel ruled. He also ruled against a "separate but equal schedule of single-sex tournaments be cause the club is closed to general play during tournaments. Men's tournaments scheduled for weekends would discriminate against women by preventing them from playing on weekends, the only time some of them have to play, he held.
"I'm so excited I can hardly talk," said Wanders of the ruling. She and Barbara Gould had pushed for the right to play in all tournaments.
"I'm hoping this establishes a precedent so that other women will benefit as a result," Wanders told the Boston Herald. Several cases in which women complained of being prevented by golf clubs from playing when and with whom they wanted were filed at the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination.
Most were settled. A remaining case involves women who say they have been fighting for 10 years for equal tee time at the Haverhill Golf and Country Club.
The Bear Hill club's lawyer, Thomas A. Mullen, said he would talk with the club before deciding whether to appeal Zobel's decision.
Mullen had argued that the club was private, and not subject to ant-discrimination laws. He also said women had ample opportunity to play at the club, and rarely were kept off the course.
Zobel rejected the argument the club is private, saying it is not selective and is rented to the public.
"There are women golfers who can play with any man. They ought to be eligible to be champion of a golf club, not just the women's champion," said Owen Todd, a lawyer for the women.
"It was more than just the competition," said Bret Cohen, another lawyer for the women. "It was the ability of those women to bring their business associates to participate at these club events, and to socialize and develop and maintain contacts."
Todd said the women will seek lawyer's fees and possibly damages, and many ask to be reimbursed for days when they could not use their memberships, which cost $2,200 a yea
Subscribe and get Home Delivery of The Independent
Save 36% off the newstand price — that's like 18 FREE issues!