Equality in bowls
Donation protected
Our names are Jan Collins, Brenda Bowyer and Jan Soar. We all belonged to the same bowling club in Essex. Our story is below.....
We are three women who found ourselves enmeshed in a situation which began when the bowling club we were members of in Essex decided to increase the indoor annual subscription that women pay to belong to the club by 25% in order to bring it in line with that paid by the men. This club receives huge tax relief by being a Community Amateur Sports Club and requirements to receive this benefit include offering equal opportunities and no discrimination.
This action in itself would not have been very remarkable was it not that the club kept the amount of time that the bowling rinks are available for the women to play unchanged, thereby denying the women, particularly working women and female cadets equal opportunity to that of the men and male cadets to play the game, particularly during the late afternoon and evening. A simple solution would be to open all leagues to either sex, as other clubs have done, in order to comply with the Equality Act 2010.
The club has a member ratio of 2.5 to 1 in favour of men with the bowling time allocated to fit this ratio. Until that time the subscription had reflected the disparity in the bowling time allocated to each gender by keeping the women’s subscription rate lower.
The three of us recognised that this action was unfair by denying us the equal opportunity to bowl, whilst demanding we pay equal subscriptions to belong to the club. Although over the years having had many requests from women, mainly working women, to play in the evening leagues the club had never given them the opportunity to do so until September 2018 when the Monday evening 18.00 session was opened to women. However, numerous other men’s exclusive sessions, including a double session on a Tuesday evening were not. Along with this a Friday league at 18.00 was kept exclusively for men, including male cadets and again denying the female cadets the opportunity to play.
We brought this situation to the members’ attention by asking them to sign a petition to register their objection to the increase in the women’s subs. The petition attracted many signatures, both men and women and was submitted to the management committee. At the same time many women refused to pay the increase and paid only the original subscription rate of £60. As a result of this action the management of the club informed all women that unless they paid the full rate of £75 they would not be allowed to re-join the club.
From that time, some 9 months ago, there has been an ongoing dispute between the club and us 3 women which last November culminated with us being suspended by the club for gross misconduct after we informed the membership, by email, of a situation that had arisen concerning one of us and members of the management committee. This email contained 2 words, misogynists and dictators, which offended certain members of that committee and we were suspended from bowling at the club, citing “gross misconduct” whilst awaiting “disciplinary action”.
In January we were disciplined by the club, the club won this action and our ‘punishment’ was that our suspension will last until 30 September 2019. We appealed against this decision to the 2 ladies County authorities that we as women bowlers are affiliated to and won our appeal. However, our appeal was overruled, because although being a women’s issue and appealing to the women’s County Authorities which govern our sport it appears that we should have appealed to the men’s County governing authority although we were not informed of this by the club.
We are now beginning the process of litigation against the bowls club under the Equality Act 2010 citing that the club is discriminating against women by not giving them equal opportunity to bowl at the times they are able to. We're sure that you, like us know litigation is a very costly exercise quite frequently running into many thousands of pounds and although we are assured that we have a strong case there are never any guarantees of winning, which brings us to ask you for your help here at GoFundMe.
We firmly believe that nearing the end of the second decade of the 21st century situations like the above, particularly in a sport which is equal in skill, ability and strength should never be allowed to happen. Women should not be denied the opportunity to play a sport at the times that they are able to play – ie: when they are not working, when students are not studying and when they have the free time to enjoy the sport. That opportunity should be available to every member participating in any sport, male or female and we appeal to you, the GoFundMe reader and donator to support us in our effort to bring this injustice to a fair conclusion, not only for women bowlers but for all women taking part in all sports everywhere.
We desparately need your help. Please please donate to our fund and help us to bring this injustice to an end once and for all. Thank you
We are three women who found ourselves enmeshed in a situation which began when the bowling club we were members of in Essex decided to increase the indoor annual subscription that women pay to belong to the club by 25% in order to bring it in line with that paid by the men. This club receives huge tax relief by being a Community Amateur Sports Club and requirements to receive this benefit include offering equal opportunities and no discrimination.
This action in itself would not have been very remarkable was it not that the club kept the amount of time that the bowling rinks are available for the women to play unchanged, thereby denying the women, particularly working women and female cadets equal opportunity to that of the men and male cadets to play the game, particularly during the late afternoon and evening. A simple solution would be to open all leagues to either sex, as other clubs have done, in order to comply with the Equality Act 2010.
The club has a member ratio of 2.5 to 1 in favour of men with the bowling time allocated to fit this ratio. Until that time the subscription had reflected the disparity in the bowling time allocated to each gender by keeping the women’s subscription rate lower.
The three of us recognised that this action was unfair by denying us the equal opportunity to bowl, whilst demanding we pay equal subscriptions to belong to the club. Although over the years having had many requests from women, mainly working women, to play in the evening leagues the club had never given them the opportunity to do so until September 2018 when the Monday evening 18.00 session was opened to women. However, numerous other men’s exclusive sessions, including a double session on a Tuesday evening were not. Along with this a Friday league at 18.00 was kept exclusively for men, including male cadets and again denying the female cadets the opportunity to play.
We brought this situation to the members’ attention by asking them to sign a petition to register their objection to the increase in the women’s subs. The petition attracted many signatures, both men and women and was submitted to the management committee. At the same time many women refused to pay the increase and paid only the original subscription rate of £60. As a result of this action the management of the club informed all women that unless they paid the full rate of £75 they would not be allowed to re-join the club.
From that time, some 9 months ago, there has been an ongoing dispute between the club and us 3 women which last November culminated with us being suspended by the club for gross misconduct after we informed the membership, by email, of a situation that had arisen concerning one of us and members of the management committee. This email contained 2 words, misogynists and dictators, which offended certain members of that committee and we were suspended from bowling at the club, citing “gross misconduct” whilst awaiting “disciplinary action”.
In January we were disciplined by the club, the club won this action and our ‘punishment’ was that our suspension will last until 30 September 2019. We appealed against this decision to the 2 ladies County authorities that we as women bowlers are affiliated to and won our appeal. However, our appeal was overruled, because although being a women’s issue and appealing to the women’s County Authorities which govern our sport it appears that we should have appealed to the men’s County governing authority although we were not informed of this by the club.
We are now beginning the process of litigation against the bowls club under the Equality Act 2010 citing that the club is discriminating against women by not giving them equal opportunity to bowl at the times they are able to. We're sure that you, like us know litigation is a very costly exercise quite frequently running into many thousands of pounds and although we are assured that we have a strong case there are never any guarantees of winning, which brings us to ask you for your help here at GoFundMe.
We firmly believe that nearing the end of the second decade of the 21st century situations like the above, particularly in a sport which is equal in skill, ability and strength should never be allowed to happen. Women should not be denied the opportunity to play a sport at the times that they are able to play – ie: when they are not working, when students are not studying and when they have the free time to enjoy the sport. That opportunity should be available to every member participating in any sport, male or female and we appeal to you, the GoFundMe reader and donator to support us in our effort to bring this injustice to a fair conclusion, not only for women bowlers but for all women taking part in all sports everywhere.
We desparately need your help. Please please donate to our fund and help us to bring this injustice to an end once and for all. Thank you
Fundraising team: Jan-Brenda-Jan = Equality (3)
Jan Collins
Organizer
Brenda Bowyer
Team member
Jan Soar
Team member
