GENDER DISCRIMINATION IN SPORT: A QUESTION OF LEGAL RIGHTS VERSUS MORAL WRONGS?

Abstract

One of golf’s major tournaments, the US Masters, is played in Atlanta at the Augusta National Club. It is a private club with an all-male membership policy. The club has never had a female member during its 70-year history, and only welcomed its first black member in 1990. Augusta is therefore regarded as the bastion of male exclusivity in America. Due to Augusta’s all male membership, pressure was placed on the sponsors of the 2003 Masters (Coca-Cola, IBM and Citigroup) to force the club to change its policies and stage a demonstration at the event. As a result the Augusta National Club suspended its contracts with the above three corporate sponsors. This decision made the Masters the only commercial-free telecast in sport. However, Augusta is not the only golf club exclusively reserved for males. The Royal & Ancient Golf Club at the home of golf in St Andrews, Scotland, is also an all-male private club. In Ireland there is the Royal Dublin Golf Club and the Portmarnock Golf Club that hosts the Irish Open. The Irish government’s Equality Authority, which enforces anti-discrimination laws, plans to take the club to court and obtain a declaration that the Portmarnock Golf Club is a discriminating club. The club insists that its policy of allowing women to play the course while not being eligible for membership does not violate Irish anti-discrimination legislation. These are but a few examples and are certainly not the only golf clubs (or for that matter any sports club) with an all-male policy. This note will explore the gender inequality that is present in professional sport. Although crucial in the sporting arena, gender inequality issues such as lack of opportunities and unequal pay will not be addressed in this note. In order to grasp the current gender discrimination paradigm in sport, one must have an understanding of the historical and social role sport has played, as well as the influence of feminist legal theorists. Against this background,
both foreign and South African constitutional provisions are examined in order to establish the framework within which gender discrimination should be evaluated.