Women finally win Club and Institute Union full membership

Published Tuesday 3 April 2007 at 10:35 by Mark Ritchie

After more than half a century of campaigning and nearly a decade of unsuccessful ballots, the Club and Institute Union has finally voted in favour of granting full membership rights to women.

The so-called ‘pass card issue’ was first discussed at the CIU’s annual conference 52 years ago and this year, following nine consecutive votes which did not receive the two thirds majority required to alter the union’s rules, the abolition of rule 12 e), which prevented female members from holding a pass card, has been approved.

The card allows individual club members admission to other clubs within the union and is seen as an important source of income for the struggling organisation, which is one of clubland and light entertainment’s biggest employers. The CIU now represents the interests of more than 2,400 clubs, but the sites are closing at a rate of around 80 every year.

Club official and long time campaigner for full female membership, John Bacon, told The Stage: “It’s the end of a long campaign but the start of a new future for the union. The union is now recognising that the future of entertainment and leisure is changing. The union should be taking a lead on presenting entertainment and coming up with new ideas.”

Of the 987 card voters at the CIU’s conference in Blackpool this year, a total of 663 voted for the removal of the rule, which previously barred women from the right to be formally involved with the CIU - amounting to 67% of the vote. The development comes soon after the appointment of a female assistant general secretary of the CIU, Maxine Murphy.

CIU general secretary Kevin Smyth said: “I thought that the appointment of Maxine Murphy as assistant general secretary would backfire on us, but I personally proposed the rule change in favour of women and I was seconded by Ken Green, who is the influential branch secretary for South Yorkshire, so hopefully that also had an effect. [While] the smoking ban will effect some clubs negatively, I believe this positive move will benefit us all.”

The 400 women club secretaries in CIU clubs can now attend the branch meetings that they were previously excluded from, while female members will also be able to hold posts for which they were formerly ineligible, such as branch secretary or member of the national executive committee.

Linda Sugden, who runs the Westgate Common club in Wakefield, said: “I think its absolutely brilliant. Around 40% of my members are women and they deserve to have the right to be represented at the CIU. With the smoking ban coming up, it is important that clubs have as much support as possible.

“I was losing interest in the CIU and I don’t honestly think that it would have survived much longer without female members. The CIU will now see a lot more interest and I believe that many more women will want to come out and see shows and get involved in the club scene.”