Right: Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Governor-General Quentin Bryce: it has been pointed out that neither could, under current rules, be eligible for membership of certain clubs.Further implications
Although the Committee recommended that the exemptions from the Equal Opportunity Act currently granted to single-sex social clubs should stay, it also recommended that the Act should require that the exceptions and exemptions in the be reviewed at least every 10 years to determine whether they should be retained, amended or repealed.This clearly indicates that although these one gender clubs have survived, their exempt status is not guaranteed and they may finally by prohibited under the Equal Opportunity Act. Before this were to happen, however, it seems more likely that these clubs would have ceased to exist due to lack of membership.
At this stage, these clubs do not appear to be flagging. While the recent establishment of the Melbourne Forum suggests that many men and women would prefer mixed gender clubs, other members clearly do not. In fact it has been noted that some of the oldest and most prestigious men's clubs have recently enjoyed a growth in membership.
The long-term fate of these clubs will ultimately depend not on Government policy and a change in the law, but on public attitudes and what is commonly regarded as acceptable. This will affect both the number of members they have and whether Governments feel comfortable changing the law to exclude they.
The Victorian Attorney General, Rob Hulls, has said that his Government will now consider whether to act on the recommendations of the Scrutiny of Acts and Regulations Committee. Though Mr Hulls clearly disagrees with the exemptions recommended he is unlikely to act against single clubs in defiance of the recommendations of the Committee.
Hulls' broader concern regarding women being able to secure equal access to positions of power and authority in the broader arena may come to seem less and less important. As women gain more and more positions of power in the world outside these clubs, the clubs' capacity to influence external events will become less. As Hulls has noted, it is difficult to take seriously men's clubs whose membership requirements exclude the current Governor-General and the current deputy Prime Minister for no better reason than that each is a woman.