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British MP asks Scottish golf club to reconsider ban on female members

Xinhua, May 20, 2016 Adjust font size:

A British member of parliament (MP) on Friday called on one of Scotland's premier golf clubs to re-think its controversial decision to reject women members.

East Lothian MP George Kerevan said the decision by Muirfield golf club to reject women members had impacted on the image of golf in Scotland.

The 272-year-old club has been banned from hosting the prestigious British Open golf championship as a result of its decision.

Golf's governing body, the Royal and Ancient, says it will not stage the Open Championship, one of the top golfing contests in the world, at a venue that does not admit women as members.

A report by financial experts KPMG revealed the estimated annual impact of Muirfield hosting the Open in 2013 to the regional economy was about 102 million U.S. dollars.

A ballot among Muirfield members rejected a call for women members to be allowed, even though over 60 percent of the vote was in favors. Under the club's rules a majority of at least two-thirds of the votes is needed before women can join. Just 16 more votes would have been needed to open the doors to women.

Henry Fairweather, Muirfield's club captain, and his committee had recommended that women should be offered membership on the same terms as men.

Kerevan's intervention comes just 24 hours after the leader of the Scottish Nationalist Party, Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon criticized Muirfield's rejection of women members, with British Prime Minister David Cameron describing the decision as "outdated."

On social media Sturgeon said: "Scotland has women leaders in every walk of life. It is 2016. This is simply indefensible."

Kerevan has called on the golf club to hold another vote as soon as possible.

He said: "I think the members, now they've woken up to these headlines, will be thinking 'Oh we got that wrong.'"

Ivan Khodabakhsh, chief executive of the Ladies European Tour, described Muirfield's decision as appalling.

"We are in the 21st century. I thought these things were left behind us in the late 19th-early 20th century -- discriminating against women, and setting criteria for membership based on gender. I'm speechless," Khodabakhsh commented. Enditem