Clubs are association of people who share common interests and goals of improving their lives and the society at large. Members of the society should have freedom to explore and gain membership of any association without discrimination in terms of race, ethnicity or gender. In the clubs, members of the society get opportunity to pursue their goals and interests collectively and for the benefit of all. Therefore, the private clubs should not have permission to ban members of the opposite sex from the membership.
For a very long time, women have been under discrimination as inferior to men but the affirmative action has demystified these traditional values and beliefs, which have portrayed women as inferior human beings. Gendered clubs weaken affirmative action, as they seem to portray men and women as different and unequal entities, having dissimilar interests and goals in the society. Associations that are not gender sensitive depicts gender inequality in the society and further promote it even though the society is fighting hard to ensure that women are given equal chance as men in the society. Hence, if the clubs are given permission to be gender based, then the hard and long struggles women have endured in the search of the affirmative action will be in vain.
Women have been empowered through affirmative action to attain equal social status as men against all odds of discrimination based on gender. The women convention defines discrimination against women as “any distinction, exclusion or restriction made on the basis of sex, which impairs recognition of equality of men and women, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural, civil or any other field” (Forell 55). Hence, gendered clubs are going to impair the recognition of gender equality in the society.
The United States constitution provides for the freedom of association. According to the first amendment, “Congress shall make no law…abridging the right of the people to peaceably assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances” (Forell 40). People have inalienable right to assemble and associate in order to push for their goals and interests in respective clubs, so any interference such as gender discrimination restricts the freedom of assembling and association.
Clubs are associations that are required to follow the rule of law in ensuring that there is no gender discrimination in the society. McBride argues that, “freedom of association is an individual right to come together and collectively express, promote, pursue and defend common interests” (20). As clubs pursue and defend common interests for the society, the aspect of gendered clubs is not only against the freedom of association but also have serious gender biasness to the society
In conclusion, clubs should not have permission to ban members of the opposite sex from their membership because it is against the affirmative action of making women have equal opportunities as men in their association and participation in various capacities in the society. Gendered clubs give an impression that women and men are different and unequal entities of the society, thus taking society back to the era where women were considered inferior to men. Moreover, gendered clubs are against freedom of the association because they use gender in discrimination and restriction of the fundamental freedom of association in the society. This is unpalatable in contemporary times where women have proved to be competent enough to gain their place in society by merit.
Works Cited
Forell, Caroline. “Gender Equality, Social Values and Provocation Law in the United States, Canada and Australia.” Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law, 14.1 (2006): 27-76. Web.
McBride, Jeremy. Freedom of Association: the Essentials of Human Rights. London: Hodder Arnold, 2005. Print.