The men-only Garrick Club moved closer to accepting female members after an emergency committee meeting agreed there was nothing in the club rules to prevent women from joining.
Sources said the late-night vote on Thursday meant women could finally become members of the club within months, 193 years after the Garrick was founded and after decades of debate over discriminatory rules.
The club’s committee passed a motion accepting new legal advice, explaining that in law the pronoun “she” should be replaced with “she”, so the club’s rules already allow women to become members.
The committee stated that an extraordinary general meeting would be held, requiring the club’s 1,500 members to vote to approve the decision.
The emergency meeting was held two weeks after the Guardian published a list of more than 60 Garrick members holding powerful positions in the English establishment, giving an insight into the club’s closely guarded membership list.
The club’s 1,500 members include King Charles; Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden; communities secretary Michael Gove; and artistic luminaries, including the president of the Royal Opera House and leading actors such as Brian Cox and his Succession co-star Matthew Macfadyen, Hugh Bonneville, Hugh Laurie, Stephen Fry and Benedict Cumberbatch.
Civil service chief Simon Case, MI6 chief Richard Moore and at least four senior judges resigned their club memberships following Guardian reporting and widespread criticism of their decision to join an organization that has repeatedly blocked motions. suggests allowing women to participate.
Women are only allowed to enter the club if they are invited by a member and accompanied by a man throughout their visit.
Internal wrangling has raged for years over whether the club’s rules actually prohibit women from becoming members. Two senior lawyers argued there was nothing in the rules to say the club should be restricted to men.
David Pannick KC, who led the successful Brexit Article 50 case against the government, was recently tasked with analyzing the 193-year-old rulebook drawn up by Garrick members who were in favor of allowing women to become members.
A team led by Pannick concluded: “In our view, the language of the rules is clear. There is no prohibition on the admission of female members… although the language… is couched in masculine terms (‘No candidate shall be eligible unless offered’), it is entirely It is within the ordinary usage of the English language that the masculine refers to the feminine unless the context requires otherwise.
Sources close to committee members said this legal advice was accepted by the club’s committee on Thursday evening.
Seven women who hold leading positions in the British set-up have been nominated as possible members of Garrick if the club agrees to change its rules.
Classicist Mary Beard, former home secretary Amber Rudd, Channel 4 News presenter Cathy Newman and Labor peer Ayesha Hazarika were among the first names put forward as possible future members of the club last week.
The list of proposed new members also includes actor Juliet Stevenson, chair of trustees of Shakespeare’s Globe, Margaret Casely-Hayford, chancellor of Coventry University, and former court of appeal judge Elizabeth Gloster.
It is understood there has been no response from the club to letters recommending women become members, with Fry, broadcaster Matt Frei and opera singer Ian Bostridge among the signatories.
A change in the interpretation of the club’s rules may not create an immediate change for the club.
One member said three years passed between the time his name was offered and the time it was confirmed to be accepted.
“I’m told it’s relatively quick,” he said, explaining that the nomination process requires two pages of supporting signatures to be filled into a red leather-bound notebook before the proposed member has a few dinners at the club. as the guest of the members who proposed and supported his candidacy.
Membership numbers are limited. “Like the dead man’s shoes. “You have to wait for a difficult winter for some of the older members to die,” he said, asking not to be named because club protocol states that club matters should not be discussed outside the building.
Another member said he welcomed the vote but warned there was a four-year waiting list for new members.
“It’s good that people are finally realizing that the world won’t fall apart into little pieces if women join Garrick, but we’ll have to figure out how to bring new members up to speed,” she said.
“The rebellious anti-women members seem to have succumbed to this news. “They have accepted that this has to happen now.”