Key points
- Only men can be members of the Athenaeum Club.
- A group of members tried to force change a decade ago and resigned in protest.
Former state Liberal Party president John Ridley has called for the men-only Athenaeum Club to open its doors to women or become irrelevant, after “young fogeys” were found to be the most resistant to change.
The exclusive club, on Collins Street in Melbourne, commissioned a confidential survey this year of 700 members, which found younger men were more conservative and opposed to change. Footage of an hour-long briefing last month, leaked to The Age, showed it remained a divisive proposition.
The Collins Street entrance to Melbourne’s Athenaeum Club.Credit:The Age
Forty-four per cent of surveyed members supported welcoming women into the club, and 51 per cent supported starting a discussion about the possibility. More than 60 per cent wanted to open up more areas of the club to female guests, create a partner pass, or build relationships with women-only clubs.
It is not the first time the club has tested the issue. Ridley resigned from the club in protest in 2009 after trying to open the Athenaeum to women. Former Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chairman Graeme Samuel and ex-Collingwood president and broadcaster Eddie McGuire also pushed for change.
“It was just pathetic,” Ridley said. “It was what we called the young fogeys with the problem. It wasn’t only them, but it was a shock to us that so many of the younger members were the most strongly opposed.”
He said the committee should have the courage to welcome women, as it would also boost its membership and lift its profile and credibility. He agreed with the findings of the club-commissioned research that continuing to block women would result in a narrower and narrower group.
Athenaeum Club president Peter Brannighan told members in June that the issue of female members was completely off the table for four years.
“If you’re a forward-looking progressive person, why would you go? Why would you join?” Ridley said.
Club president Peter Brannighan declined to comment on what he described as a private matter.
At the June 2 briefing, he told members: “The issue of female members is completely off the table for four years.” He said the reason it was raised was due to dwindling membership, which had since recovered.
Athenaeum’s latest annual report said 140 members joined the club in 2021, its biggest membership increase in more than three decades, growing to more than 1300.
One current high-profile member, who declined to be named because speaking publicly could result in his expulsion, said keeping women out of the club was “nuts”.
“I think it’s f—ing mad. I think it’s f—ing nuts,” he said.
About 40 per cent of surveyed members told the researchers they opposed female membership altogether. Nine per cent said they would probably cancel their membership if women were allowed to join. Thirteen per cent said they did not have strong views on the question.
Men pay thousands of dollars to join the society, which claims to be one of Australia’s oldest – it was created in 1868 – and finest private social clubs for “gentlemen of good character” and offers total privacy.
Other private men’s clubs in the city include the Melbourne Club and Melbourne Savage Club. Private women’s clubs include the Alexandra Club and Melbourne Lyceum Club.
The elite Australian Club in Sydney last year voted to remain men’s-only, although women can attend as guests.
The Athenaeum Club in London has admitted women since 2002.
Ridley went on to establish the Melbourne Forum, which is open to everyone, with other members of the Athenaeum splinter group.
Samuel, who resigned from the Athenaeum when he was chairman of the ACCC, said the committee should be willing to lose the 9 per cent of men who threatened to cancel their membership.
“I don’t know what they’re worried about, good God,” Samuel said.
“You can’t help but say, ‘what is wrong, for heaven’s sake?’ … I want to hear the views of everyone, I don’t just want to hear the views of a select group of men.”
Terry Moran, formerly the secretary of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, who also walked away from the club, said “young fogeys” were behind what he described as continued discrimination.
“The club purports to bring together people who are in leadership positions … you can’t do that if you don’t include 50 per cent of the population,” Moran said.
Leaked footage of the June 2 meeting showed Peter Singline, a researcher overseeing the survey, saying the influx of conservative young members could lead to “a very single-minded mindset about what life is all about”.
“I don’t know how you’d address this, but it feels to me that younger members represent a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you joined recently, then you joined feeling that ‘this is exactly what I want’,” he said.
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