A member of Phoenix Country Club sued the club last week saying the club violated its own bylaws by preventing women from participating in golf tournaments it set up.
The critique echoes similar complaints about favorable treatment for men on the golf course at Tucson Country Club, which I wrote about in December (see sidebar).
In the lawsuit filed March 9, Patricia W. Alston said she bought a membership in Phoenix Country Club on Dec. 21, 2005. In 2007 and 2008, Alston participated with three women friends in "Member-Guest tournaments" set up by the club.
Afterward, Alston said in the complaint, she began receiving anonymous emails that were threatening and insulting. On June 1, 2008, the suit says, a member of the club's board of directors admitted sending the emails. The lawsuit does not name the board member.
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For the 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 golf seasons, the club specified that the tournaments were for male members and their guests, the suit says. There are no women's golf tournaments, and the 17 scheduled tournaments are all restricted to men, according to the suit.
Alston says the country club's bylaws do not say that women could be excluded from any membership activities,
"Female members ... pay the same membership dues and assessments as male members and are entitled to enjoy all of the facilities of the club, except they are not allowed to participate in any member golf activies," the suit says.
Alston's attorney, Jack Klausner, said her objective is simple.
"What Patricia Alston would like is for them to give her back her money and let her go her separate way. They’re not the least bit interested in doing that," Klausner said.
Klausner would not specify what her membership cost but said the amount is question is less than $40,000.
General Manager Pat LaRocca said the club would have no comment on the suit.
But Phoenix Country Club has faced allegations of sex discrimination before.
In January 2009, the club settled a suit by the Arizona Attorney General's Office, which alleged the club discriminated against women by having separate men's and women's grills, the women's grill being significantly inferior. The club agreed to open both grills to both gender (settlement available at this Web site.)
Two complaints have been filed with the Arizona Attorney General's Office about sex discrimination at Tucson Country Club. The complaints, which are as yet unresolved, allege the club has a discriminatory men's-only grill and discriminates in the way it manages golfing times as well as in its membership practices.
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