Ripon’s sexist bias

"The religious orthodoxy aren’t the only ones who seem to consider Parsi women second-class citizens,” writes The Hindu correspondent Jyoti Shelar in an article "The conflict within: Parsis and gender rights” (May 22, 2017). The others sharing the distinction of discrimination are the Ripon Club and the Parsee Gymkhana at Marine Lines. "A notable exception is Dadar Parsee Gymkhana, which has a standard membership, irrespective of gender, and all its 1,100 members can vote and contest elections.” At the Ripon Club "female members are technically ‘lady associate members’ – most of them are either wives or daughters of male members – without voting rights,” Shelar notes.

Ripon Club: contradictory policies Photo: Jasmine D. Driver

"Simin Patel, historian and blogger, had been visiting the Club on her father’s membership for years. In December last year, there was an extraordinary general body meeting of the Club, to discuss the sale of one floor of the premises to raise funds (and settle a tenancy dispute). As someone deeply interested in the Club, ‘because it is a beautiful historical space, I went there to be a part of the meeting because I wanted to know the fate of the Club.’ But she was asked to leave. ‘Why can’t a woman have full rights as a man?’ Patel asks. ‘Why can’t she vote and have a say in the running of the Club?’ She points out the double standards in the Club advertising in community newspapers asking more Parsis to join, but excluding half the community from membership.
"Xerxes Dastur, a trustee of the Club, says that ‘lady associate members’ enjoy all members’ privileges, as do the wives of members; ‘The only question is about not having the right to vote or stand for elections.’ After years of promising that women will be allowed equal membership, the Club is changing. He says, ‘We are in the process of changing our constitution within this year so that women can also become regular members.’”
But the change in the constitution which has been religiously promised every year for over the past 10 years has little chance of becoming an actuality. Equal rights would imply that non-Parsi male spouses could use the Club facilities, a development some of the managing committee members/trustees are vehemently opposed to.
The Parsee Gymkhana permits "single ladies (widows, divorcees or spinsters) (to) become associate members till they get married,” states life member and former managing committee member for 30 years, Rusi Bhumgara on the status of women membership. Non-Parsi men can become members as this was made a condition by the government for renewing the property lease of all the gymkhanas on the Marine Drive stretch.