‘No women allowed’: The powerful membership of UK’s men-only Garrick Club
Al Jazeera
Revelations over elite membership of exclusively male Garrick Club in London raise questions of privilege, power and discrimination in UK society.
Birds of a feather flock together, as the saying goes, and when it comes to the male elite of the British establishment, one of their favoured flocking spots has long been the Garrick Club in London.
But the male-only sanctity of the nearly 200-year-old Garrick Club has been ruffled following revelations that its membership had – until a few days ago at least – included such societal luminaries as the UK’s spy chief, government ministers, judges and members of parliament, the heads of publicly funded arts institutions, actors, celebrities, and even King Charles.
Calls for public servants and others to quit the Garrick Club have mounted as critics question the judgement of powerful men paying an annual membership fee of about 1,000 British pounds (approximately $1,260) to join an exclusionist club that actively blocks the admission of women.
Now, the row has reached boiling point on London’s social scene, with the head of MI6, Richard Moore, and the head of the civil service, Simon Case, as well as four senior judges all announcing their resignations from the men-only watering hole in the past few days.
This is what we know about London’s exclusive, private-members Garrick Club:
