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<p>Last year, the Secretary of State at the time did not attend the Open golf championship
at Muirfield in Scotland to highlight their policy on not allowing women members.
Prior to this, in 2011, the Minister for Sport at the time, spoke with the Royal and
Ancient about the matter of hosting the tournament at clubs that do not allow women
members and stressed that he thought that clubs with such rules need to change this
policy.</p><p> </p><p>The Open Championship does not receive any financial support
from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. Ultimately the decision of where
to hold the Championship is one for the Royal and Ancient.</p><p> </p><p>It is not
unlawful for clubs to restrict membership to men or to women only. It is a matter
for single-sex clubs to decide whether they wish to change the membership criteria
to extend to men and women. There are, however, provisions in the Equality Act 2010
which mean that where private clubs, including golf or other sports clubs, allow both
men and women to become members, they must treat them equally regardless of their
sex.</p>
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