Originally Posted by Susan P
What was the rationale for excluding men? How long ago were these by-laws written. Sounds like they need to be challenged. Know anyone in the guild that would stir up the pot and challege this. I think attitudes are so different now and probably a majority of the people will not oppose changing the by-laws. I wonder how many people even know about this discriminatory by-law. I certainly would take up this issue if I was in that guild.
Supposedly, there was a husband of one of the female members who was "objectionable" during their meetings. Exactly how, I don't know, but apparently he caused a stir in some form and wasn't even a quilter himself - he just came for the free food each month. So in 1991 they wrote into the bylaws that men were excluded from the guild. Rather than deal with the problem person, they excluded an entire gender from membership.
Here are the people in that guild that I have spoken with to date about it, and their response:
1. Vice President of the guild - Summer 2009 - She said that she would take the issue up with the guild so that it could be changed. Said it might take "a while".
2. Owner of a LQS who is a member - Summer 2009 - She said that they would bring it up in the guild meeting to get it changed.
3. Distant cousin who is a longstanding member of the guild - January 2010 - She said that she had talked with the President about it and that she wanted to see it brought up and changed.
Also, a couple of members of the guild have told me privately how sorry they are that the guild has that policy, and I could tell they were embarrassed that it was like that. But they also told me that there is an "old guard" mentality with this group, and that some of them would not only vote "No", they would vote "H*ll No!" if this were put to a vote. Oddly, a lot of these women are members of my church (which is the largest church in town), so I do wonder how they square all of this with their supposed Christianity.
Anyway, this is not a small guild, they normally have 70+ members at each meeting. But the sickness in the group runs deep, and is really indicative of what I've come to hate about living in this town. It's what I call a "forced happiness" where no one had ever even think about stepping out of "their place" or you will be quickly smacked down. It's a combination of "Peyton Place" and "Pleasantville" narrow mindedness.
Off my soapbox now...