Queen’s students expressed concern about the underrepresentation of women in their sports committee at a JCR meeting earlier this week, in which a motion was passed to petition the college’s governing body to restructure the committee considerably.
A member of the sports committee, known as the ‘Amalgers Committee’, which meets termly, said how “under the previous system the men’s and women’s captains would alternate attending the meetings, the men’s captains would attend two and the women’s one because the men’s clubs are generally bigger.
“However, this meant that until this year, the men’s captains would always attend the Trinity meeting which is when elections take place, meaning the women’s captains did not vote.”
Cherwell also understands that representatives for women’s sports would not normally attend the Michaelmas meeting, where the sports budgets were determined.
On Sunday 12th May the JCR meeting passed a motion to petition the Queen’s College Governing Body to reform the Amalgers Sports Committee considerably. The JCR resolved that from now on clubs are to send both men’s and women’s representatives to every meeting, giving each representative half a vote. Furthermore, it was agreed that minutes of each meeting are to be made available electronically.
Julia Megnone, a second year and the women’s hockey captain for 2013-2014, told Cherwell, “As a woman who has participated in college hockey, netball, football, cricket, lacrosse and rowing I have never felt that I am represented by the Committee or that it plays a role for me.”
She further said, “The Amalgers Committee is supposed to act to support all sports players in college, yet they do not even produce minutes of their meetings to make those who are excluded aware of its actions.”
Morganne Graves, a member of Queen’s College Boat Club and the only woman to attend the committee meeting at which elections were held last year, commented, “I don’t think the exclusion of women’s captains is necessarily deliberate, it seems to come down to long-standing flaws in the organisation and structure of the committee.”
Graves continued, “Part of the reason this was brought forward to the JCR was because most people had no idea how our college sports are funded and the budgets are split. The motion was to ensure that the issue no longer remained under the radar.”
Queen’s JCR President Jane Cahill released an official statement: “The JCR motion was intended to address some of the past issues of discrimination within college sports. I have lobbied on this issue for a while and I proposed the motion to allow the JCR to express its thoughts. The JCR clearly stated that they felt women should be invited to meetings in the future, and I hope this will be implemented by the college, and help tackle some of these issues.”
Mark Holmes, the male welfare officer of Queen’s JCR, said, “This is a positive step and a conclusion was reached which will see an equal representation of women on the committee. Though this change was long overdue, the JCR finally voiced their concerns that a body which has a larger budget than our Common Room, should reflect those who fund it through their tuition fees.”
The Amalgers President and Queen’s Senior Treasurer declined to comment.
