A WOMEN'S rights campaigner has given up fighting to change the workingmen's club movement.

Jackie Medley, 59, has quit as secretary of a workingmen's club, which are one of the last bastions of male chauvinism in the UK.

She has given up after a 20 year fight, unable even to win rights for women to be allowed to take part in activities such as darts and dominoes.

Mrs Medley, who lives near York, said: "I felt I was wasting my time."

In March, Mrs Medley took the Club and Institute Union (CIU) to a tribunal in London, claiming it was guilty of sexual discrimination for denying women associate membership.

She lost and was again left devastated at the CIU's annual conference, in Blackpool, when delegates narrowly agreed to maintain the 100-year-old ban.

Mrs Medley said the final straw was when she was invited to a meeting of club secretaries but was not allowed to speak.

The CIU ban means women have to be signed in as guests when visiting other clubs and cannot stand for election to the local branch committee or national executive.

Mrs Medley, who will still help out at her club, in Bishopthorpe, near York, said more members should speak out over the issue but added: "I'm 60 next year and don't really need the hassle."

Jim Esson, chairman of the Bishopthorpe club, said he could understand why Mrs Medley was stepping down, adding: "It's very disappointing. I think we should have associate women members."

No one at the Club and Institute Union was available for comment.