A MAN who is taking the Working Men's Club and Institute Union to court over the rights of women members has been narrowly defeated in his bid to become its president.

John Bacon, 51, of Richmond, North Yorkshire, believes women should have the same rights as men who belong to the union.

In the election, Mr Bacon finished in second place with 34 per cent of the votes.

The union covers 2,700 clubs and has more than four million members, of which more than 500,000 are women.

At present, they are not allowed to be associate members, effectively banning them from having a say in how the union is run as they cannot take a seat on the executive committee.

Mr Bacon is challenging this under the Sex Discrimination Act and has won the right to a full hearing of his case at the Employment Appeal Tribunal, in London, early in the New Year.

He took up the issue after hearing about Jackie Medley, who has been the secretary of the working men's club in Bishopthorpe, York, for three years.

She has a diploma in club management and scored the second highest in the country in her exams, but was having to be signed in to meetings by other male secretaries as, officially, she did not have a right to be there.

Mr Bacon, who was mayor of Northallerton in 1983, took the matter to the union's annual conference, in May, where he proposed a change in the rules.

Sixty per cent of the delegates voted in favour of the motion - just short of the two- thirds needed for a change.

Mr Bacon said: "The union needs the skill and the expertise and the hard work that so many women provide.

"It wants their money and wants them to go into the clubs and work, but it has resolutely refused to give them equality."

Another member, Keith Barrowcliffe, who has been on the union's executive for 23 years and a member for nearly 50, said: "The union's national executive supports equality but, unfortunately, a lot of our clubs are stuck in a time-warp."

The Northern Echo was unable to contact anyone on the union executive for comment last night.