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COMMENTARY: KEEPING WOMEN OUT OF THEIR PLACE

Dr Foster went to Gloucester,

An evening out with the boys;

Such a night, not a woman in sight,

Was one of his greatest joys .

Some Austrians catch on real slow. Only last month did the Vienna Philharmonic

finally vote to allow in women. Not only had it survived 155 years without

them, but some members felt that it actually sounded better that way. They

probably wouldn't have changed yet, except for the prospect of ridicule and

boycott on an upcoming tour to the US.

Still, as grudging as was the Philharmonic's belated conversion, it's way

ahead of the Norwalk Catholic Club. In February, that body celebrated its

100th anniversary. A lot has happened over those years. They even take in

Protestants and Jews now. But no women. And this Catholic club is no quiet

spiritual minion where members gather for introspection, prayer, or good

works. It's political.

In fact the club's annual Lincoln Day Banquet - its only activity - is the

city's biggest political event. Over 450 tuxedoed community leaders gather to

chew the fat, and to listen to speeches by governors, senators, archbishops,

and other pillars of church and state. More elbows are rubbed than in a

Whalers game. Governor Rowland was to be the political speaker this year, but

came down sick. New Year's John Cardinal O'Connor covered the religious side.

As you can see, this is no dinky get-together.

One irony, no doubt lost on its members, is that the club's original purpose

was to let parish men gather to learn about a society in which they were often

on the outside looking in. Now it is women who are outside looking in.

Literally. Five years ago some politically active women began picketing the

banquet to gain entrance. Upon being rebuffed, they formed their own dinner,

Celebrate Women, usually held on the same night. It honors unsung female

activists in the community. Men are welcome, and many attend.

But a competing dinner, delightful and touching as it may be, isn't the

answer. Deeper problems are festering. The Lincoln Banquet, while unbelievably

rude and smirky in its concept, is more than just a bunch of little boys not

allowing the girls into the clubhouse. One regular guest, for example, is the

Honorable Lawrence Hauser, a superior court judge specializing in domestic

relations cases. How comfortable should a battered wife feel in his courtroom,

knowing of his penchant for an all-male gathering where women's rights, such

as choice, are consciously demeaned?

Or take probate. The Honorable John Vallerie attends too. Judge Vallerie, like

Judge Hauser, is presumably fair-minded and even-handed, but a woman headed

into a messy probate matter may suspect some blind spots.

This year the Honorable Robert Callahan, Connecticut's chief justice, could

not attend as he has in the past. He was out of town. Good idea. But he says

he'll return in the future. Maybe the ancients knew what they were doing when

they showed the scales of justice in the hands of a woman.

In addition to judges, the hall was busy with the Republican mayor, council

members, and state legislators, as well as state tax commissioner Gene Gavin.

All could let their hair down on public policy with no women to overhear. And

it's always a great chance for rising male politicians to hobnob without

female competition.

It was a great chance for Cardinal O'Connor too. No women to challenge him as

he explained how a visit to Dachau had firmed up his belief that women should

be forced to sustain unwanted pregnancies. And how people dying in agony

should be forced to suffer it out to the end.

One woman, aside from the waitresses, did once attend, as a speaker. A nun.

Sara Sikes, a leading critic of the banquet, conjured up a vision of that

evening. Just imagine a discussion of family values carried on by 450 men and

a nun.

( Bill Collins, a former mayor of Norwalk, is a syndicated columnist. )