A Sex Discrimination (Amendment) Bill 1999, if it had been enacted, would have amended the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 to outlaw sex discrimination by private member clubs with more than 25 members. However it would not have applied to single sex private clubs. If it had been enacted the Bill would have meant that clubs which admit both men and women as members would not be able to have, for example, single sex bars or lounges.

The same Bill (or something very similar to it) was reintroduced in the House of Commons on 11th December 2001 but this lapsed and did not make it to the statute book before the parliamentary session ended in November 2002. A further attempt was made with a new private member's Bill introduced in the House of Commons in March 2004 but this has also failed to become law.

None of these Bills affect employment law and are mentioned here for general interest purposes. The Bills relate(d) to club membership not to employment. Employees of both private and public clubs are, of course, fully protected by anti-discrimination laws in the same way as employees of any other employer.

In general, the Sex Discrimination (Clubs and Other Private Associations) Bill of 2004, if it had been enacted, would have made unlawful any sex discriminatory treatment of male and female members, associates and guests of mixed-sex private clubs with 25 or more members. It did not affect single-sex clubs other than by making it unlawful for male and female guests to be treated differently at an occasion to which guests of both sexes are invited.

See also notes at Racial discrimination/clubs .