Australia's new Governor General has been refused membership of some of the country's most exclusive clubs - because she is a woman.

Quentin Bryce, the newly installed Governor General of Australia has been shunned by the elite clubs despite their own tradition of offering honorary membership to those in high office.

Ms Bryce, who recently became Australia's first female Governor General in 107 years, should have expected automatic membership of clubs such as the grand Athenaeum Club in Melbourne, and The Australian Club in Sydney.

The problem is that these clubs are exclusively male establishments and although, as the Queen's representative in Australia Ms Bryce is undoubtedly establishment, she is not male.

The 140-year-old Athenaeum Club in Melbourne, which describes itself on its website as "enlightened and contemporary" has not invited Ms Bryce to join its membership although its own constitution offers honorary membership to "people in positions of distinction or attainment, including the governor-general of Australia."

Similarly, the Australian Club in Melbourne and the country's oldest and largest men's club, also called The Australian, based in Sydney, have failed to offer her membership.

Ms Bryce is one of a number of women holding high office who have been barred entry by the clubs, who traditionally also offer membership to state governors and senior members of the judiciary.

The governors of two states, Marie Bashir in New South Wales and Penelope Wensley in Queensland have not been invited to join any of the clubs. The female Chief Justice of the Victorian Supreme Court, Marilyn Warren, is believed to be the first person to hold that post who has not been offered honorary membership of Melbourne's Australian Club.

A spokeswoman at Government House confirmed to Times Online that Ms Bryce had not been offered membership of The Athenaeum, which is currently embroiled in a row over its ban on female members. She added that no invitations to membership had been received from The Australian Clubs in Sydney and in Melbourne but said she could not comment further.

Caecilia Potter, a businesswoman whose husband resigned his membership from The Athenaeum recently over its refusal to admit women, said the insult to Ms Bryce might be used to reignite the debate within the club.

"I think some of the members are scared of powerful women like Ms Bryce," said Ms Potter whose husband, James van Smeerdijk, a prominent Melbourne businessman, fought an increasingly bitter battle to get his fellow members to accept women into the club.

"The fact that they promote themselves as being a place where top business people and politicians can network, and then refuse to allow the Governor General membership because she's a woman puts it all into stark perspective," she said.

When the Athenaeum's constitution was written 100 years ago the members felt it was an honour to have a Governor General in their midst, believing that the role would always be held by a man. "It's just sad," said Ms Potter, "that a club that values tradition so highly abandons it when the G-G happens to be a woman.

"It's time they came out of the nineteenth century and into the modern world."

She added that many of her male friends chose not to join the club because of its anachronistic attitude to women.

There was no answer at The Athenaeum when Times Online called. A woman who answered the phone at The Australian Club in Melbourne said "We don't talk to the press" and hung up.

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