Cambridge University Women's Boat Club has refused to take part in an international regatta because its rowers would be housed in a hostel while its male counterparts are treated to a five-star hotel.

Although it's been three years since the women's Boat Race has been televised, and moved to the same date and stretch of the Thames as the men's contest, this latest revelation suggests that female rowers have a long way to go before they can achieve full equality.

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The Sunday Times has reported that the female club has rejected an invitation to compete in the prestigious Sveti Duje regatta in Split, Croatia, after discovering that rowers would be put up in a hostel or student accommodation for the third year in a row.

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Meanwhile, the men's team are put up in the Le Méridien Lav, an exclusive resort which boasts a private beach, marina, sea-front promenade, tennis academy, and where rooms start at £130 (€150) a night.

In addition, the female rowers are also expected to pay for their own flights to the regatta, while the organizers of the event arranged the men's travel.

Club president Daphne Martschenko said in a statement: "It's advertised as a celebration of Cambridge and Oxford. The men and women are presented as teams that are on equal footing. And yet there is the disparity in terms of accommodation that’s quite stark."

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When former president Ashton Brown posted on the regatta's public Facebook page that she was "much more interested in non-sexist events," they received messages from former male Oxbridge rowers accusing them of pushing forward the inequality by not taking part.

Former Oxford rower and regatta founder Luka Grubor posted: "I agree this is a failing, but the regatta is a process and not a one-off. The way we have progressed and lasted is by people getting involved, helping and contributing. You chose not to. All you have done is draw a line and make a demand for equality on a single issue."

Martschenko later tweeted: "I feel so much anger and sadness and exhaustion. If the conversation was reversed I wonder what they’d be saying."



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Quintus Travis, chairman of the men's club, told The Sunday Times that issues about accommodation should be directed towards the event's organisers.



"All our rowers work to promote sporting excellence each year on the Thames and elsewhere. Equality in sport is central to that mission," he explained.



Meanwhile, the women's club recently claimed that the men's Cambridge University Boat Club recently cancelled mixed-sex social events saying the female members "were not beautiful enough."

Naomi Gordon Naomi Gordon is news writer mainly covering entertainment news with a focus on celebrity interviews and television.

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