The chairman of telecom company DNA, Pertti Korhonen has resigned from the ultra-exclusive Helsinki Bourse Club, citing the group's misogyny as his motive for leaving.
The group's website says it models itself on the English "gentlemen's club" tradition and is made up largely of investors and business leaders.
"I know there are many men in the club who think the current line is not OK," Korhonen says. "I've given the group time to update their values, but they haven't. I can't be a part of a prejudiced club."
The century-old networking club came under attack last year when various news outlets reported on its enduring policy of not allowing women to become members. The club also made a controversial statement at the time, saying that "equality doesn't need to happen everywhere".
Korhonen is the first person to walk out of the clique on moral grounds since the Bourse Club was publically criticised. He says he did not mean for his walkout to become a matter of public interest, and that his quasi-private Facebook status was leaked.
