Thursday, April 5, 2012

Augusta Masters: Some Traditions Need to be Buried

The Augusta National Golf Club's no women allowed policy has been in the headlines for the last couple of days. The golf club's membership is populated by Spanky and Alfalfa of Our Gang fame, who would on occasion declare that their clubhouse was off limits--no girls allowed!

Since it's inception in 1933, Augusta hasn't allowed women to become members and just began allowing black males to wear the hallowed green jacket in 1990. The headlines pose the same question, Masters Controversy: Should Augusta Golf Club Admit Its First Female Member? Why now? Well, in addition to its tradition of not admitting women, Augusta also traditionally bestows membership on the CEOs of the Masters' three corporate sponsors. One of those sponsors is IBM, and its CEO is a woman, Ginni Rometty.

Augusta is confronted with a quandry as to which tradition to follow, the one that discriminates and treats women as second class citizens or the one that bestows a green jacket on the CEOs of the corporate sponsors of the Masters. What are chauvinistic reprobates with 19th century values to do?

It's 2012, this should not even be a question that needs to be asked. Membership in the club isn't simply about playing golf. These all male networks developed as social and business organizations. At the time of their inception, women did not play any role in the world of business or industry.

However, for some time now women have been making their way in a formerly male dominated world of business and industry. To deny women access to forums where much of the networking that is an essential part of the business world takes place is to impede the ability of women to fully participate and compete in the world of business and industry.

News anchor, Paula Faris, of ABC's World News Now, defended Augusta's practice declaring that it is a private club and it's exclusion of women is no big deal, after all there are boy scouts and girl scouts, and girls schools and boys schools. Paula, you need to go back and think it through a bit more.

This discriminatory tradition is not comparable to girl scouts and boy scouts, organizations primarily intended for children and where no one indulges in making business deals involving major corporations. Nor is it comparable to private schools segregated by gender. I personally find such gender separated institutions abhorrent, and a poor preparation for a world that isn't neatly divided by genitalia. However, I'm not making that argument today. Instead my focus is the exclusion of women from the big boys club where power deal are brokered and significant business connections are made.

We cannot have institutions that are a key part of the world of business be
closed to women based on antiquated notions of a woman's role in society or her lack of a role in the world of business.

If Augusta wishes to maintain it's male only status then it needs to strictly be a golf club and the only negotiations by its members need to be about golf. Augusta has made itself into an important cog in the world of business and industry and as such it should not be allowed to deny membership based on gender any more than it can deny membership based on race or ethnicity.

The days of "No Jews and No Coloreds" at the golf course are over. It's time to bury the "No Women Allowed" policy along side of them.

By the way, word is that Ginni Rometty plays golf.

9 comments:

  1. It's a sadly validating moment when a story like this comes to the fore in the face of those who would tell us,"Sit down and shut up! You have your equality!" The ole boys do manage to find their secret little bastions of male onlyness.

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  2. "If Augusta wishes to maintain it's male only status then it needs to strictly be a golf club and the only negotiations by its members need to be about golf."

    And right you are Sheria. Exclusive Private clubs are fine as long as they stick to their own internal considerations. When they become public as this Golf Establishment has it's time to open their doors.

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  3. Rocky,

    And there are so few of those bastions left. Even at the local shooting ranges, half of the shooters there are women.

    I belong to the United States Power Squadrons, a hundred year old boating club that back in the 1980's had a crisis when they refused to admit women as full members. There was a lawsuit and they lost. I think they wouldn't still be around today if they hadn't been forced to go co-ed, because the women seem to do most of the work and make up nearly half of the membership. That seems to apply to most of the organizations I belong to and as most clubs today are suffering from dwindling membership, cutting off half the talent pool and half the potential membership may all by itself spell doom for some of them. Ignorance has it's price.

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  4. Sheria,

    2012 and they still think it's okay to be running a high-profile "old boys' club"? People are still finding it necessary to wheedle and cajole them into not pretending that women don't exist? Pathetic!

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  5. I quit smoking and partying years ago. Can I be a mysoginist this one week Rocky?

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  6. Truth - don't tell me, the wife will be out of town so you'll be sitting around in your underwear, drinking beer, watching guy flicks and farting. Hey, if she's ok with it...:)

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  7. Capt, I sometimes think women try too hard to fit into a man's world - rather than sue for inclusion, they should start their own women only clubs where they can strategize how best to kick the good ole boys' asses.

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  8. Its worked before. Miami prospered because Palm Beach wouldn't let "those people" into hotels there.

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  9. She's not okay with it but I do all that anyway to exert my male dominance.

    It doesn't work at home or here in Blogistan. You, Pamela Shaw and Leslie own me.

    Not as much as the lady in my tennis league though. She stomps me every week.

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