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Augusta National Gender Discrimination, CEOs have few comments
 

DonVon's picture
IB
(King Kong, 1,914
 
Points)
 on 4/9/12 at 12:31am
discrimination.jpg

I'm sure you've all read about this topic in some form over the last few days. If you've been living under a rock, the short and sweet version is that it is tradition for IBM's CEO to wear the club's green blazer at the tournament, but IBM's CEO is a woman, and women are not allowed to be members of the Augusta National Golf Club.

Now some CEOs of related companies have issued statements that they have no comments on the matter and that questions should be relayed to Augusta directly. One might argue that this particular instance of gender discrimination is trivial, but it does bring up a larger point that we are familiar with as a society. I don't mean to start a fire, but there hasn't been a discussion about this topic yet, and I think it's worth talking about.

Edward Barbini, a spokesman for Armonk, N.Y.-based IBM, said “IBM has no comment” when asked about the company’s Masters sponsorship and whether the statements by Obama spokesman Jay Carney and Romney had changed its position. Mark Siegel, spokesman for Dallas-based AT&T (T), said “we are not commenting on this.” Alan Jeffers, a spokesman for Irving, Texas-based Exxon Mobil, said “that question should be directed to Augusta. We don’t have any comment.”

Steve Ethun, a spokesman for the Masters Tournament, also declined to comment and wouldn’t say which executives attended the event in Augusta, Georgia.

Traditionally the top executives of corporate sponsors, including CEOs Rex Tillerson of Exxon Mobil and Randall L. Stephenson of AT&T, entertain customers at hospitality cabins near the 10th hole. IBM also has a nearby cabin where its CEO usually greets clients. Non-members, who don’t wear green jackets, must be accompanied by a member to visit the course or play a round.

Understandably, this is tournament and club tradition (whether one agrees with it or not), is a private affair of the organization, and in this manner, there isn't anything legally objectionable to the rule. Overall though, I have to say that, as the Bloomberg article poins out, it's unsettling to have a bunch of CEOs praising diversity at their respective companies sit by the wayside on this one.

What do you guys think? Should Augusta change its policies? Will it ever?

Link to Bloomberg article

"An intellectual is a man who takes more words than necessary to tell more than he knows." - Dwight D. Eisenhower

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Jackie Chiles's picture

It's a private organization

(Baboon, 145
 
Points)
 on 4/8/12 at 11:52pm

It's a private organization so I think they should be allowed to do what they want.

"It's outrageous, egregious, preposterous. "

DonVon's picture

Jackie Chiles wrote: It's a

IB
(King Kong, 1,914
 
Points)
 on 4/8/12 at 11:54pm
Jackie Chiles:

It's a private organization so I think they should be allowed to do what they want.

Yeah I would agree. It just seems like when there is a natural conflict of interest, as the one between potentially female CEOs of companies who sponsor the tourney and Augusta's policies, then we have a problem. It's as if Augusta implies that women aren't fit to be CEOs...and even though they have that right, they would still be dead wrong.

"An intellectual is a man who takes more words than necessary to tell more than he knows."
- Dwight D. Eisenhower

Check out my blog!

Virginia Tech 4ever's picture

When the girl scouts let boys

EN
(Neanderthal, 2,319
 
Points)
 on 4/9/12 at 12:38am

When the girl scouts let boys join or when Chi Omega Sorority lets males join then I'll start complaining about Augusta. It's a private men's club. Hearing the liberals complain about this issue is utterly laughable. In one breath they're bitching about the 1% and in the other they are bitching on behalf of the top 1 percent's women.

Given that I'm a 20-something male and think about sex virtually every moment of the day I find the idea of an all men's golf club to be physically repellant. But why should anyone care if a rich, privileged woman can join a men's club? Rich women have all kinds of organizations. My mother, for example, is a Red Hat. It's women only! Where's the protest from Barack Obama on this? Or from Mitt Romney, for that matter (and I'm a HUGE Romney supporter)?

But the bigger question is, how many women would even WANT to join a club like this? 12? 20? It's such a manufactured issue.

bfin's picture

Can you do what you want in

CF
(Neanderthal, 2,772
 
Points)
 on 4/9/12 at 12:40am

Can you do what you want in the privacy of your own home? Same thing with PRIVATE businesses.. Why should Augusta be forced to let someone in because it isn't fair? I can't be a girl scout or play woman's basketball or go into the dressing room at Victoria Secret.

This is actually a non issue as Vtech said, Private club can do as they wish.

The answer to your question is 1) network 2) get involved 3) beef up your resume 4) repeat -happypantsmcgee

WSO is not your personal search function.

SECfinance's picture

Virginia Tech 4ever

IB
(King Kong, 1,415
 
Points)
 on 4/9/12 at 12:51am
Virginia Tech 4ever:

When the girl scouts let boys join or when Chi Omega Sorority lets males join then I'll start complaining about Augusta. It's a private men's club. Hearing the liberals complain about this issue is utterly laughable. In one breath they're bitching about the 1% and in the other they are bitching on behalf of the top 1 percent's women.

Chi Omega is a fraternity. ;)

Virginia Tech 4ever's picture

No, it's not. They're mostly

EN
(Neanderthal, 2,319
 
Points)
 on 4/9/12 at 12:55am

No, it's not. They're mostly called fraternities formally--Chi Omega is for females, however.

http://www.chiomega.com/

hdavid57's picture

This was my initial reaction:

O
 
Points)
 on 4/9/12 at 12:56am

This was my initial reaction: If enough bad publicity is the result of this, Augusta will cave in to the pressure and women will be allowed to become members, wear green jackets, and do whatever else they want.

I now believe that Augusta will be more resilient to maintain the status quo than I had originally thought.

Let's see whether this issue fades from view now that the Masters tournament is over, at least for another year. IBM's new CEO, Virginia Rometty, was pretty in pink, as a photo of her from ESPN's website reveals. Will this photo and others like it make this issue of overt discrimination linger for weeks or months?

It should be noted that this is not the first time that efforts have been made to end the gender-bias at Augusta. As ESPN reported:

"The issue of female members at Augusta was a hot-button issue in 2002, when Martha Burk, then the chair of the National Council of Women's Organizations, campaigned for Augusta National to end its all-male membership and threatened to boycott companies whose executives belonged to the club. Hootie Johnson, Payne's predecessor, responded by cutting loose corporate backers and the Masters was televised without commercials for the next two years.

A planned protest before the 2003 Masters was a dud and the issue slowly receded.

When Payne replaced Johnson as chairman of the club and of the Masters tournament in 2006, he said there was "no specific timetable" for admitting women. The question was raised at the 2007 and 2010 Masters. Both times, Payne rebuffed questions, repeating the club's policy on privacy relating to membership issues."

Would anyone refrain from watching the Masters next year if this issue isn't resolved by then?

Howard Schwartz

See my WSO blog

illiniPride's picture

Should they be allowed to do

IB
(King Kong, 1,099
 
Points)
 on 4/9/12 at 1:34am

Should they be allowed to do what they want as an organization with private membership? Sure. That being said, it does bother me that sexism still exists for no good reason.

@Jackie: Rethought it as soon as I posted

Leadership can be defined in two words: "Follow Me"

Virginia Tech 4ever's picture

It's called the 1st

EN
(Neanderthal, 2,319
 
Points)
 on 4/9/12 at 1:33am

It's called the 1st Amendment. We have the freedom of association in this country. A private club is not serving the public--a private club services private individuals who get together and agree to associate with one another under a set of rules. In the United States of America you have freedom of association, hence why women have Red Hats, Girl Scouts, sororities, etc. and why men have fraternities, golf clubs, cigar clubs, etc.

Jackie Chiles's picture

@illiniPride Is a restaurant

(Baboon, 145
 
Points)
 on 4/9/12 at 1:33am

@illiniPride

Is a restaurant a private organization?

"It's outrageous, egregious, preposterous. "

Virginia Tech 4ever's picture

So, illinipride, you have a

EN
(Neanderthal, 2,319
 
Points)
 on 4/9/12 at 1:35am

So, illinipride, you have a problem with Delta Delta Delta sorority or Red Hat? What about women's bible studies or bachelorette parties?

illiniPride's picture

Virginia Tech 4ever

IB
(King Kong, 1,099
 
Points)
 on 4/9/12 at 1:48am
Virginia Tech 4ever:

So, illinipride, you have a problem with Delta Delta Delta sorority or Red Hat? What about women's bible studies or bachelorette parties?

You could make the argument that the other clubs don't deny anything from the opposite sex because anyone can read the bible, go to a bar, go on vacation, etc. There is only one Augusta.

The truth is, the Augusta thing just bothers me whether or not I have a good reason. A 'no women' rule at a supposedly civilized club seems out of place to me in this day and age.

Leadership can be defined in two words: "Follow Me"

Virginia Tech 4ever's picture

Yeah, you're right--finding a

EN
(Neanderthal, 2,319
 
Points)
 on 4/9/12 at 1:53am

Yeah, you're right--finding a golf course in Augusta, GA is like finding a needle in a haystack...

UkraineTrain's picture

I think that the club is well

 
Points)
 on 4/9/12 at 1:56am

I think that the club is well within their rights to not allow women to be members, however it could hurt them in a few ways.
1. It makes them look like sexist bastards. Although this might not be the case, it looks like that on the outside.
2. In the future, we will most likely see more and more women CEO's, some of which might be at companies that currently sponsor the Master's.

I would also like to point out that all-girls clubs, like sororities or the girl scouts, have male counterparts, which brings about the question, why would a male want to join these all-girl clubs if they had all-guy clubs of their own?
I don't think there is anything close to a female counterpart to Augusta, so it makes sense that a powerful women would want to be in such an elite group.

wolverine19x89's picture

If I was another CEO I

O
(King Kong, 1,845
 
Points)
 on 4/9/12 at 2:05am

If I was another CEO I wouldn't have commented either seeing as how even the smallest, most insignificant quotes can be (and have been) used to smear somebody... especially with issues like these.

I think this should be left up to the PRIVATE club... up to them: what has more tradition? being mens only? or having the IBM CEO there?... I couldn't care less what they do.

It does seem weird that they're still guys only, but it's golf for f's sake... guys use golf to get away from women sometimes, nothing wrong with a "boys club" imo.

It's just golf.

If your dreams don't scare you, then they are not big enough.

"There are two types of people in this world: People who say they pee in the shower, and dirty fucking liars."-Louis C.K.

Virginia Tech 4ever's picture

Ukraine, are you kidding me?

EN
(Neanderthal, 2,319
 
Points)
 on 4/9/12 at 2:06am
illiniPride's picture

Virginia Tech 4ever

IB
(King Kong, 1,099
 
Points)
 on 4/9/12 at 2:13am

Leadership can be defined in two words: "Follow Me"

Virginia Tech 4ever's picture

So women are entitled to

EN
(Neanderthal, 2,319
 
Points)
 on 4/9/12 at 2:15am
UkraineTrain's picture

Girl scouts and sororities

 
Points)
 on 4/9/12 at 2:15am
illiniPride's picture

Virginia Tech 4ever wrote: So

IB
(King Kong, 1,099
 
Points)
 on 4/9/12 at 2:20am

Leadership can be defined in two words: "Follow Me"

Virginia Tech 4ever's picture

Ukraine, that's the point!

EN
(Neanderthal, 2,319
 
Points)
 on 4/9/12 at 2:25am
Virginia Tech 4ever's picture

illiniPride wrote: Virginia

EN
(Neanderthal, 2,319
 
Points)
 on 4/9/12 at 2:28am
illiniPride's picture

Virginia Tech 4ever wrote: As

IB
(King Kong, 1,099
 
Points)
 on 4/9/12 at 2:34am

Leadership can be defined in two words: "Follow Me"

Virginia Tech 4ever's picture

If I were in charge I would

EN
(Neanderthal, 2,319
 
Points)
 on 4/9/12 at 2:43am
UkraineTrain's picture

Girl scouts and Sororities

 
Points)
 on 4/9/12 at 2:46am
Virginia Tech 4ever's picture

You can't "earn" the right to

EN
(Neanderthal, 2,319
 
Points)
 on 4/9/12 at 2:50am
illiniPride's picture

@VTech: I get your point. And

IB
(King Kong, 1,099
 
Points)
 on 4/9/12 at 3:01am

Leadership can be defined in two words: "Follow Me"

UkraineTrain's picture

Augusta did not allow black

 
Points)
 on 4/9/12 at 3:07am
UkraineTrain's picture

Haha, sorry I accidentily

 
Points)
 on 4/9/12 at 3:19am
dogboo's picture

I dont believe its sexism.

 
Points)
 on 4/9/12 at 3:46am
happypantsmcgee's picture

If a woman's biggest concern

O
(Almost Human, 9,621
 
Points)
 on 4/9/12 at 5:14am

If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses - Henry Ford

leveredarb's picture

Vontropnats wrote: Jackie

(King Kong, 1,231
 
Points)
 on 4/9/12 at 5:53am
Flake's picture

blackfinancier wrote: Can you

ER
(Neanderthal, 3,586
 
Points)
 on 4/9/12 at 7:17am

Under my tutelage, you will grow from boys to men. From men into gladiators. And from gladiators into SWANSONS.

Anacott_CEO's picture

As has been stated above,

CF
(King Kong, 1,259
 
Points)
 on 4/9/12 at 7:29am
UkraineTrain's picture

How can you compare being

 
Points)
 on 4/9/12 at 7:57am
Xepa's picture

When looking at gender only

CO
 
Points)
 on 4/9/12 at 9:37am
losttraveler's picture

You all are thinking about it

(Baboon, 111
 
Points)
 on 4/9/12 at 9:51am
DonVon's picture

http://techcrunch.com/2012/04

IB
(King Kong, 1,914
 
Points)
 on 4/9/12 at 9:52am

"An intellectual is a man who takes more words than necessary to tell more than he knows."
- Dwight D. Eisenhower

Check out my blog!

BTbanker's picture

I thought you had to be good

IB
 
Points)
 on 4/9/12 at 12:19pm

"A man generally has two reasons for doing anything. One that sounds good, and the real one." - J.P. Morgan

DonVon's picture

leveredarb

IB
(King Kong, 1,914
 
Points)
 on 4/9/12 at 12:34pm

"An intellectual is a man who takes more words than necessary to tell more than he knows."
- Dwight D. Eisenhower

Check out my blog!

SECfinance's picture

Virginia Tech 4ever

IB
(King Kong, 1,415
 
Points)
 on 4/9/12 at 1:51pm
allaboutthefight's picture

jesus christ, this world gets

(Monkey, 53
 
Points)
 on 4/9/12 at 3:12pm

"death is nothing, but to live defeated is to die everyday" ~Napolean Bonaparte

Twigga's picture

Does Augusta even have red

O
(Monkey, 50
 
Points)
 on 4/9/12 at 3:45pm

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