I had a dream last night that IBM CEO Virginia Rometty told the Grand Poobah of the Masters Tournament to take his green blazer and shove it.
You see the golf tournament, considered the most prestigious in the country, is held at the Augusta National Golf Club and guess what, that club doesn’t accept female members.This is a tough situation for the Club and for Rometty because traditionally IBM’s top dog has been accepted into the club and ends up wearing the organization’s famous green blazer.
All four of the last IBM CEOs were offered membership, according to a Wall Street Journal article today. But the newly minted chief executive Rometty won’t be able to don it because breasts are not allowed.
Rometty isn’t commenting on the matter, and word is she’ll be attending since IBM is one of the event’s key sponsors, but here’s where the few women in power can make a difference. Instead of attending and faking a smile, she should pull the company’s long-time sponsorship and tell Masters “you’re not the master of me anymore.”
It’s particularly significant that this situation involves golf. The game is considered the height of Good-Old-Boy networking, so by keeping women out of the biggest golfing event men are assured world domination. And if you’re wondering, Rometty actually does play golf.
The fact that the Masters isn’t hiding or running from its policy says something about how women are still perceived in this country. Can you image if this club didn’t allow Blacks or Jews to join?
Why is it OK to ban women? Because women are still treated like second-class citizens. Clearly, no one thought it was a bad idea to join this all-guy club for years, given the IBM execs who proudly wore the jacket.
This is what Masters Chairman Billy Payne thinks of you whining women who want the policy changed:
“As has been the case, whenever that question is asked, all issues of membership are now and have been historically subject to the private deliberations of the members and that statement remains accurate and remains my statement,” he said, according to a story in the Daily News.
But things don’t change if we don’t stand up. If Rometty just attends without taking a stand, it will be a defeat for women, and men, everywhere. You can’t win a war without a battle, and the war to get women in positions of power that never started is our downfall.
Little has changed for women and power since the 1980s. Women held only about 16 percent of board seats and 14 percent of executive officer positions at Fortune 500 companies last year, according to a study by Catalyst, a research firm.
Yes, discrimination is a big part of this, but women are also to blame. We keep waiting for men to hand over control but we’ll be waiting a long time my friends. If women held the majority of the corporate corner office seats, do you think we’d hand over the reins without at least a scuffle?
Rometty do us all a favor, boycott the Masters! But if you don’t, at least wear a blood red blazer with the words “I’m the Master” emblazoned on the back.
April 6th, 2012 at 10:49 am
stay out of this this is a man cave for us men, so get life, you and ppresident obama, want to take everytihng away, take a chill pill, and go to bed!!! All boy cotting does is cause havoc, ruins peoles lives and possibly loss of jobs, just cook dinner and be silent on this,,,liberals make me sick!!!
April 7th, 2012 at 12:41 pm
I think as long as IBM is a company with only male employees who are 100% responsible for generating the company’s profits, it would be fine for IBM to continue its sponsorship of the Master’s.
If not, then Augusta surely should not accept money partially earned by women (to be used to continue a male-only membership).
Since they are private, they can be as selective about their sponsors as about their rules of membership, and this would maintain their sense of integrity.
April 9th, 2012 at 3:19 pm
Eve, do you support opening up all Curves locations to men?
April 9th, 2012 at 3:26 pm
Hey Ken, I don’t want Rometty to get into this man cave. I’m actually suggesting she stay as far away from it as possible.
And HikingStick, I’m all for men being allowed to go to Curves.
April 9th, 2012 at 4:55 pm
I think Curves locations should be free to be women only, just as Augusta should be free to be men only. Forced inclusion is, in my opinion, contrary to the freedom of association we (U.S. Citizens) have under the Constitution.
April 10th, 2012 at 11:35 am
I do think it’s sad that the only thing out there to compare to this situation is membership at Curves. Alas, this isn’t a great comparison. Curves is a place where middle income women go to tone their saggy butts. The Masters is a place where men of power come to share their power.
If men don’t get into Curves they don’t miss out on a lot..other than butt toning.
If women continue to be excluded from power-driven events such as the Masters we will continue to be treated like second class citizens.
If powerful women and men refuse to partake in this type of discrimination then the situation will have to change.
Rometty’s attendance in her pink jacket did more to promulgate these types of injustices than the men who created these rules of exclusion.
April 10th, 2012 at 1:39 pm
I’m a man, and I don’t think I have any chance of becoming a member at Augusta, either.
April 11th, 2012 at 6:01 am
And most men won’t get a chance to become a member. But that’s not the point. The many IBM CEOs that came before Rometty became members because they were the CEO of IBM.
May 20th, 2012 at 3:02 pm
Ken, you need to focus your energy on creating a time machine to go back to when women couldn’t vote and black people had separate drinking fountains, because obviously that’s where you want to be. I’m sure you don’t believe in reincarnation, but if there was such a thing as reincarnation I hope you will come back as whatever demographic is being discriminated against at that time. Some people can have compassion, and then there are people like you, who only think about themselves.
Career Diva, I think you laid all the details of this equal justice case out crystal clear. Unfortunately, the only people who take time to comment are the ones that equate the Masters event to jogging in a circle at Curves. The second someone makes that comparison, it’s difficult to to take anything they say seriously. Your post was great and the only people worth arguing to about it are Rometty and the ones with the green jackets.