Augusta must let female CEO in
CONSIDERING THAT Augusta National has an exclusively male membership, it seems to have a lot of trouble with women. First, Martha Burk, who protested the club’s discriminatory membership policy in 2003, made watching the Masters a near commercial-free experience for golf fans for two years when the club ran no TV ads after Burk threatened to attack sponsors.
Now, the appointment of Ginni Rometty as the newly appointed CEO of IBM is in- advertently challenging Augusta National’s tradition of male-only membership.
By virtue of her position, Rometty, like all previous IBM CEOS, should be given honorary membership. What a predicament for Augusta National: Should the club break with its tradition of excluding women from membership, or should it insult the CEO of IBM who is a major sponsor of the Masters?
Of course, the Augusta National members have the right to do what they want. And they usually do.
Like all actions, however, there are consequences. If the club gives Rometty a membership, the sacred male-only traditions of Augusta National will be resigned to an acknowledgment that the world beyond Magnolia Drive has changed and maybe Augusta National should, too.
If Augusta National doesn’t give Rometty a membership, it will not only upset Burk, but raise the issue of why the PGA doesn’t dissolve its association with a club that chooses to stand against what is good for the game, and why large corporations continue to pour money into a discriminatory club.
In September of 2011, Donna Orender, former WNBA president, was appointed as a consultant to the PGA of America’s Golf 2.0 initiate. Golf 2.0’s mission is two-fold. The first goal is to increase educational opportunities and support for its members. The second aims to make golf accessible to a wider audience and increase interest in the game.
Orender’s role within the initiative “will steer industry efforts to grow women’s golf participation, identify and shape femalespecific programming; and create a welcoming environment for more women to enter the game.”
Considering more than half the women who take up golf quit within the first five years, this is a sensible idea. The Rometty case exemplifies the challenges Golf 2.0 faces.
So far, the publicity around the Masters has focused on how the most esteemed championship in golf is held at a facility that takes pride in excluding women. This sends a clear message to potential women golfers: this game is not for you.
Research focused on increasing participation rates for women in golf has identified the importance of role models. The most effective role models are women who others identify with and who are successful. Rometty can be both of those things — a successful woman who is publicly facing the familiar exclusion women experience from the golf industry. If she can crack the glass ceiling of Augusta National she may inspire others to persist in a game that is often inhospitable to women.
For anyone who truly cares about golf, the decision facing Augusta National about Rometty’s membership should be a slam dunk. Give her membership. Make women feel welcome in golf.
Who knows, in addition to a commercial-free Masters, we may also get increased support from future Romettys who will surely direct corporate America and its marketing dollars in the decades to come.