All-male Augusta National overlooks Virginia Rometty. Should IBM complain?
| Los Angeles
Behind the scenes at this year鈥檚 Masters golf tournament is a matchup that many are watching almost as much as Tiger Woods versus the rest of the field.
The matchup is between the men-only Augusta National Golf Club 鈥� where the tournament has been played since 1933 鈥� and critics who have been calling for a female member, particularly since 2002, when feminist Martha Burk took on the club. 聽
The new wrinkle is that Augusta has traditionally extended membership to the CEOs of its corporate sponsors. Now, one of those sponsors, IBM, has a female CEO 鈥� one who even plays golf.聽
It's an awkward moment for IBM and CEO Virginia "Ginni" Rometty as they consider what 鈥� if anything 鈥� to do about the apparent snub. Fighting the feminist cause might not be IBM's job, say some experts, but the company might have to brace for a potential backlash if it continues its relationship with Augusta.
While Augusta National undercut protests in 2002 by eliminating commercials on its broadcasts 鈥� thereby removing the opportunity for potential boycotts 鈥� IBM could face an uprising that is harder to handle. 聽
鈥淚BM can decide to support the Augusta National as is, but the tradeoffs are huge,鈥� says Mary Ellen Balchunis, a political scientist at聽LaSalle University in Philadelphia,聽who will be using the episode for her course on women in politics.聽聽
"First, it would be a real slap in the face to CEO Ginny Rometty should the Augusta National not admit her as a member," she says in an e-mail. "Second, should IBM continue to be the chief sponsor if IBM does not admit their CEO, IBM should be prepared for a large boycott by women. Women are IBM users and purchasers.鈥�
For its part, Augusta聽has long been proud of its exclusivity and conservatism. It didn鈥檛 have a black member until 1990, when the club extended an invitation to Gannett television executive Ron Townsend, according Orin Starn, a聽cultural anthropologist at Duke University in Durham, N.C., and a golf historian.
鈥淵ou would think that聽Augusta聽would be very sensitive, even embarrassed about its exclusionary past 鈥� this was a club that was very much about Jim Crow for the first five decades of its existence,鈥� says Professor Starn,聽author of 鈥淭he Passion of Tiger Woods.鈥澛犫�淎pparently, they refuse to discard their anachronistic, stick-to-their-guns mentality.鈥�
But some observers say the outcry over Augusta's member list misses the point. The women's rights movement has moved well beyond caring about an exclusive golf club in Georgia.
鈥淎ugusta鈥檚 intransigence is becoming increasingly irrelevant in the battle for equal rights," says聽Jason Maloni, senior vice president of sports and entertainment for Levick Strategic Communications聽in Washington. "Women have ignored聽Augusta聽like聽Germany聽ignored the Maginot Line in World War II.鈥�
Others say it's not Ms. Rometty's job to play pioneer.聽
鈥淩ometty鈥檚 job is to do her best to lead IBM and do a great job at that,鈥� says Justine Siegal, the first female coach of a men鈥檚 professional baseball team, the Brockton Rox of the independent Canadian American league.聽鈥淚f she whines about聽Augusta, it will be taking away from what she needs to do."
"It is up to society and others within IBM to fight this battle over membership,鈥� adds Ms. Siegal, who is now聽director of sports partnership for Sport in Society at聽Northeastern聽University
Perhaps that activism should start within the Professional Golfers' Association (PGA) itself, says Ben Agger, director of the Center for Theory at the University of Texas at Arlington鈥檚 sociology department.
"Augusta National鈥檚 anachronistic apartheid, keeping women out, is best met by a PGA players鈥� boycott," says Dr. Agger. 鈥淚t is fine to expect the woman CEO of IBM to force the issue, but the PGA has much more leverage. It is unimaginable that men鈥檚 professional tennis players, a thoroughly global bunch, would countenance one of their four 'majors' being held at a facility that barred women or any other group."
