Ah, golf. Whenever I see golf, I’m reminded of lazy Sunday afternoons when I was a kid and there was absolutely NOTHING on tv. Nothing. But sometimes golf gets interesting. Like that whole Tiger Woods drama. Or the recent news regarding the US Masters Golf Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club and the female CEO of a certain technology company.
IBM is a sponsor of many sporting events, so it’s not a big surprise that it sponsors the Masters. The golf club that hosts the annual event is a mens-only club (that allows women as guests). As a gesture of appreciation to its corporate sponsors, the club extends membership to executives of those sponsoring companies, and it just happens that in the past, all those executives have been men. But not this year! This year, we have Ginni Rometty, the first female CEO of IBM. The question on everyone’s minds is…will she get a green jacket?
The tournament was held earlier this month, and while Ginni was seen at the Master’s without a green jacket, no one knows what the official word is. There hasn’t been a peep from Augusta or IBM on the subject, and I’m sure everyone is just keeping quiet about it until the next big golf scandal comes along. There have been many blogs that mention sexism and how IBM should pull its sponsorship if they don’t bestow a green jacket upon Ginni. The only words I have to say about that are: WHO CARES?
This isn’t about sexism. This isn’t about being politically correct. This is just the media blowing something completely out of proportion because it has the potential to make one or two parties look bad. That’s just what the media does, isn’t it? If I were Ginni, I would respond to that Tech Crunch blog post above and say, “If women can’t be strong enough to be excluded from places that don’t really matter to them, then we’re never going to get past any of these gender gap issues. Being a strong woman and a role model to young girls doesn’t mean pushing your way into every place a man has been first, it means working hard and being smart and pushing your way to places that no one has ever been.”
I’d like to think that this is how Ginni responded to the Augusta chairman’s membership invitation and honorary green jacket:
Strong, confident, and smart. And a woman.
Well said, Jessica. I absolutely agree.
Perfect!
Well written. My synagogue has separate seating for men and women, which many people (usually those who don’t attend that type of synagogue) find offensive. Those committed to this type of lifestyle actually appreciate the separation. Likewise with regard to the different roles of men and women in our religion, we each do what we are best at, nobody is better than anyone else – just different – in perfect accordance with the Blueprint. Sorry to be so philosophical!
But there are some women to whom it absolutely DOES matter. I happen to loathe golf. Yet there are many avid female players. That these women may only play in such a “legendary” venue as guests, or worse, spouses, is abhorrent in this country. This is not Saudi Arabia and women are NOT second class citizens. Nor should they be treated as such anywhere, public or private.
Running the most powerful and successful company in the world doesn’t appear to be a sign of someone being treated a second class citizen. By the way, you might be interested in this web site
http://www.ladiesgolfclub.com/
and as a man it does not bother me at all that I would not be able to join, even if I were a golf player.