The Masters' Golf Tournament is coming up, which means we'll be subjected to commentators burbling over the place, calling it "the cathedral of golf" and other such over-the-top bloviations. It's a nice golf course people, not a cathedral.
What it really is: The last redoubt of the 1%. They'll soon have their knickers in a knot over an existential question: Should we admit a woman even though she's the CEO of IBM? The CEO of IBM is typically offered a membership, but, heretofore, IBM CEO's have always been men.
If they don't issue the invitation, they're obviously doing it for purposes of gender discrimination. Any guy gets that job, they're in. The smart way to handle it would be to issue the invitation, but without fanfare--in effect saying, "What's the big deal?"
But, this being the 1%, they're likely to insist on doing it their way. Since Augusta is a private club for the elite, they can pursue antebellum policies pretty much for as long as they want.
Augusta wouldn't be able to get away with it if they barred blacks or Jews, actually. Women, on the other hand....
My hunch is that they will admit the new CEO some time later this year. They can insult and abuse Martha Burk but this is a far trickier situation.
Posted by: Hypatia | April 05, 2012 at 01:21 PM
What is IBM says "the hell with it" and withdraws from Augusta?
Posted by: John Petty | April 06, 2012 at 01:42 PM