The chairman of the exclusive Augusta National Golf Club, Billy Payne, was recently asked this inevitable question at his annual press conference: when will women be allowed to become members at Augusta? Mr. Payne had little to say about his club’s male-only membership policy.
The executives at Augusta may not want to comment; however, I would like to opine on this topic. I’ve never seen a problem with a men’s-only or women’s-only club; I don’t believe it’s sexist. In fact, I think gender specific clubs (past and present) serve a significant purpose. Now if we were talking about race, that’s a different story. I was horrified to learn the August National Golf Club, founded in 1932, accepted its first-ever African American member in 1990. Disheartening, to say the least…
I am not a member or spokeswoman for Curves®, but let’s look at their business model. Curves® fitness centers are women-only facilities. They have 4 million members in over 70 countries. You don’t see the CEO of Curves® answering perennial questions about male membership. Furthermore, you don’t see men demanding to join one of their 10,000 locations. I wonder what Martha Burk would say if men starting protesting outside of Curves® locations…
I believe people should stop asking Billy Payne when women will be able to become members at Augusta National Golf Club. In the United States, a business has the freedom to set parameters for their organization. As citizens and patrons, we have the opportunity to patronize companies that are aligned with our values.
When addressing this subject from a business standpoint, I’m pensive. Is it ridiculous to cut your profits in half by catering to one gender? Yes, but it boils down to privacy and exclusivity, as well as the desire to serve your demographic. In my opinion, there is something to be said for that. What do you think? Are you an advocate of gender specific clubs?
Photo: AP
About Nicole Johnson
I don’t really care one way or another, I’m just sick of the double standard. Either men and women should both be allowed to have businesses specifically for them, or neither should.
Personally I think that there is nothing wrong with gender exclusive clubs in and of themselves. I know that some have declared that male only clubs are inherently sexist and I think that is bull. Have some of them been sexist? Yes. But I don’t think its right to presume that they are inherently sexist just because they are all male.
If there is some anti-woman behavior going on then someone will have to actually show it. The fact that women are not allowed in the club is not proof enough.
Yes both genders deserve their own lil space, to deny one would be silly and send the wrong message to kids. Sometimes people of each gender just wanna hang with the boys/girls, why hate on that? Personally I like mixed clubs but I can’t fault those that prefer to be in single-gender areas.
Alright I’ll say it…I also have no problem with gender-specific clubs. (Surprised you there didn’t I? lol)
As I’ve said elsewhere, the fight for gender equality is different enough that limiting a club’s membership based on gender doesn’t hold the same sort of discrimination that would do if you were to make a club white-only or straight-only. Now, that being said, I’d be very interested in knowing what this golf club’s policy would be with regards to trans individuals. By all means limit your club to men (or women) only…but be sure to include transmen and transwomen in that.
I’d agree. I don’t think there are any legitimite reasons for wanting not to spend time with people of a different race or orientation (unless possibly on religious grounds like an ethnic jew only retreat) but there’s all kinds of reasons why someone would want a man-space or a woman-space, just look at the girl guides, or curves.
I think organisations should question their gendered policy in recognition of the changing roles of women and men in society but there’s still room for them if they decide that its important to their members to remain a gender safe space.
I’m absolutely with Heather on the transperson thing though, and all the more reason that they should be able to have their birth-cert changed.
“I don’t think there are any legitimite reasons for wanting not to spend time with people of a different race or orientation.”
You gave the example of religious reasons, but I’d also argue that sometimes a minority/unprivileged class will want to have space that’s separate from the majority/privileged class. So like, tonight I’m going out with a group of lgbt students to an lgbt pub night…not to pick up anyone, but just to spend some time in a non-straight space. So there’s that too…but yeah, like I said, that’s a different dynamic than men-only and women-only spaces.
Support groups for people suffering from a certain trauma would also be relevant. I was thinking more of regular social activities like -shudder- golfing. I’ve been to coming out workshops and gay caucases where only LGBT people were allowed (and I think that helped), but all of the other activities were het-friendly.
As for LGBT social groups I think the inclusion of straight people can only be positive, LGBT social scenes can get disturbingly oppressive when only one type of person is allowed.
” I don’t think there are any legitimite reasons for wanting not to spend time with people of a different race or orientation”
Thing is it doesn’t matter what you think, it’s the group. You may think it’s dumb to exclude group x, but it’s their choice. I would never want to associate with gays for example you may not like that but it’s my right and my choice
I just don’t like the double standard. There are plenty of women’s only clubs so as long as that form of sexism persists then I don’t see anything wrong with men’s only clubs.
Seem like another target rich environment for the victim lobby. The other members of Augusta National Golf Club would be sued for sexual harassment with in the 1st 6 months of female admission.
Sorry, are you saying men are all horndogs or that women are all false accusers? Couldn’t quite work out which ridiculous stereotype you were using there.
(Yeah that was snarky).
It’s the unexamined double-standard that I hate the most. If the author had not brought up Curves, I would have. In the city where I live, the parks and rec department sponsors youth soccer leagues. (What most of the world calls “football.”) There’s a league for boys and girls, and a league for girls only, but no boys-only league. That’s a sexist double-standard.
I think it’s okay to have gender segregation but not racial segregation. However, I also recognize that it’s harder than I’d like to admit to explain the difference. “Separate but equal” is supposed to be inherently impossible and completely unfair in one category (race), but acceptable and even welcome in another category (gender). Granted, “race” is a myth with no real biological or quantifiable basis, while “sex” has a little more chromosomal basis. Even there, however, there’s a good argument to be made that there are more than two sexes anyway. Not everyone actually fits into either XX or XY.
(Yes, sex and gender are not the same thing. That’s my point. Even “sex” as a set of categories is not so simple, let alone the huge gray areas that come with “gender.”)
The trans member question is something that Augusta ought to figure out a policy for, real quick. For example, do you just have to be male to *join* the country club? What if you join as a male and transition to being a female – do they kick you out, or are you grandfathered/grandmothered in? What if you “pass” as male while you’re on the golf course but otherwise live as a female?
Augusta Country Club is in Georgia right? If it was in fact where I live (New York) I don’t think they could get away with being ‘Male Only’ . It seems in New York it’s not legal to have ‘Male Only ‘ clubs or establishments. You can have ‘Female Only’ establishments ( Curves, Lucille roberts, those clubs that do ‘Male Reviews’ etc…) But male only establishments are VERBOTTEN! Even the prestegious University Club in Manhattan is sued every couple of years by some woman trying to force her way in. The only thing that saves them is that they have female facilities on the preminisis. I have no problem with ‘Girls night out” at the Racinio or Applebee’s or anywhere you want to go, but it seems the average working stiff guy who’se married or in a relationship is doomed to go through this world solo. It’s a shame, because in this increasingly ‘ Gyno- centric’ world, all we want is a break!
It’s sickening to see the predictable success that feminism has had and will likely continue to have in riling women from every strata over something like this.
Truth is, 99% of men aren’t getting into that club either.
I must admit though, I’m in an exclusively male club myself.
Invited to join (or else) in 1981, I am, in fact, a charter member.
Membership has its privileges; I can obtain federal educational assistance, maintain a security clearance and I can even stay out of jail, just for being in this all-male club.
Of course, women needn’t join our club to enjoy the benefits.
Since women seem obsessed with the government having their collective hands on female reproductive parts, it seems appropriate to mention that as a member of the common man’s all-male club, I can be treated to an all expense paid trip to a war zone (my reproductive parts included).
In this vacationing hot spot, I may be honored to leave an arm or a leg (or maybe my reproductive parts). I might even get an early trip home zipped in a vinyl bag.
Ahhh, male privilege at its best.
Funny though, I don’t see many women clamoring for a chance at being in my club.
There Are indeed women who choose to serve, want to serve and to fight. I’m against conscription personally and believe if it’s gonna happen they should have women in service too or none have to sign up.
The operative word is “choose”.
I had turned 18, I have man parts between my legs – I had no choice – so off to the post office I went.
When I hear women complaining at how their concept of “body ownership” is being constrained, just because a few Papists and politically dimwitted Republicans were stupid enough to discuss conception control without a woman present, it makes me want to gag.
No ladies, never you give two thoughts to your solipsistic grievance parade.
How tough must it be to have several birth control options, from abstaining to paying for your own pills?
The possibility of coming home in a bag is so much more empowering.
I’m mixed on this question, because in many cases, especially where the club’s purpose is strictly social, I don’t have a problem with limiting membership by gender. A private golf club seems to fit that category. However, it’s also the case that social and business often mix, and it’s not always clear where the boundaries are, so I start to have a problem with the idea of an all-male country club or cigar club with lots of business deals being made over a round of golf or enjoying brandy and cigars, if a consequence of that – whether intended or not – is the exclusion of women from equal access to and participation in the business sphere. (I would feel that way if it was reversed, like if Curves was where professional women went to do business to prevent participation by male colleagues.)
I don’t know the solution to that, because I can’t imagine a way to monitor and enforce something like, “Was any business conducted during this round of golf?”, but since it seems likely that such business occasionally happens at a place like Augusta, that makes me less comfortable with it. I don’t think it’s necessary to demand a 50/50 gender split, but I think the doors should be open.
The more private and social the group, the fewer problems I have with man-only or woman-only groups or activities. For a while, I extended regular invitations to a “guy’s lunch” to a few of my guy friends because spending most of my time with my wife and two daughters every day, I felt like I wanted some guy time. We’d go to a sports grill for lunch and shoot the shit, just being dudes. It was great until one of the guy’s wives injected herself into it, and it stopped being possible to have it without her coming along. This woman was also a friend of mine, and it’s not like lunch was ruined by her presence, but it was no longer guy time, and I had no easy replacement for that social need I was looking to fill. There was no graceful way to exclude her and the friend married to her didn’t seem to care, so I stopped being motivated to put out the invites, and that was the end of guys lunch.
@Marcus: Your last sentence perhaps is exactly WHY she attended.