Women's equity advocate attacks boardrooms, not bunkers

Martha Burk, who led the effort to open the Augusta (Ga.) National Golf Club to women, will discuss women's equity issues March 29 in addresses at the Center for the Education of Women (CEW) and Stephen M. Ross School of Business.

(Photo courtesy University Housing)

Burk says one focus of her addresses will be pay equity and ways to promote equity systemically.

"The problem is not that individuals are not good enough," Burk says. "The problem is that there are barriers that few individuals can overcome, and if they do, it does not change the overall picture."

Her visit comes just nine days before the start of the 2005 Masters Golf Tournament at Augusta National. Burk, chair of the National Council of Women's Organizations, probably is best known for her protests of that club's long-standing policies to exclude women as members, and its symbolism of the struggle for equal treatment of women.

Burk's organization, a network of nearly 200 national women's groups representing 10 million women, has chosen not to focus attention on this year's Masters.

"No, we are protesting in the boardroom," Burk says. "I don't expect to be down there. There is discrimination in the corporations involved in Augusta and it goes far beyond the golf club."

Burk also is co-founder and president of the Center for Advancement of Public Policy, a research and policy analysis organization in Washington, D.C.

Burk will speak from 8-9:30 a.m. at CEW, 330 E. Liberty. Burk's second address will begin at 7 p.m. in Hale Auditorium. Residence Education, a department in University Housing, is sponsoring her campus visit.

"University Housing values bringing Martha Burk to the Michigan campus because she shares an important message about women's equity issues," says Kevin Konecny, University Housing assistant director of residence education.

In 2002, Burk read a column in USA Today about gender discrimination at Augusta National. When the club declined to significantly change its policies, Burk got General Motors-Cadillac, IBM, Citigroup and Coca-Cola to withdraw sponsorship of the Masters for two years.

She also leaked the club's secret member list to the public, and challenged the practices of Fortune 500 companies headed by Augusta members.

"But even if Augusta National never admits women, the controversy will have served its purpose," she wrote in her recent book, "Cult of Power: Sex Discrimination in Corporate America and What Can Be Done About It."

"It took us far beyond those hallowed gates and opened a national dialogue about fairness and the fact that gender bias is still all too often viewed as acceptable," Burk says. "It also highlighted some very dark corners of discrimination that spill over into corporate attitudes and practices every day."