Do You golf – blackenterprise.com
Happy Tuesday!
So, ladies, the question of the day is: “Do you golf?” I’ve heard the question being asked over and over in most of the high-ranking corporate spaces I’ve found myself in, except it was most often addressed to male colleagues. And I’ve also witnessed tidbits of conversations started on the golf course, and continued in the office, which appeared to place some of these male colleagues in better position for promotion. All of this because they play golf?
Yes, indeed…It’s simply the world of business, and golf happens to be its favorite game. For long, it has been the medium through which important deals are closed, business rapport is built, and friendly competition is nurtured…all without breaking too much of a sweat (we need to keep that business appearance more or less intact).
Yet women in the corporate sphere are missing out on the incredible networking opportunities generated by the game simply by being absent from it. According to the book “Even Par: How Golf Helps Women Gain the Upper Hand in Business“, published by businesswomen Leslie Andrews and Adrienne Wax, ‘golf is the new MBA” which can help women break some of the actual and mental barriers keeping them from success at work.
According to an earlier article by the Glass Hammer, and per a Mass Mutual survey of women who play golf, 73% of them agree the game helps them network for business. So should women, especially minority women, get into golf just to advance themselves professionally, even if they might just face as much discrimination (if not more) in the sport as in their respective careers? Or should they simply rely and count on their own strengths to make it up the corporate ladder? Or yet again, are we just missing on an incredible opportunity to learn yet another face of the world of business?
I believe discrimination against corporate sisters in and outside of the corporate sphere is not about to disappear any time soon. Some of the deeply entrenched beliefs about men’s potential versus women’s actual performance, or about how men are more able to turn relationships into business opportunities than women, have been well and alive for decades. We all know change, especially this type of deep belief-based, culturally reinforced change, does not happen overnight.
Yet if there exist possibilities to open the door of opportunities wider, not just for ourselves, but all those coming after us, shouldn’t we at least consider taking a crack at it? Or should I say, a club swing at it?
The Corporate Sister.
