WASHINGTON, DC — “This vendetta of Martha Burk and the National Council of Women’s Organizations is simply the latest radical feminist attack on our freedoms. The Constitution gives us the right to free association. Augusta National is a private club supported by private dollars. To remain a male-only institution is within their rights,” says IWF Senior Fellow Melana Zyla Vickers.


“Until somebody shows me women are harmed by the Augusta National Golf Club’s men-only policy, I simply don’t care if it remains an all-male club,” continues Vickers. “Yes, Augusta National is a male-only institution. That hasn’t resulted in a single woman not being able to play golf, a single woman not getting a job she sought, a single woman being denied an education, a single woman being sexually harassed.


“There is absolutely no economic or social harm that has befallen women due to Augusta National’s choice to remain an all-men’s club.”


Adds Vickers, “So why does Martha Burk find that this issue deserves attention above all others, listed on her organization’s lengthy agenda? Her quest for the inclusion of women in Augusta National’s membership is nothing more than a self-promoting publicity stunt. Who shall be her next victim: fraternities, Boy Scouts, all-men’s schools?”


Ms. Vickers was commenting on a poll released today by the Augusta National Golf Club showing that the majority of men and women surveyed support the right of the club to remain single-sex.


The Independent Women’s Forum, founded in 1992, is a nonprofit, nonpartisan educational organization.