More women should push for equal play for equal pay

Equal pay for equal work?

How about equal play for equal pay?

The following statement should come as no surprise to anyone associated with Maine golf clubs, private or public: “Women golfers are looking for an attitude adjustment from club pros…

“The trend among women today is the feeling that they deserve to be treated equally in the workplace and in other aspects of their lives. As younger women take up the game of golf, they will no longer accept the restrictions that have applied to women in the past.”

That’s the word from Amy Lee, women’s market editor for Golf Shop Operations, a Golf Digest Publication.

GSO interviewed women golfers and shop managers, seeking opinions and recommendations, and came up with five major points:

(1) Women want to be paid attention to and feel welcome, both on the course and in the shop.

(2) Women need more choices in the shop.

(3) Lessons are important to women. GSO reports almost 20 percent more women have taken lessons than men.

(4) Negative experiences make a lasting impression on women. This includes false assumptions, derogatory comments, and unfairness, which GSO recommends be eliminated to make women repeat customers.

(5) Women need to see a commitment to the women’s market.

That, GSO says, includes everything from the merchandise, decor and service in the shop, to appropriate yardage markers and positive attitudes.

Do women in Maine reflect this attitude?

You bet they do. But, guess what?

Ask a female golfer here in Maine, just about any female golfer, and she’ll be reluctant to go on the record about how she feels she is treated at her own club.

I’ve tried time and time again to get women to go public.

“I’ll tell you what’s wrong here, but please don’t use my name.”

“We pay the same dues as men; we use the course and the club more often; we spend more money in the shop, we eat more often in the dining room, and bring the kids; but we can’t tee off ’til noon on Saturday or Sunday. But, don’t say I told you so!”

“We don’t even have a woman on the board of directors here, even though we’ve been trying to get one appointed for 20 years. But, please, don’t quote me.”

On and on it goes.

Most women golfers in Maine just aren’t willing to go on the record with their complaints. And it’s too bad, because they should.

Their dollars are just as green as their male counterparts and, with today’s woman balancing home and career, who is to say she shouldn’t be able to take a client out on the course at 7 a.m. on any given Saturday or Sunday?

Miss a big sale?

Miss a development opportunity because the individual you’re working with likes to combine a little golf with a little business?

The good-old-boys network operates just as effectively on the golf course as in the boardroom. But female golfers are shut out of that network by their own clubs.

Of course, there is always the flip side of the coin: there are those women who’d prefer to keep the status quo; who’d prefer not to get involved; who’d prefer to be able to tee off and play a leisurely round (for less) on Ladies Day each Wednesday or Thursday. Make the female and male members equal, and you might lose that privilege.

Although the wheels of equality grind slowly, equal treatment of those who pay equal membership dues will have to be addressed sooner or later on the golf courses of Maine.