Augusta  National- No longer for boys only

This video came from the news which announced on August 20th, 2012 that Augusta National, an exclusive golf club has now finally, after ten years, admitted two female members into the group. Augusta National has always been a golf club with wealthy males in it and has never allowed women members. This video announces the joy that many women had on this day because of the admission of the female members. The video shows the interview of Martha Burk, an early critic of Augusta National's "males only" policy. Martha Burk started the protest against this ten years ago encouraging others to join in order to change the corporate word. Even though the allowing of women into Augusta National was a main goal for Burk, it is only one of many. For the past ten years she and other women have thrown many law suits onto other corporate companies in order to stop this discrimination towards hard working women.

When I first saw the starting preview to this video online I really didn't think I would have much interest because I don't have much of an interest in golf, but after the first minute of this video I was amazed as to what this one woman Martha Burk has started and how equality between women and men is still progressing. I honestly had no idea there was so much inequality and unfairness towards women still going on in both the corporate world and the sports world. My favorite part of this video was how Martha Burk was addressing the fact that this whole thing isn't just about golf and that women can now be admitted into Augusta National but that this is another huge step for all working women across the country within the corporate world.

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/bestoftv/2012/08/20/nr-brooke-burk.cnn

I had two instant reactions when I first saw this picture, shocking but yet also incredible. The shocking part may seem obvious to most people, which is the fact that a picture like this was once seen as the way of life and the way women were viewed. On one side, I see this picture as absolutely ridiculous because of how it is portraying a woman being surprised and questioning that she can open what seems to be a ketchup bottle. On the other side, I find it incredible and amazing looking at this picture and seeing how far women have come along in the world. It gives me hope that even though we still have things we need to improve with sexism between men and women throughout the world, we have obviously came along way from the way it use to be. 

Sexism at Wimbledon

Despite the progress of equality between men and women in recent years, Men have always earned more money playing professional tennis at Wimbledon than women. The men and women do the same amount of training and play the same amount of matches during the tournament. Regardless of the equal opportunities and equal pay acts in the United Kingdom, Wimbledon did not offer equal prize money until 2007. After many years of the women fighting for this equal right, not many others were supporting them. Still in 2012, the men disagree with the women tennis players getting equal pay. A french man, named Gilles Simon made some offensive comments towards the women players saying that the men deserve to be paid more because "their game is more entertaining and far more interesting". 

I completely disagree with the men's attitudes and comments toward the women. This is an example of sexism as the men do not want the women to get equal pay for the same job. It is unfair to the women by making comments as if the women players have it easier when both sexes are working and training just as hard. Not only is Gilles Simon and the other men wrong for their comments but Wimbledon is also to blame as they waited so long to finally give equal pay. Despite the equality and equal pay, the cost of a ticket for a men's tennis match is more expensive then a ticket for a women's match. By this, the men give reason as to why they should get paid more when in reality more people watch the women's matches than men's matches. 

Sexism at Wimbledon

Sexism is the discrimination, different behavior and attitudes based upon a persons sex. Sexism has been around for hundreds of years and despite the progress that has been made in many countries, it is still commonplace in society today. I chose this topic because it is something I am interested in and a good topic to research and see what good changes have been made but also to see the areas and attitudes that still need to be improved. Within this topic, I am going to research countries where sexism and discrimination are low in society versus countries where discrimination and sexism is high and compare the differences between these societies.