Martha Burk never heard of Jon Stewart until he asked her to appear on “The Daily Show” in 2003.
But Stewart wasn’t the only newsman to notice Burk’s crusade to open Georgia’s exclusive, all-male Augusta National Golf Club to women. Burk’s protests made her a civil-rights heroine to some and a “Feminazi” to others.
Monday night, Burk, chair of the National Council of Women’s Organizations, appeared at Lake Street Church, 607 Lake St., to tell her side of the story and sign copies of her new book “Cult of Power: Sex Discrimination in Corporate America and What Can Be Done about It.”
The book, released last month, follows the protests that ignited the firestorm.
“I read a column about Augusta’s membership being all-male,'” Burk began. “So we wrote a letter” to the club’s managers. The “we” refers to National Council of Women’s Organizations.
When she didn’t get a response to the letter, Burk made a few phone calls. And when she didn’t hear back, she protested at the 2003 Masters Tournament, which is played on Augusta’s golf course.
“Discrimination against another racial group would not be tolerated,” Burk said in the frank 20-minute talk that preceded the book signing.
According to Burk, Augusta’s members include Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Jack Welch, high-ranking officials at American Express, General Electric, Coca-Cola and IBM, four men who sit on the corporate board of Harvard University, and 19 members of the nonpartisan Council on Foreign Relations.
“It’s not about golf,” Burk said. “It’s about access to power. Those men are getting together and making decisions that affect our entire country, and women have no voice in that.”
Burk’s talk wasn’t all fire and fury. She praised ice-cream makers Ben & Jerry’s Homemade Holdings Inc. for disclosing male and female employees’ relative salaries. She lauded financial-services giant Ernst & Young for making family-related leave available to all employees, regardless of gender.
The 20 church members who attended the event had varying responses.
“I didn’t realize Augusta National was this center of power,” said Evanston resident Laura Piven, a Lake Street Church member. “I’m concerned. Now I’m interested to read more about it in the book.”
“I want to know how this book will affect young women,” said Evanston resident Jackie Granat. “We’re living in an age where people are no longer willing to subject themselves to the power of the corporation.”
Anne Berenberg, a chairwoman of the church’s Peace and Justice Committee and one of the event’s organizers, said she thought Burk “was very clear.”
The committee hasn’t focused on women’s equality issues in the past, but Berenberg said “several members are interested.” Lake Street Church Pastor the Rev. Robert Thompson, who introduced Burk, said there is a “strong prophetic tradition” of examining social justice issues as part of religious study.
“This isn’t a partisan political issue,” he said. “It’s politics in a generic sense, it’s about how we decide who has power in society.”
“I’ve had so much positive reaction from people,” said Burk, who said she eventually plans to write another book. “But it’s a long-term problem and it’s going to require a long-term solution.”
Reach Anika Gupta at [email protected].
