Cynthia was the crème de la crème catch for a high-tech firm. She’d graduated from Stanford with a Ph.D. in a select area of engineering. One member of the management team claimed she was a “real find.” Cynthia was not only a woman, but also Chinese. Still, her double whammy status as a minority and a woman put her outside the realm of the good ol’ boys and their most coveted game[md]golf[md]where deals are made, resume[as]s swapped, and decisions established before the Monday morning staff meeting. Cynthia thought maybe it was true. If she learned to play golf, she could advance faster within the organization. Cynthia proceeded to take golf lessons and then entered the annual company golf tournament. To the shock of the good ol’ boys, she placed third! Even better, she had a 2-foot-high trophy she proudly displayed in her office as a reminder that she had penetrated the male bastion. That’s when a curious thing happened. The good ol’ boys began inviting her to play. She now had the inside scoop on this informal network. She was in on critical information. In her own way, she had gained membership into the club.

Many women don’t want to pay the metaphoric dues for membership in the good ol’ boys club, so there has been a movement during the last three decades toward women establishing their own networks, formal and informal. Some women don’t want to play golf. Consider Jean, a 15-year partner member of one of the top 10 public accounting firms in the country. She hated the game played by her predominantly male partnership at the firm. When her boss sent an e-mail saying there was going to be a “mandatory golf game,” she tried to keep her sense of humor. The e-mail asked partners to submit their shoe size and say whether they were right- or left-handed, to fit them for the appropriate golf equipment and shoes. She responded, “I am right-handed, a size 9, and don’t play golf. You will find me in the bar.”

Jean resented the “required” ritual of golf. Golf has become a metaphor for membership dues, and some women simply don’t want to pay the dues. Maybe master’s degree programs need to start including golf lessons. The bottom line is that a lot of business is done on the golf course. It was this way 40 years ago, and it remains the same today.
Your coworkers and boss don’t often miss what they don’t see until someone points it out. You can be that someone.

Here are some possible signs of a thriving good ol’ boy club:

• A technical convention features 100 percent male speakers, even though 40 percent of the membership is female.
• A company public relations activity for clients solicits only male managers to attend a baseball game.
• A female project manager had a meeting with a male vendor who had misrepresented their products. When she pointed this out, the male procurement rep and a male manager backed the male vendor. She then later saw them having lunch together.
• You attend a meeting for a decision on a contract and have a strong sense from the conversations with the men in the group that the decision had already been made and the deal closed before the meeting.
• You observe groups of men going to lunch together.

Ask the male ring leader if you can forward the e-mail invitation to the baseball game with clients to all managers, including the women. Tell him baseball is the favorite spectator sport among several women in the office.