Obama’s sexist hoops game

Does the President’s penchant for male bonding on the basketball court put female staffers at a disadvantage?

President Obama is drawing fire from feminists for recently playing a basketball game that didn't include any women. Another complaint: None of his many golf partners has been female (at least until today). Noting that these leisure activities are prime networking events, commentators are asking whether this testosterone-heavy presidential pattern indicates a lack of opportunity for women in the White House? (Watch Obama respond to boys' club allegations.)

Obama’s reinforcing women as “second class citizens”: The White House should be leading the way for "desegregating our nation’s workplaces,” says Terry O’Neill, president of the National Organization for Women, quoted by ABC News. Work relationships built in informal settings can have a “huge impact on the influence an individual has” in his or her job.

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