In the US last month, Brienne Allan, the production manager for Notch Brewing in Massachusetts, reached her nadir of sexist comments in her workplace. Through her Instagram account she called on other women in the brewing industry to share their stories of sexism and harassment. What followed was an outpouring of hundreds of accounts detailing sexist comments, harassment, assaults and toxic work environments.
A 2019 report found that in the US only 7.5 per cent of brewery employees with the title of brewer were women and 88 per cent of craft brewery owners were white. The US Brewers Association has a formal complaint process for violations of its code of conduct, but will only consider incidents after 6 August, 2020, when the code came into play.
At the time of press, the association had a three-part webinar series on preventing sexual harassment on its homepage.
“We at the Brewers Association want to make it clear that we condemn any act of assault, harassment, violence, bigotry, discrimination, or inequity. Realising our shared vision of a safe, inclusive, and equitable community will require a long-term, industry-wide effort, which the Brewers Association is prepared to lead,” it said.
In Australia, the Independent Brewers Association released a statement saying it was “well aware” of the issues raised in the US and in Australia.
“The IBA takes these issues very seriously and we pledge to you that we will do everything in our power to be part of the solution.
“The IBA, as an organisation, has a zero-tolerance policy to any behaviour that is derogatory, discriminatory, sexist, racist or in any way fosters an unsafe working environment.
“We aim to create a safe and inclusive culture based on these objectives and encourage equality and fairness as core values for all businesses operating in the beer community and supply chain,” it said.
The association is looking to develop practical resources to better support the industry.
Prancing Pony Brewery CEO and co-founder Corinna Steeb said it has a very clear position on discrimination and harassment.
“We object to any behaviour that is derogative, discriminatory, sexist, racist or fosters in any way shape or form inequalities or an unsafe working environment and we encourage equality and fairness as core values for our business.
“Our brewery is a female-led brewery. I have worked in the craft beer industry for nearly ten years, plus thirty-five years prior to that in many others.
“In my working life, I have been subjected to disrespect, racists comments, discriminatory behaviour, being talked over and/or subjected to sexual harassment, in particularly during my younger years and during times when I was in subordinate positions.
“I had to learn to fight, to catch out such behaviour publicly and to let people know that it is not ok to treat women in this way. While this affects predominately women, I have also seen such behaviour directed towards men.
“In my opinion, discrimination, inequalities, misogynist behaviour, or sexual harassment is not a Craft beer specific issue rather, a general issue, stemming from a lack of respect, lack of education and understanding and on a corporate level, lack of leadership,” Steeb said.
Two Birds Brewing founder Jayne Lewis told online craft brewing magazine The Crafty Pint: “You were just accustomed to getting off colour comments from people inside and outside the industry – from punters at beer festivals and also from other members of the industry,” she says. “It was so commonplace it was kind of just accepted; it was the price you had to pay being the minority in the industry.
“I’m pretty bloody-minded and old school so I wouldn’t have been put off, but it’s definitely a contributing factor to starting something like Pink Boots Society – to have this united front, to feel you had people who got what you were going through.”
Craft beer specialist for Beer Cartel Holly Slater told Crafty Pint she will be spoken down to or ignored in favour of male colleagues sometimes several times a day.
“It can be exhausting calling people out every day on their misguided biases and draining every time a negative interaction occurs. As a result, it becomes the norm to let it go over your head to prevent wiping yourself out emotionally,” Slater said.
While large scale brewers have more resources for dealing with bullying and harassment including specialist staff, smaller craft brewing operations don’t have that safety net or scale for education and other recourse channels.
Steeb said all business owners have a duty of care to create a culture of safety, inclusion, and equity and, regardless of the size of their business, to adopt a modern and inclusive workplace culture by providing guidance, resources, education, and training to ensure the health and wellbeing of the employees and Industry sector.
For sexual assault support services across Australia click here.
For mental health support services click here.
