Last night we spoke to Liz Dowty-Mitchell, who was a key source for the New York Times article, “The World’s Most Elite Wine Circle has a Sexual Harassment Problem” regarding the recent sexual harassment incidences within the Court of Master Sommeliers.
Owner and founder of Mitchell Somm Selections based in New Orleans, Liz has had a wide range of experience in the wine trade over the last 15 years in hospitality, working on the distributor side, and through taking the Court of Master Sommeliers (CMS) exams.
Liz spoke insightfully about how the concentration of power among a small group of influential men led to several instances of sexual harassment in the CMS programme. They were able to run it without scrutiny, and certain senior Master Sommeliers took advantage of their standing as mentors and exam assessors in making inappropriate advances towards female students with the implication that they could make or break their success. Adding further layers of internal conflict, female students also felt they had to just accept frequent subjective critiques of their appearance as part of passing the service exam.
We also talked to Liz about her courageous decision to go on the record in the New York Times article, and how that impacted her personally and professionally.
She offered her thoughts on how to address these problems, which resonate within the wine trade internationally. Firstly, make certification programmes more transparent about how candidates are mentored and assessed so that abuses of power are obvious and can be addressed immediately. Students should be clear on what they need to know to pass without depending on any individual educator’s inside knowledge and favour. Also, scrutinise organisations and companies where there is a strong imbalance of power with a lack of diverse viewpoints and people to question it. “This whole experience is challenging me to be aware of institutions that are gate-keeping…Starting from ground zero [in my own business] we need to think of what types of companies and organisations can really benefit people. We need to work on reimagining what our industry needs ethically and for providing safe spaces while also fostering [wine] education.”
We were inspired by Liz’s call to arms: “The work has started with this article. We know we have a lot to do. We need to bring awareness to what goes on - the harassment, sexism and micro-aggressions which all need to stop. We need to constantly speak up and say, ‘It’s not OK’ so we can build the foundations of a better culture within our trade.”