Five IWD Actions
In tribute to the historic and political roots of International Women’s Day, here are five actions you can take to create meaningful change for women across the wine industry.
Join a union
All UK employees have the right to join a union. Whether or not your employer ‘recognises’ one, being a union member can provide you with legal support and workplace advice at times when you may have nobody to turn to at your workplace.
At difficult times for the industry, salaries and benefits will be increasingly scrutinised - especially those which disproportionately affect women. Being part of a union can ensure your salary and benefits are protected, maintained and improved. Remember - united we bargain, divided we beg.
Joining a trade union: Joining a trade union - GOV.UK
Overwhelmed by the choice? Unite, the UK’s largest union, is a solid option:
Trade Union, Unions UK, Workers Union - Unite the union
Share your salary
We will not achieve pay equity without salary transparency. The UK still has a gender pay gap of 12.8%. This IWD, take a moment to post your role and salary on Glassdoor. Glassdoor is not perfect, but it is used for salary benchmarking by recruiters and HR departments. It can help you to identify if you are being underpaid, as well as increase your confidence to negotiate higher pay.
Pay women
Are you looking to support women winemakers, keen to provide women with writing opportunities, or hear from them on interviews or panels? Great! Pay them. And pay them fairly. Consider implementing standard fees for opportunities you offer, discuss fees up front, and guide women transparently regarding what your budget is. Women have a tendency to ask for less, and carry out colossal amounts of invisible labour. Endless favours are not sustainable, give us some cash.
Mentor someone
The drinks trade already has some excellent mentorship schemes, such as those run by Be Inclusive Hospitality and OurWhisky Foundation. Watch this space for the second iteration our very own Women in Wine LDN mentorship scheme supported by GBF/Noughty. If you want to get involved, get in touch.
Unofficial mentoring can be just as valuable. Consider reaching out to someone more junior than you, and ideally someone different to you. We are all more inclined to hire, support and nurture those who look most like us. But diversity is strength, and in order to fortify our industry, we need to amplify new voices.
Links:
Elevate Mentorship 2024 - Be Inclusive Hospitality
Atonia Programme — OurWhisky Foundation
Register to vote
At a time when the prospect of a far-right government is becoming an increasing reality, the votes of women and people of marginalised genders has never mattered more. More votes cast by women are shown to increase the number of elected women, and women's votes have greater impact on critical issues including healthcare and education. The local and mayoral elections in May will be an essential time to make our voices heard.