Throughout the March edition of Drinks International, we’ve celebrated the positive influence of women within the drinks industry while simultaneously highlighting some of the barriers preventing their progress. We’ve spoken to women behind the bar, winemakers, sommeliers and activists, and now it’s time to look at the current role of women in drinks media. Within Drinks International’s Bar World 100 there are 16 representatives of the media and 50% are female. Clearly, at the top end of the industry, there appears to be an even gender ratio, but even those at the top of their game are facing challenges in their respective fields.
Whisky, for example, is a category which has traditionally been dominated by men. In 2018 journalist and broadcaster Becky Paskin, number 40 in Bar World, launched OurWhisky – a movement to champion inclusion and diversity among both whisky makers and drinkers. Paskin later developed the OurWhisky Foundation in 2022, a non-profit organisation to recognise, support and empower women working in whisky around the world, while advocating for a more inclusive and diverse industry.
“Whisky marketing in the ’60s and ’70s was all the same and it set up the next 40 years of whisky brands creating the same imagery for the industry,” says Paskin. “But in the past 10 years it’s changed massively – if a brand isn’t being inclusive with its marketing then it’s going to pay for it because it’s doing the wider industry a disservice.
“Our remit is global but of course, much of the work we do is in the major whisky categories such as scotch, the US and Canada. For our mentorship programme we do get reached out to by women in more remote countries which don’t have a big whisky industry and they maybe feel a bit cut off, so we act as a support network for them too.
“Quite clearly we’re benefiting the industry. We’ve had 175 women go through our mentorship programme and nearly all of them have told me it’s changed their life. Going forward we want to regionalise our offering because we find that being global there’s only so much we can do, particularly with our mentorships. It costs us about £500 to put people through this and we’re not charging anything.”
Relationship changes
Paskin has worked as a journalist since 2006 and now presents regularly on national TV. However, since launching OurWhisky, she’s noticed a few changes with her relationship to the trade. “In some ways it’s been a very positive change,” she says. “I’ve had some incredible discussions with teams and individuals around the world and we’ve built a network of like-minded people – both men and women – who are all working towards the same goal.
“I’m still a journalist and TV presenter, but I think that’s been sidelined by a lot of the industry and I’m largely known for OurWhisky. One guy at a whisky show described me as a ‘whisky feminist’, which was a surprise. I’ve found that I’ve been ostracised a little bit by some organisations that don’t like the work I do. I don’t get invited to certain things which I would have done before. I’m not sure whether that’s because some people aren’t on board with our work, or whether I’m no longer seen as a journalist, but I’ve seen a change in behaviour. The vast majority of the industry have been very receptive to it and we’re having some very exciting conversations which makes the future exciting, where we will have a much more equitable industry for everyone.”
The other side
On the other side of the media landscape is the world of public relations. In many ways the two industries live a symbiotic relationship whereby agencies need journalists to write about their clients, and journalists need PR agents in order to gain access to industry VIPs. Yet, while Paskin and other female journalists have experienced some institutional barriers, PR in the drinks industry appears to be more resilient to male influence. London-based agency LX PR has thrived since its launch in 2017. Co-founded by Alex Chatwin and Alex Irving, the agency now employs 13 women who look after a combination of brands and bars all around the world, as well as The World’s 50 Best Bars.
“It is interesting that PR, and in particular lifestyle and drinks PR, has become so female dominated when the media landscape is more balanced, and you do see more men working in other PR sectors,” says Chatwin.
“We do feel very grateful to work in a sector of the industry which is female-led, and have been fortunate to have some amazing role models and mentors who are women throughout our careers.
“It has also meant that we've not come up against some of the same barriers that our female friends and peers in other, more male-dominated industries have experienced.
“That being said, we have had the pleasure of working with some amazing male colleagues, both at previous agencies and as part of our team at LX, which goes to show that, regardless of gender, to succeed in PR you need to have a number of interpersonal skills and a strong storytelling ability to work with both clients and journalists.”
To be clear, it’s not confirmation bias which has led to a female-heavy PR sector, it’s an imbalance of male-to-female applications. There appears to be a stigma against it from a male perspective, while many women may be attracted by the idea of working in a female-led industry given the barriers and social pressures they experience in other sectors.
One report by Prsuperstar.co.uk in 2019 suggests that the industry is female dominated because men aren’t considered as good at multitasking and that women have a better spatial memory, but these clichéd stereotypes don’t stand up in 2024.
Overall the picture is promising – many of the industry’s most influential media people are women and the female-led PR sector is thriving, but it’s not perfect.
Going off Paskin’s experience, it’s clearly difficult for women – even those at the very top – to stand up against social issues without receiving some negative backlash.
