I’ve been counting for two consecutive years now. For every major beer festival in France, how many women-owned (or co-owned) breweries are on the guest list? Not many. Usually fewer than 20%. 9% for 2022 Paris Beer Festival; 16% at Lyon Bière Festival; 18% in Bière à Lille, and so on. How about women speakers during conferences? Not many either, or none at all, unless the topic is sexism or “being a woman in the beer industry.”
I’ve seen more and more beer drinkers who look like me, so why do most festivals still not think it’s important to reflect the diversity of their audience in the breweries that they invite to the table? There are many great women-owned breweries that I never see at these events; their absence reinforces the boy’s club that is the craft beer scene, and the falsely naive “why are there no women” discourse.
Thankfully, I also know that publishing these numbers has made some people more conscious, and I’m hopeful that these percentages will grow in 2023—I’ll keep a close eye on it. In the meantime, feminist organizations are taking the matter into their own hands, without fear of getting “political” (an unutterable word in the French beer scene). And there are events like Brasseuses Semeuses—a feminist, inclusive, and eco-conscious festival in Saint-Nazaire.
“Brasseuses” means “female brewers” in French. “Semeuses” refers to women working with various plants and grains. The event’s purpose was to celebrate women brewers and makers, tattoo artists and sommeliers, speakers and singers. The festival itself was open to visitors of all genders, and I was happy to see the diversity of attendees, from groups of friends to families, young women wanting to become brewers and old ladies sharing their most fond beer memories.
It felt strange to be in the majority demographic in a beer space, and it felt just as strange to be able to talk about feminism without having to justify my thoughts. To not be offered a “girly beer,” even as a joke. To see women in beer not used as a marketing tool but centered at the heart of the event. A conference I gave that weekend ended without any man having “more of a comment” to make instead of a question. It was heaven.
