Pink Boots Society Wants Its Brewing Circle to Be Even More Inclusive

[Celerity]

How the women-focused beer organization is thinking bigger after 2020.

https://www.thrillist.com/drink/nation/pink-boots-society-women-owned-brewing



For nearly 15 years, the Pink Boots Society has made it its mission to educate and encourage more women to work in the craft beer world. But this past year was one full of reckoning, and the group realized that its intentions weren’t inclusive enough. “There used to be this tendency to point fingers at individual people or businesses as racist,” says Jen Jordan, president on behalf of the Pink Boots Society board of directors and a brewer at San Francisco’s Laughing Monk Brewing. “That still happens, but I think people are getting educated and understanding that looking internally is the way to go if you really want to make change.” In the wake of the surging Black Lives Matter movement and AAPI community support, in tandem with continued revelations around the #MeToo movement, industries across the globe are tackling their own systemic inequities. Craft beer is no exception. Race- and gender-based discrimination accusations have erupted at prominent outposts like Founders, Boulevard, and Angry Orchard, prompting the Brewers Association to adopt its first ever Code of Conduct in August 2020.



Pink Boots Society, too, has taken a big picture approach by bringing on Crafted for All, an anti-racist consulting group that helps groups “develop inclusive, equitable, and just practices that drive organizational success, build communities, and empower individuals.” The partnership resulted in a multifaceted survey aimed at gaining a deeper understanding of the many complicated identities their base holds apart from simply being women in beer. “We’ve been doing this work for 15 years focused on women but not the complete person, all the intersecting identities,” says Jordan. “We never before asked about ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability status, age—anything like that. We only asked if they identified as a woman and where they worked or intended to work. It was almost as if it didn't matter, but we know now that it does. For example, I’m a queer woman, but I’m also white, and that grants me privilege in this industry that doesn't exist for others.” The project also tackles the relationship between a member’s identity and their sense of belonging within the organization with questions addressing access to benefits, leadership aspirations, and whether they felt their contributions were being adequately recognized. The response rate was positive and the findings spotlighted some areas they hadn’t even realized needed specific attention.



“One of the things we got out of it is about re-evaluating the language around our membership requirements to be more inclusive,” Jordan notes. “We made sure that our members know that you don't have to be cisgender to join. You can be trans, you can be nonbinary—the individual decides. Pink Boots Society has always been that way as far as I know, but if you don't say it out loud, if you don’t put it out there, then people wonder." Other action items included adding new democratically elected board members to the roster. One such recruit, Highland Park Brewery assistant general manager Blanca Quintero, jumped at the opportunity to represent her Los Angeles-based chapter while voicing her concerns from an elevated standpoint. “I think the organization took a hard look to ensure it was being as supportive as it could be while trying to put systems in place to not marginalize or exclude anyone,” Quintero says. “I saw areas where I could be of service helping address issues of inequity and inclusion, as well.” The refreshed board has also been highlighting members of colour on its blog, expanding membership to include women working in cider and other fermented beverages, and continuing to spur conversations about social justice within the brewing community on both a national and local level via Zoom check-ins with chapters from Albuquerque to Auckland. In the end, however, Jordan and the rest of her team acknowledge that the tide is just barely cresting when it comes to levelling the sudsy playing field.



“In 2007, Pink Boot Society was about showing that female brewers exist,” concludes Jordan. “When I think about what it is now and what it will be, it’s that all women have a place in the fermented alcohol beverage industry and deserve support in making it a more equitable and safe place for women to build a career and stay.” Of course, this year has been different for other reasons, too. The annual Collaboration Brew Day surrounding International Women’s Day encourages members all over the world to come together at a local facility to cook up an original beer using the same proprietary hop blend. A percentage of the final beer’s sales gets funnelled into Pink Boots Society’s scholarship programs. Of course, this year’s Collaboration Brew Day included Zoom brewing meetings and virtual events rather than the raucous social gatherings of yore. But Jordan has no doubt that the work of Pink Boots Society is going to continue, in whatever form that means, for many years to come. “One of the goals is to have the overall diversity of our organization be more diverse than the rest of the beer industry,” she says. “Pink Boots Society is not trying to look like a better organization. It’s about doing the work to be a better organization, and that’s ongoing. As soon as you think, ‘We got this,’ you actually don't, because that’s how real progress happens.” To help them keep that progress going, support the cause by raising a glass to the fierce women and nonbinary folks behind your favourite beers with one of these 11 limited edition Collaboration Brew Day releases.

snip

[niyad]

1. Thank you so much for bringing this amazing group and its work to our attention. I applaud

them for all they are doing. I will check to see if my local, woman-owned liquor store, carries, or can order for my friends (I can't drink beer).

Again, many thanks for sharing this.

[Celerity]

2. yw

[Celerity]

3. yw