An exploration of the existence of stereotypes and sexism in the UK brewing industry and culture
ALES &
FEMALES
Where do CAMRA's responsibilities lie with tackling beer sexism?
ALES & FEMALES takes a look back at the big conversations of the year surrounding the Campaign for Real Ale.
Flying the flag for CAMRA?
Credit: Ben Sutherland
The Campaign for Real Ale was set up in 1971 by four men from the north west who were tired of big beer brands taking over the UK market. They were angry that the smaller, more traditional breweries were being pushed out in favour of pushing “products of low flavour and overall quality onto the consumer.”
Over the years, the club has snowballed into a membership of over 170,000.
As the name suggests, CAMRA are an activist group and can often be seen presenting petitions to Number 10 whenever they fear government budget announcements may damage any aspect the industry, from pubs to prices.
But there’s another thing many people think CAMRA should be campaigning for: gender equality in the beer world.
Women make up a quarter of their membership and many who work in the industry have
been awarded with a number of accolades for their talent.
But the perception that beer is a man’s drink is stubborn to erase and as a result, many women
still complain of experiencing sexist attitudes from fellow drinkers, bar staff, festival
volunteers or from within the industry itself.
So one beer blogger and CAMRA member decided enough was enough.
Back in March, Robbie Pickering, a Glasgow-based beer blogger and member of CAMRA,
posted a motion addressing these issues to be put forward at CAMRA’s then-upcoming
April AGM.
Robbie described CAMRA as “a bit better than society in general," though quickly confessed to his
bias being both male and a member.
But in his eyes, that gives CAMRA even more of a responsibility.
“CAMRA should be showing a good example and tackling sexism, rather than turning a blind eye to it,” he wrote.
For those few weeks before the AGM, many people took to social media to share in their anticipation, deliberation and hope.
But to the dismay of Robbie and all the others who developed the motion, it failed to make it onto CAMRA’s agenda.
The reason?
"Conference Procedures Committee decided that the measures called for in the proposed motion were already CAMRA policy, which pledges to treat everyone fairly 'regardless of gender, sexual orientation, age, disability, religion, race, ethnic or socio-economic background,'” communications manager Neil Walker said in a statement at the time.
“‘If you don’t like it, submit a motion to conference’ is what gripers are always told. Well, it’s not as simple as that and perhaps we were naïve,” Robbie complained in a follow-up blog post.
Credit: Reddit & Jessica Pitocchi
What do some of the women featured
on this site think of CAMRA?
“It would have been nice if CAMRA had taken the opportunity to have headlines reading “CAMRA raises call for fight against beer sexism” rather than “CAMRA issues sexist leaflet.”
The leaflets he’s talking about were handed out at university freshers’ fairs the previous year intended to get more young people involved in the organisation.
However, they failed the meet the mark with much of its intended audience.
The images used on the leaflets featured vintage pin-up women in revealing corsets with pints in their hands - not
mouths - who were stood next to a man dressed in everyday clothes.
In a cruel twist of fate for CAMRA, a campaign was started against them and their leaflets, gathering over 300 online signatures.
Leeds student and petition founder Franzi Florack wrote: “This is not just an offensive way to objectify women who join Real Ale societies but also an insult to the intelligence and taste of ANYONE has has fought hard to stop 'beer sexism’.”
University of Sussex Real Ale society member Rupert Beharrell described the leaflets as ‘disappointing.’
“Looks like they were taking notes from the American football society,” he said.
And on this point, CAMRA seemed to listen.
The flyers were withdrawn with a statement swiftly issued from its director of membership, Keith Spencer.
“The campaign was discussed with young marketing professionals within CAMRA’s young membership marketing group, which is made up of men and women, and they supported this creative.
“However, CAMRA takes all complaints very seriously and would like to apologise for any offence this may have caused,” he said.
But for Franzi, the apology for the offense caused, rather than for the images themselves, didn't exactly count as a win.
Now four months on from that discouraging day, what has CAMRA taken responsibility for in making itself and its events more welcoming to women?
Roger Protz, CAMRA’s Good Beer Guide editor, said that by putting on a wider selection of beer at its Great British Beer Festival, it invites more women to open up to beer to explore and discover ones they like.
He also said: “We try to avoid being accused of sexism so we use images of men and women enjoying beer at festivals stress to women beer is not something that’s for blokes.”
Beer historian Jane Peyton agrees that using images of women enjoying beer, as opposed to posing with beer, will help contribute to a change in attitudes, and with a change in attitudes will come a change in the number of women attending these events.
She also thinks bar staff and volunteers should be instructed not to patronise women - a policy CAMRA already have in place but seem to be finding difficult to ensure it is upheld by everyone - and that the organisation should use its “powerful voice” to set an example by refusing beers at events which use sexualised or misogynist images or terms about women.
“It is the responsibility of all people involved in the beer world to challenge and combat sexism and to realise that the way to improve the fortunes of the beer industry, the sustainability of pubs, and the social health of the nation is to encourage more women to drink beer.
“This is not an easy thing to achieve without changing the attitudes of millions of men who think beer is their drink and that women who drink beer are unfeminine,” she admits.
But ultimately, if CAMRA want to retain their status as the UK’s largest campaigning organisation for beer going forward, it is up to them to try and combat such views so they can hang up their bearded boys' club image for good.
The motion
1. Measures for beer festivals
a) CAMRA festival beer orderers shall have discretion not to order beers that have inappropriate or sexist names or pump clips.
b) If necessary (eg. repeated complaints) food and merchandise vendors may be vetted on similar criteria.
c) Festivals shall have a public policy against harassment (printed in the festival programme).
d) CAMRA shall produce education materials and provide training for festival volunteers on tackling inappropriate behaviour.
2. Measures for pubs
a) CAMRA shall communicate to pubs that equality is a concern for us. We encourage pubs to adopt similar measures to our own: training staff and not tolerating harassment.
b) Branches may maintain a confidential register of pubs which are dangerous or unwelcoming for women, and ask members to provide feedback/complaints. Branches may exclude such pubs from the GBG at their discretion.
3. General measures
a) CAMRA shall take steps to ensure that its own publications and publicity materials are not sexist.
