Letter from California
‘What is driving the influx of Latina women into vineyard work?’
Karen MacNeil
UNTIL RECENTLY, I never thought of the grape harvest as an arena for sexual politics. But last autumn – while the #MeToo movement raged across the US – the harvest was different. For the first time in California, many of the faces in the vineyard were female.
In a world as male-dominated as California viticulture, that change is nothing short of seismic. And for me, it strikes a strong chord. In the 1980s, I worked picking grapes 10 hours a day as part of a Latino harvest crew for napa Valley’s Cakebread Cellars. I was assigned to a foreman who didn’t hide the fact that he hated the idea. no woman had ever been on one of his crews, never mind a Caucasian woman from new york.
To be inside a closeted world dominated exclusively by Latino men was simultaneously fascinating, unsettling, and occasionally frightening. It was also, of course, an opportunity so rare I doubted many other women would ever experience what I had.
I was wrong. Quietly but steadily over the last few years, women – Latina women – have moved onto vineyard crews in numbers that would have been unthinkable even a decade ago. In 2013, for example, women represented fewer than 5% of vineyard workers in the napa Valley. Last harvest, they represented almost 30%.
Much of the research in this area has been conducted by Malcolm Hobbs and Monica Cooper, part of the University of California at Davis’ Cooperative extension Program. Their report, Changing Gender Diversity of the California Vineyard Labor Force and Implications for Grape Production, reveals an enormous cultural shift in the California wine industry.
According to their research, the first big jump occurred between 2013 and 2016, when the percentage of female seasonal crew workers rose 24% in napa. The increase was slightly smaller for permanent crew and supervisor positions.
When the researchers looked at managerial positions in viticulture, they found very little increase in the numbers of Latina women. But not for the reason one might imagine. Astoundingly, the small rise was due to the fact that by 2000, Latina women already held a significant percentage of managerial positions in California vineyard operations.
During their research, Hobbs and Cooper asked men in vineyard management about having women on work crews. Said Hobbs: ‘Most Latino men reported that it was the best thing that’s ever happened. We found that women on work crews helped crews to solve problems quickly. And that crews with women had lower turnover rates.’
What is driving the influx of Latina women into vineyard work? According to Hobbs, the number of Mexican vineyard workers coming into the US has declined sharply, leading to an overall labour crisis for California wineries. Latina women are filling the gap. ‘In addition, women on work crews often tell us that they prefer vineyard work to the other limited options open to them, such as house cleaning and janitorial work,’ said Hobbs. ‘Initially many of these women enter the vineyard labour pool as seasonal workers, but are then offered promotions and permanent positions.’
Hobbs and Cooper point out that gender diversity in viticulture can be a double-edged sword. The pair are currently looking at sexual harassment among vineyard workers. The findings thus far: 30% of women reported being harassed by ‘micro aggressions’ (bad jokes, taunts, jeers); 9% reported being stalked or touched inappropriately; and 2% reported sexual coercion. I don’t know if sexual harassment among California’s vineyard workers is greater or lesser than in US society at large. But I have to admit a feeling of great admiration for Latina women. Long ignored and largely dismissed by the wine industry, they now have a visible role in producing some of the top wines made in California.
Today it’s the vineyard; but perhaps tomorrow, for these women, it will be a master’s degree in
winemaking from UC Davis.