Trailblazers keen on ensuring gender parity, progress
Much has changed in four decades, but more work needed to overcome prejudice
It’s not a memory Nancy More relishes. For four decades she has been a brewmaster, the first woman accepted as a head brewmaster in the modern era, she said, and some of her early colleagues in the male-dominated beer industry had some trouble adjusting.
“The guys were taught that if a woman went into the fermentation cellar where the yeast was and she had her period, the yeast would quit fermenting,” More said.
“I was told by people I was a heretic if I expected men to work for me. I had men say, ‘ We’re not going to work for you.’”
As the world recognizes the 108th International Women’s Day, first observed in March 1911 in four European countries, many today look at the progress made and the uphill struggle still ahead.
“Sometimes it is still hard to convince people you know what you’re talking about,” More, who teaches brewing at Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s Langley campus, said at Faculty Brewing Co. off of Main Street in Vancouver, where two of her grads work. “People aren’t used to the idea yet of women being experts, perhaps about anything, I don’t know, but certainly about beer. Without a doubt there’s an extra leap we have to make still today.”
Jacquie Loehndorf, a KPU brewing alumna and Faculty Brewing ’s head brewer, concurred, noting Faculty has gender neutrality. “Other places I’ve worked, it could feel like a boys’ club,” she said.
To mark International Women’s Day, More and others will celebrate with a brew featuring Norwegian yeast and special “Pink Boots” hops.
“After my 40 years in the industry I’m so pleased to have moved from having to explain why March 8 is important, to sharing the day with a group of passionate, dedicated women from the beer industry,” More said.
Progress has been made through legislation, and bullying and harassment are not generally tolerated as they once were in the workplace, at least not as overtly, said Tina Strehlke, CEO of MinervaBC.
Movements such as #MeToo and Time’s Up have raised awareness, encouraging women to come forward and sparked discussion.
“A lot of what is good for women is just good for people and individuals in general,” Strehlke said.
MinervaBC turned 20 this year. Its goals include developing women’s leadership capacities and developing benchmarks for companies to use in seeking gender parity.
“At this moment in time, the issue of inclusion and diversity in all its forms, I feel like that is what there is to celebrate,” Strehlke said. “Things are better than they once were, we’re making progress. But we’re not quite there yet.”
Burnaby interior designer Kendall Ansell decided to take a big step herself on that road to gender equality in male-dominated industries, starting a female-centric contracting company called Belle Construction.
From the time she was old enough to handle a broom, Ansell helped out at her contractor dad’s construction sites and projects around the Maple Ridge family’s home.
“My brother and I were cheap labour, once we were old enough to sweep and clean up,” she said. “That’s just what you did to help him out, whatever he needed done.”
Ansell went on to graduate in architectural drafting at Kwantlen and interior design management at BCIT, and has spent the last eight years working as an interior designer.
People aren’t used to the idea yet of women being experts, perhaps about anything ... certainly about beer.
“I feel I always knew I’d end up doing this, construction and contracting, at some point,” Ansell said. “It’s such a male-dominated industry and I probably subconsciously felt interior design was a safer route to go at the time.
“At 22 and just out of drafting school you can’t just go be a contractor. But now that I’m in my early 30s I feel it’s time to step up and do it.”
The end goal is to have an allfemale team of tradespeople, and Ansell would like to begin a scholarship program for women at BCIT to get more women involved in the trades. And “to make it in male-dominated trades that I as a woman was once intimidated to be in,” she said.