There’s a place for women behind bars
JAMES Brown hit the nail on the head when he crooned that “this is a man’s world”. Phallus-carrying members of the XY chromosome club have spent aeons building Mad Men-esque bro-doms in virtually every industry, and bartending is not immune.
As in any number of industries, however, women are beginning to make their presence felt and letting the world know that anything Team Testes can do, they can do better.
The end of September saw the crowning of the planet’s best bartender at World Class in Miami, an international mixology contest featuring 57 top cocktail conjurers — seven of whom were women. One of those women, Jennifer le Nechet of France, won.
“I worked very hard for a year to get ready for the competition. It’s a marathon where you constantly have to perform. To be crowned world’s best bartender in Miami means so much to me,” she said at a winner’s announcement that had more glitz than dinner at Louis XIV’s.
Speaking at a question-and-answer session about representation and barriers to entry, former finalist Tess Posthumus from the Netherlands said: “I think the question . . . should be how can we attract more women to join the bar industry as a whole.”
Increasing the number of women in the industry, however, is not a silver bullet. Tokenism is always a very real concern, and an even bigger issue is dealing with testosterone-laden egos and their biases.
“When I started I was one of a few sales reps at Pacific Wines and Spirits. Male sales reps would sometimes tell clients to just get me a dust pan and a broom and I would merchandise their accounts,” said Rebecca Quinonez, a global brand ambassador for Ron Zacapa rum.
“Regardless of what industry you work in, it will always be much harder for women because not only do we have to do the job but we have to make a point that we can do it just as well as guys do. I’m not being a feminist, it’s just the simple truth,” said Lorena Vasquez, Ron Zacapa master blender.
Getting more women behind bars is not just a PR exercise. The era of the “girlie” drink is coming to a close and more women are walking into bars and ordering drinks that would’ve put hair on their grandfather’s chest. That in turn necessitates, at the very least, a recalibrating of the faces serving them that drink, especially if the aim is to break the stereotype that bartenders need to look like trendy lumberjacks.
“One thing I love and that I am seeing much more of is young women confidently walking up to the bar and ordering neat whisky or a drink not traditionally considered a woman’s drink,” said Hollis Bulleit, world ambassador for Bulleit Bourbon. Every crusade has its potential pitfalls, however, and for World Class judge Laura Cullen, one of the biggest is not turning into the foe they are trying to vanquish. “It is important to have programmes for women by women, but I also think it is important that these groups not become exclusionary. There is a danger that, in coming up against an old boys’ club, we accidentally create that same dynamic and build an old girls’ club,” she said. There is also the fact that “being a woman is not the only diversity issue we face. There are also issues of age, ethnicity, and experience level that need to be addressed,” said Lauren Mote, a former World Class finalist from Canada. A lot of the time the answer is simple enough but difficult to implement and this seems to be one of those situations. A large part of getting more women behind bars involves upending the prejudices of their patrons and colleagues. Few people associate bartending with the level of jet-setting swankiness that some of the world’s best get to experience. As a result it becomes hard to convince someone to possibly endure condescension in pursuit of what many consider to be a student job.
“I think there are definitely differences in how male managers treat their female staff, not necessarily because they’re bad people but because they lack the perspective to make good decisions about the careers of the women that are in their care,” said Cullen.
“There will be times when you go home and ask, ‘Why am I fighting so hard?’ And the reason you are fighting so hard is because hopefully when you hit 47 you will look back at the 25-year-old that you were and you will remember that moment of pushback and say ‘Thank God I went through that’.”
Changing the demographics of the bartending world is still a long way off, but having a female winner is definitely a step in the right direction.
It may even convince other women that life as a bartender is not just for guys who look like an eco-friendly Jake Gyllenhaal. LS — Yolisa Mkele