Wine, Women and Equality

Some of the best wine out there was created by women. So why does the industry still have such a big gender problem? By Jeni Port.

Australian Women in Wine head Jane Thomson OAM. Photography by John Kruger.

On July 30, 2015, a press release bearing a modest pink-and-black logo announced the creation of the Australian Women in Wine Awards (AWIWA). The awards were to be both a celebration of the role of women in the wine industry and a rallying cry for change. 

That year, a Curtin University study exploring the extent to which women were advancing in the Australian wine industry found that, with the exception of marketing roles, women were under-represented. It reinforced a 2014 study on women in top roles in the wine industry by one of the Curtin University researchers, Jeremy Galbreath, which found that in Australia, female participation sat at around 10 per cent. The number of women viticulturists, in particular, was in serious decline. Anecdotal evidence suggested that while women were studying and joining the industry in almost equal numbers to men, they weren’t staying.

For Jane Thomson, founder of the Australian Women in Wine Awards (AWIWA), it was a seminal moment. As a woman and a former psychologist largely perceived by the wine world as an outsider, she had no qualms telling the industry it had a gender problem. Sometimes that’s what it takes. Thomson is, to use her own word, “mouthy”.

“[Me] being known as the mouthy person in the wine industry, sort of continually pushing for gender and equality, is probably no great surprise to anyone who has known me since I was quite young,” she says from her family’s farm in northern New South Wales. “A sense of justice and a sense of fairness has always been something that has infected me. I have never been able to keep my mouth closed, for better or for worse, when I have seen an injustice.” 

Being “mouthy” got her noticed. When she first entered the wine industry, establishing The Fabulous Ladies’ Wine Society in 2012, it was to bring women together to taste and enjoy wines and support the women who made them. In the background, there were snickers and brickbats from some in the industry. When Thomson attracted leading women in wine to join her AWIWA advisory board in urging greater diversity and equality in the industry, the tone darkened. Questions of pay, opportunity, treatment during and after pregnancy and sexist behaviour in the workplace made for some uncomfortable discussions. At the lowest point in her fight against sexism she was advised to keep a file of abusive emails and messages she was receiving as a result of media attention. 

After the first — and only — national survey of its type focused on women employed in the Australian wine industry was conducted by AWIWA in 2016, it was obvious that many women in wine felt isolated and ignored. The survey of 279 women found that 62 per cent had experienced sexist behaviour in the workplace; 42 per cent knew or believed they were paid less than their male colleagues; 15 per cent had experienced unfair treatment over issues of pregnancy, children and/or maternity leave; and 18 per cent believed they didn’t receive equal career advancement opportunity.

Examples provided by those surveyed revealed some worrying workplace discrimination against women. “I applied for an internal role at a previous wine company and was asked if I planned on having children,” wrote one respondent, “because they didn’t want to hire someone that would eventually go on maternity leave.”

And from another: “When introducing a regional sustainability program for viticulture [it was] suggested by a man to hand the program introduction and running to another man in our region, as he’d be taken seriously.”

Schmölzer & Brown’s Tessa Brown and Jeremy Schmölzer. Brown has noted that women winemakers wanting to start a family have often been forced to start their own businesses. Photography by Parag.

Eight years after its creation, the group, now called Australian Women In Wine (AWIW), finds itself in depressingly familiar territory. The Australian Bureau of Statistics’ 2021 Census reveals that while women now account for 38 per cent of employees in the wine production sector, that figure is in sharp contrast to the number of women employed in viticulture (26 per cent). 

Importantly, in both sectors women are generally paid less than their male equivalents. The latest statistics from the Australian Taxation Office show the gender pay gap in the wine industry is widening. The pay gap doubled for winemakers over the past eight years, with female winemakers earning about $14,000 less than male winemakers. For viticulturists, the gap is even worse, with women earning $18,500 less than men. “To see some key measures in gender equality actually going backwards in the Australian wine industry is quite horrifying,” says Thomson. There’s been enough talk about the problem, she adds. “Action is what’s needed.”

Ask Australian women in wine what they see as the greatest impediment to women working, progressing and seeing a future in the Australian wine industry and some major themes emerge. For winemaker Tessa Brown at Schmölzer & Brown in Beechworth, it’s the desire to combine a career with motherhood. “I am self-employed because 12 years ago, when I was an employed winemaker, I counted all the Australian women winemakers I knew who were employed — and not in dynastic family businesses — who had kids. I could only name four. Nearly everyone with children had had to start their own businesses,” she says.

“We did want to have kids one day and I knew that having kids would otherwise probably end my career in winemaking,” she continues. “It looms on the horizon of every woman who may want to have children and keep their job in viticulture and/or wine production and advance it.”

Eliza Brown is a director of All Saints Estate and the Brown Family Wine Group. She believes the issue of gender imbalance in the workplace is complex and often involves a combination of factors, from the lack of mentoring and networking opportunities to wanting better work-life balance and workplace flexibility.

Then there’s the question of women fitting into male-dominated industries. “Traditional gender roles and stereotypes may influence the perception of specific industries as more suitable for men than women,” she says. “A male-dominated workplace culture can sometimes lead to a less inclusive and welcoming environment for women.” Brown, together with her sister, Angela, and brother, Nick, run All Saints Estate with a 65 per cent female workforce. “Even Nick’s dog is female,” Brown says with a laugh. 

The final word comes from a woman who wishes to remain anonymous, who left the corporate wine world to go it alone after being overlooked for promotion — an increasingly common story — and, now a mother, employs a number of young mothers in her wine business. “I truly believe there is no impediment if they want it badly enough,” she says.

“The wine industry is difficult for everyone — vintage will always be vintage, and it will always be hard to manage the influx of fruit in a short period, requiring long days. Male or female, family or no family, it is disruptive to living a normal life. But we do it because we love it, and we live for it.”

In June, Jane Thomson was awarded an OAM for her services to women within the oenology sector. She vows to continue to champion greater equality within the industry. 

Raise a Glass

They may be under-represented in the Australian wine industry, but women certainly make their presence felt in the wine quality stakes.

Natalie Fryar

Bellebonne, Tasmania

Try: Vintage Rosé, 2020

Anna Pooley

Pooley Wines, Tasmania

Try: Cooinda Vale Riesling, 2022

Louisa Rose

Yalumba, Barossa Valley

Try: The Virgilius Viognier, 2021

Virginia Willcock

Vasse Felix, Margaret River

Try: Heytesbury Chardonnay, 2021

Liz Silkman

First Creek Wines, Hunter Valley

Try: Winemaker’s Reserve Chardonnay, 2021

Dr Irina Santiago-Brown

Inkwell Wines, McLaren Vale

Try: Road to Joy Shiraz Primitivo, 2020

Jo Marsh

Billy Button Wines, Alpine Valleys

Try: The Rustic Sangiovese, 2022

Kate Sturgess

Brokenwood, Hunter Valley

Try: Rayner Vineyard Shiraz, 2021

Sue Bell

Bellwether Wines, Coonawarra 

Try: Wrattonbully Shiraz, 2019

Sarah Crowe

Yarra Yering, Yarra Valley 

Try: Yarra Valley Pinot Noir, 2021

Sue Hodder

Sarah Pidgeon, Wynns Coonawarra Estate, Coonawarra

Try: V&A Lane Cabernet Shiraz, 2021 

Natasha Killeen

Stanton & Killeen, Rutherglen

Try: Grand Muscat, Rutherglen

Jeni Port is an AWIW board member.

This is an extract from an article that appears in print in our eleventh edition, Page 82 of Winning Magazine with the headline: “Wine, Women and Equality”. Subscribe to Winning Magazine today.