Manchester Beer Festival to host discrimination debate
The debate will take place between 6.30pm and 7.30pm at Manchester Central and the discussion ‘Sexism is bad for business. What are we going to do about it?’ will aim to address the ongoing issues and challenges of sexism in the beer industry.
It will also determine what practical steps can be taken to address these issues. It follows the news that the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) national executive had condemned sexist beer marketing.
Panellists
Master beer trainer Christine Cryne will lead the debate alongside five panellists including Wild Card Brewing head brewer Jaega Wise, who recently called for beer festivals to ban sexist beer branding.
Other panellists include:
- Dea Latis founder and beer sommelier Annabel Smith
- Beerhouse’s pub chain operations manager Barry Shaw
- Brewsmith Beer founder and co-owner Jennifer Smith
- CAMRA senior communications manager and beer blogger Katie Wiles
CAMRA regional director for Manchester Graham Donning said more action was needed to solve the issue of sexism in the beer industry.
Outdated attitudes
He added: “Sexism has been a hot topic across many sectors recently. But even within our festival, we have seen outdated attitudes persisting over several years, despite our efforts. It has led us deciding passive solutions were not working and it was time to take positive action.
“It is clearly a deep-seated problem within the beer industry of which we are only a small cog. More action is needed and our trade session provides an opportunity for industry professionals and volunteers alike to come together to take us beyond talk.
“We want to see some practical and realistic ideas on how we can all eradicate sexist attitudes in beer as soon as possible.”
The trade session will start the Manchester Beer Festival, and will take place from 5pm to 9pm on 24 January.
