Embracing International Women’s Day

International Women’s Day has become quite a thing in recent years. For some reason, unknown to even myself, I used to find International Women’s Day a bit grating if I’m totally honest. It seemed like nothing more than a corporate day designed to offer lip service to women in male dominated sectors. The day itself seemed to consist of women attending business lunches to listen to other women entrepreneurs/ leaders tell them how they have managed to do it all and have it all.
However, this year I got over that and realised the many positive initiatives that come about because of this day and how it offers a platform to women in industries where they currently are underrepresented. Take for example our main interview this month with head distiller for Roe & Co, Lora Hemy (page 20). She is at the top of her game and easily lists off many female mentors from the industry. Yet she says that working in whiskey is still perceived to be a male dominated industry and women working in this industry for years often go under the radar.
It was also great to see Irish Women in Whiskey launching on International Women’s Day and to recently meet two fantastic women, couple Anna and Orla Snook O’Carroll who have launched Ireland’s first vermouth and are already winning awards and are on the cusp of launching Valentia Island Vermouth in the US. See our interview on page 30.
Meanwhile we have Compass Group Ireland unveiling an industry-first specially designed maternity chef jacket to support female colleagues throughout pregnancy, marking a significant step towards workplace inclusivity – often an awkward time for female colleagues to navigate.
And to top it off Molson Coors has announced a new Irish Equal Parent Leave Policy which will entitle all new parents to up to 52 weeks of leave regardless of gender. This is great for women but also for families in general. It’s really brilliant to see all these initiatives come to fruition this month and to realise that they have been launched because a day was put in the calendar to focus on women in the workplace, thus creating an industry that is starting to feel a little more equal and a little more welcoming to women with every passing year.
I am delighted to feature all these great women and initiatives in this issue of Drinks Industry Ireland and I hope you enjoy reading about them and maybe even feel a little bit inspired by what they are doing.
If you would like to contact me with any news, views or suggestions for features, I would be delighted to hear from you.
Slainte,
Fionnuala.
Fionnuala Carolan
Editor
fionnualacarolan@mediateam.ie
Twitter: @drinksind_ie