According to The Gender Pint Gap: Revisited, while 50% of UK men drink beer on a weekly basis, just 14% of women do so now, which is a three percentage points fall from research carried out by Dea Latis in 2018.However, the question has to be asked whether this is something that really matters. Rather than being the result of discrimination, could it simply stem from differing tastes and preferences? It’s now generally accepted that women are entitled to equal treatment and esteem in society as compared with men, but that does not mean that one should simply be a mirror image of the other.
In my professional capacity, I used to audit the annual accounts of a local flower arranging society. As far as I could see, 100% of the active members were women. Likewise, the audience at a Girls Aloud concert would be predominantly female. On the other hand, the people interested in trainspotting and World of Warcraft are overwhelmingly male.
A society in which it was viewed as a desirable objective that every single activity should see equal participation from men and women would be a very uncomfortable and stifling one. Especially when it comes to leisure activities, differences in involvement simply reflect different proclivities, not any lack of opportunity.
And, as the report acknowledges, two of the reasons women are deterred from drinking beer are that it is perceived as fattening, and that it makes you pee. Maybe they are right on that, but they are factors that men do not see as being so important.
The report also found that beer advertising was a key factor deterring women from drinking it. However, as any advertising professional will tell you, the main role of advertising, especially of regularly-bought products, is to validate the decisions of existing purchasers, not to win conquest sales. Decisions on what to drink mainly come from social cues and peer group influences. The targeting of beer marketing at women also has a rather dismal track record of being cringe-inducingly patronising.
The beer sector supposedly “fails to communicate its huge range of aromas, colours and flavours in consumer friendly language”, thus making lager the default option. But, when pale lager accounts for around three-quarters of the market, that is simply a fact of life, as it is in every other major beer-drinking country.
And much of that huge range exists only in obscure niche products. The selection on the bar of the typical pub consists of various forms of lager, bitter, stout and probably now IPA, and you have to make your choice from one of those. Using terms such “grapefruit, caramel, mango, nutty, marmalade and chocolate” is more likely to come across as pretentious and offputting than informative.
A comparison is drawn with the wine market, which is said to have “navigated this education piece really successfully”. But the pretentiousness and obscurantism in wine is off the scale compared with beer, and most people who regularly buy it still find it baffling to some degree. They tend to stick with categories they are familiar with, and only venture slightly off the beaten track on to similar products. Choice is determined by trial and error, other people’s recommendations, or what is being promoted at the end of the supermarket aisle. There is also, compared with beer, far less brand identity and loyalty in wine, making it a very different market.
It’s worth noting that this report was produced by the same Annabel Smith who asserted that “Fresh Ale”, a form of keg beer, could be the saviour of cask. So maybe we need to treat her conclusions with a healthy degree of scepticism.
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I think a factor as to why women are less likely to drink beer in Ireland and Britain (though it fairly common in Ireland) is that in living memory women faced difficulty in getting into pubs and even being served beer with them being allowed only spirits, wine or cocktails or if beer lager in a glass (half pint) or just a half pint in general, taste is less of a thing when you factor in beers popularity with women in Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Czechia, Switzerland. I think the lack of introduction at a stage where your tastebuds are still open may play a role.
ReplyDeleteAs for beer being fattening this is a myth that needs to die. Beer is more filling than spirits, wine or cocktails thus you drink less. Also naturally occurring sugars from brewing or less added sugar if brewing sugar or sugars are used than the sugary sweet modern cocktails a number of people who proclaim beer is fattening, sugar is in particular easily fattening. No reason why you can not drink beer in moderation, eat well and exercise frequently and stay fit and lean.
An additional problem is that many women and women say they do not like beer because it is bitter because more bitter kinds of beer such as pilsner, the various types of pale ale and stout yes even the adjunct stouts are still on the bitter side, pastry stout is not stout. Compare that to how hard it is hard to find maltier beers be they milds, helles lagers, Czech dark lagers, dunkel lagers.
As for the beer notes suggestion it would not only alienate the core audience of beer it ignores the fact that the same beer can taste and smell differently to different people.
Oscar
Not sure that residual memories of women being unwelcome in pubs have much relevance nowadays. After all, Ena Sharples and Minnie Caldwell were drinking in the snug of the Rover's Return back in 1961. And remember this applies to off-trade sales too, not just pubs.
DeleteGranted that was true but the lounge or snug often was the only part of the pub women were allowed.
DeleteEven 51 years ago Nell McCafferty along with some female mates here in Ireland were denied a pint of single dry stout by a barman but were offered spirits instead.
While it was no doubt illegal to ban women from pubs in the UK by 1975 it was still legal in the ROI until 2000, one if the last was this interesting character https://www.rte.ie/archives/2019/0909/1074767-tom-mahers-pub/#:~:text=Teetotaller%20Tom%20Maher%20of%20the,too%20late%2C%20or%20too%20long. My father remembers going to a pub in Dublin after an Ireland rugby match in the 1980’s with his father, the entrance was through the gents toilet possibly the only toilet in the pub and he thinks it was a male only pub. Must ask my grandfather about that.
Having said that pubs are far more diverse these days clientele wise and for the better in my view.
Oscar
I was just going to mention Ena Sharples before I read your comment; her tipple was milk stout.
ReplyDeleteAnd Hilda Ogden used to have 'A Light Bottle'! Which reminds me of the very small bottles known as 'Baby Lights', and were sometimes served to women in a large wine glass if they fancied a tilt at the John Courage...
DeleteI just want to say Hawkshead Windermere Pale was top notch yesterday in Crown Posada. Best pint so far this year. Freshness, temperature, everything just clicked.
ReplyDeleteCultural differences come into play.
ReplyDeleteWalk into a pub in Manchester, most men are on the lager, most woman on the wine.
Walk into a bar in Munich, most men are on the lager, most woman on the lager.
In both places it's just the norm and unremarkable.
Most people don't like to stand out, they go along with prevailing norms and choose from available options. It's fine.
As they say, all progress is made by the unreasonable person. The person that does not accept that and creates something better.
Give credit to the lady beer beer writers. They are trying to change a norm, make what they see as progress. Wish them luck, adds to the gaiety of the nation.
Tho my dear departed old Nan thought pubs were rough, old dears that drank bottled stout common and enjoyed a sherry in what she called her parlour with her friends. My old Pop left them to it and went to the bookies then the club for a pint of Bass and a cigar with his pals. In my parents days, man and wife would likely go to the pub together and the pub would be a nicer gentrified place. My mum would ask for a schooner of sherry tho. I enjoyed Gramps club one Xmas in laddette Britain when both my sister and then girlfriend joined us. My grandfather thought it remarkable both ladies asked for pints of Boddingtons. Pints ! Plus ça Change. Who knows what the norms will be when the kids are grandparents themselves.
What's so special, or desirable, about "changing the norm"? Some activists trying to make people believe women can have penises, that's also trying to "change the norm". Bollocks to that, I want a timemachine which will take me to late 60's norms.
DeleteBut the "lady beer writers" seem to be framing it as a grievance rather than seeking to promote beer to women in a positive way.
DeleteTo be fair they do have a point about talked down to about beer by men who really should know better and stay silent.
DeleteOscar
hear hear, Oscar,
Deletereally, Mudge? well if that's how you read it.
I read most of it as less of a grievance and more an outsiders view of the weird dynamics of male geekery groups where they feel judged by their choices, That's the dynamics of those groups, it's not just you, girls, it's any entrant, don't take it personal, that's why they are beardy weirdy, tbh, and best avoided if you actually want to enjoy a drink. Which is actually the point of buying one. To enjoy it, not obtain validation from a group of odd socially awkward men that know way too much about hops.
But that's the kind of odd thing. Maybe they are not bothered about wider social norms, maybe it's really just about in groups, out groups at specialist craft beer micropubs and judgement among the beer sniffers.
They're targeting beer culture in general, not specifically beer geekery. Indeed one of their core points is about lager being the default option. But it goes much deeper than just the tone of advertising and a lack of information, it's the result of social norms developed over generations.
DeleteAs I said, there's a whole raft of leisure pursuits where male and female participation rates vary widely and, unless there's actual discrimination or exclusion taking place, it just reflects differing preferences. I'd guess that in every major beer-drinking country in the world, including Germany, men drink significantly more beer than women.
Well, Mudge
DeleteNow for the controversial opinion that can get me cancelled. Historically feminists have understood that emancipation was to the greater extent economic. Equal pay for women and child benefits paid direct to the mother. These being landmark achievements. Through economic freedom, women are able to escape abusive relationships and make free choices. Notable campaigners like Barbara Castle understood the class element to this, ensuring the interests of working-class women were paramount to the movement.
Move forward a couple of decades and the beneficiaries are by and large middle-class women that have secured economic freedom and choice. Are self-proclaimed feminists of this social class really interested in female emancipation? Are they still looking to emancipate their poorer sisters?
I can think of obvious areas where in recent years where women are not emancipated on these shores. The abuse of primarily vulnerable white working-class girls in social care by Pakistani born Muslim immigrants being the first. FGM & forced marriages in Muslim immigrant communities second. Not a whimper about statistics on the number of FGM cases the NHS deal with a year (hundreds) and the number of arrests (zero). Not a whimper about the number of British born young Muslim girls that schools report as missing each year (sent to Pakistan for forced marriage). Not a whimper about young girls in care being raped. In many cases a denial of the facts and accusations of racism pointed at those that highlight the values of other countries are very different to our own. How is this occurring? A refusal to face facts about some of the adherents of a religion and a refusal to accept that freedom is economic. The poor girls can’t escape and choose like the rich girls can.
Not a whimper from middle class feminists at the abuse suffered by women lower down the socio-economic scale. What do they want to campaign on then? It must be important. Sexism in beer advertising.
You don’t need to have scorn for them. The Barbara Castles of our history are turning in their graves.
You said it - I wouldn't go there on here.
DeleteGiven that women make just over half of the adult consumer market including the drinks market why would you not target that market with beer, it has paid off for Guinness Ireland https://www.irishtimes.com/business/2024/01/30/guinness-maker-diageo-misses-first-half-sales-estimates/.
DeleteOscar
I appreciate that opinion is a strong cup of tea and beyond beer bantery. But the point essentially is, beer and its closed world are of little real-world consequence. It's a diversion and a welcome one and a fun afternoon on the sauce. Hobbyists tend to think of their hobby as of great importance. That some make the inconsequential consequential is by and large why I find it easy to mock and sneer at the hobby. It’s the point it becomes ridiculous. How can people believe beer is a cause and not just an enjoyable drink? How can people get so bothered about a girl in a bikini on a beer advert? How can people really think a black middle-class man starting a micro brewery makes craft beer more “inclusive”? What? If you care about social justice, women’s rights, there's real battles out there. People find it easier to ignore all that and make their own little bubble more comfortable. And it’s a serious business.
DeleteWhat's this Guinness Ireland nonsense Oscar ? It's been British-owned for years.
DeleteI call Diego Ireland Guinness Ireland as the Guinness family still own 51 percent of the company. I also call the Aviva Stadium Landsdowne Road. Guinness moved their headquarters from Dublin to London early on during the Anglo-Irish trade war.
DeleteOscar
Men and women are different it’s as simple as that, although it may be in a beer brands interest to commission research. to grow the size of the market.
ReplyDeleteMany women are mothers of young children and there is a responsibility gene associated with this which may mean they do not want to be intoxicated for a significant portion of their life. Not surprising that in total terms women do not drink as much beer as men.
In the instance of my own wife she liked a few 5% Stella but from the day she got pregnant her attitude changed and obviously never drank for a while. Now the children are grown up she is ‘back on operations’ but in a much lesser way.
Women are still the primary carers if I am allowed to say that.
My own mother brought up five children and only drank at Christmas, holidays and the odd occasion when we were left in the pub garden with a bottle of pop and a bag of crisps. Once we had grown up she hit the sauce a bit, but never whilst bringing us up.
Nobody is stopping women drinking so why is this even an issue? Odd?