This first International Women's Day (IWD) campaigned for equal rights, including the right for women to work, vote, take up roles in public office, and ultimately end gender discrimination.
While there is still work to be done, there have been substantial gains. For example, women won the right to vote in the United States in 1920 and in the United Kingdom in 1928. Notably, New Zealand was well ahead here, with women having the right to vote since 1893. In many places around the world, women now hold top positions in political, economic, medical, legal and business organisations. Women can work, lead, vote, and live independent lives.
However, IWD is also a time to think of those less fortunate than ourselves, whose restricted lives are far from fair, equal and safe. It is important that it continues to be a day to rally for equality and to highlight the strength and importance of freedom, diversity and inclusion.
So how is all of this relevant to our industry? IWD is a good time to assess and reflect. Is there equality, diversity, and inclusivity? When Women in Wine NZ was launched in 2017, its aim was to help women flourish and reach their goals within our industry; to help them feel supported and equipped to step up into leadership roles if they desired; to highlight the importance and strength of diversity and inclusion, ensuring everyine is represented around the decision table.
During the past few years, we have seen women flourish. Through networking and the mentoring programme we've seen women grow in confidence, advance their careers, sit on more industry committees and put themselves forward for the New Zealand Winegrowers (NZW) board elections. We're seeing an increasing number of women enter our industry, and start to move into more senior roles.
However, the recent Women in Wine Gender Pay Gap report does highlight that there's still work to be done; things are not equal. The median gender pay gap for our industry is 7.8%, compared to the national average of 9.2%. As this is the median, some roles have a much wider gap than others. Ensuring equal pay is important not just for the short term, but also because of the long term adverse outcomes that can result, such as retirement. "The New Zealand wine industry has a gender pay gap differential which requires commitment to change," says Women in Wine NZ Chair Kate Radburnd. "We need to act now, set goals and commit to achieving equal pay for everyone in our industry."
The call to action is to regularly check payrolls and overall packages, ensuring they are adjusted as necessary to ensure there is fair and equal pay. Why not make this date around IWD? Larger businesses, with more than 50 employees, should also consider signing up to the pay gap registy at mindthegap.nz. IWD is also the perfect day to celebrate women's achievements in all areas of life; to celebrate our industry, and the passionate, ambitious women working in it.
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In November 2022, I attended the International Women in Wine Forum in Milan. It was a great opportunity to learn from 10 other women in wine groups from around the world, as well as measure where we sit as an industry. And it made clear that we're doing pretty well. Yes, there's still room for improvement - we must continue to close the gender pay gap and see more women in senior leadership roles - but on the whole we are a very inclusive industry, supporting women to progress their careers and enjoy what they do.
An agreement between the 11 countries was signed at the forum, to share knowledge, ideas and continue to highlight women in the wine industry. It was also agreed to work together to celebrate IWD with a united theeme and social media campaign. The theme was holding a globe to represent peace and unity around the world.
Women in Wine NZ got behind this initiative, and our members enjoyed making videos and posting photos on 8 March. These included women and men, again highlighting we are an inclusive, supportive industry. A collaborative video from groups around the country was made as a globe was thrown from on region to the next. This was a fun project, highlighting not only our winegrowing regions, but also theimpact and strength of connection. At the time of writing, the video on our Women in Wine NZ Instagram page had already been viewed mor than 2,000 times.
So, as well as highlighting the challenges women face around the world, IWD is also a time to celebrate women's accomplishments and the progress made. There is certainly much to celebrate in the New Zealand wine industry.
Nicky Grandorge is Women in Wine NZ's National Coordinator.
