The hospitality sector needs to promote more inclusive recruitment and safer working environments for all to break bias in the industry, but positive changes are happening and women are no longer settling for less, according to women across the trade.
Bar manager of female led cocktail bar the Pineapple Club in Birmingham, Klára Kopčiková, has worked in the industry for just over three years after moving from the Czech Republic.
After being inspired to pursue a career in hospitality from watching her father passionately run his restaurant in the Czech Republic, Kopčiková began her training at New World Trading Company’s The Canal House as a trainee bartender in November 2018, where she learnt the basics of service, classic cocktails and people training.
However, she explained being a young woman with an opinion is not always easy and can make it harder to be taken seriously.
Kopčiková said: “I’ve been called arrogant and demanding before behind my back simply because I had my own opinion and didn’t always settle for less.
“I saw the difference in the way I was treated compared to my male colleagues. I’ve seen women around me leave their jobs and careers for those exact reasons.
“Building your reputation as a woman isn’t impossible, but it’s harder in certain ways.”
However, things are changing, and while Kopčiková explained hospitality can still be a somewhat selective industry based on age, race and physical and mental health, steps are being made to change this.
Kopčiková encouraged more managers to consider a wider variety of people and noted women are making more of a stand in the industry now.
She added: “In the short time I’ve been in the industry, I’ve seen an improvement in women being able to fight for ourselves.
“We are louder, we don’t settle for less, we are fighting for equality and showing we are just as good.
“We work just as hard and we are finally being recognised for it.
“I would love to see more management teams taking active steps towards creating a healthy and friendly working environment regardless of those [selective] factors by implementing days for mental health, help lines, proper breaks on shifts, enough time off etc.”
Couch bar, which is number 37, director and bartender Katie Rouse was first drawn to the industry after falling in love with hospitality while studying film and media at college and working her first job at a pub.
Rouse, who has 14 years’ experience in the industry and has won awards such as Midland Food & Drink Rising Star, explained the biggest changes for women have come over the past four years as during the 10 years prior, they had to work a lot harder to prove themselves.
She said: “Things just keep getting better, thankfully.
“Bar tending in cocktails is far ahead of other sectors in hospitality.
“I get more push back from customers presuming men are the operators and bar tenders than other people in the trade, there’s still a lot of work to do across the UK but I’m enjoying the path it’s going in finally.
“I’ve seen the biggest difference over the last four years, the 10 years prior were a lot tougher and myself and other women would work ten times harder to prove we are worthy to be in the trade and can handle the hours that come with this job.”
However, similarly to Kopčiková, Rouse believes true change in the sector lies within diversity and equality for all, not just women.
She added: “As much as women should continue to be seen as equals and it’s very long overdue, I don’t think the hospitality bias will seriously improve until we create safer work environments for non-binary, transgender and LGBTQ+ people, it’s only one small step forward into respecting people for their talent and as an individual.
“In our case, and many others, we don’t get the opportunity to hire many interested candidates who aren’t men.
“We can change this by catering our job adverts to be more inclusive, to support charities and promote a better working environment to help drive a more diverse group to your venue.
“You should always hire the best person for the job but I very much feel there’s a large amount of people who wouldn’t apply in the first place, using more inclusive language in recruitment is a great start to making this change.”
