Here’s what women in beer, wine, spirits think about the industry’s DEI progress

Women of the Vine & Spirits (WOTVS), the all-encompassing global membership organization, dedicated to boldly pushing the wine, beer and spirits industry toward a more diverse, equitable and inclusive era that supports business development and innovation announced the results of the 2023 Women Raising the Bar Study. 

Completed in collaboration with Deloitte*, the results of the study offer companies in the beverage alcohol industry the opportunity to engage in holistic conversations around DEI, identifying both leading practices and areas for improvement.   

For the second year in a row, this study provides an industry-specific report to establish a standardized framework from which to measure company performance against DEI benchmarks going forward. This standardized framework allows companies to evaluate leading practices and hold themselves accountable for building more diverse, equitable and inclusive workplaces.   

“In previous DEI studies, the beverage alcohol industry historically was lumped into the larger Food & Beverage category, making it very difficult for our unique industry to successfully measure where we stand and determine how we move forward,” said Deborah Brenner, Founder & CEO, Women of the Vine & Spirits. “Through our collaboration with Deloitte, we now have two years of concrete data highlighting the state of DEI in our industry. This measurement tool not only provides insights on the state of our industry, but it can better inform our actions to propel long-lasting change.” 

Through executive interviews and individual surveys, Deloitte performed an analysis and identified areas where the beverage alcohol industry is seeing positive change as well as areas where we need to drive improvement. Deloitte looked specifically at employee perceptions of organizational diversity, company efforts to promote diversity, equity and inclusion, issues preventing people from considering a career in beverage alcohol, and the current state of DEI in the beverage alcohol industry.  

Key findings from the 2023 study:  

• Similar to the results of last year’s study, only one in 10 women working in the beverage alcohol industry believe there has been a significant positive change toward women overall in the last five years. 
• Seven in 10 women surveyed believe mentorship programs are one of the most important factors in terms of attracting and retaining a more gender-diverse workforce, signaling the need for proactive, engaged company leadership.
• Despite close to half of survey respondents indicating their company was somewhat successful in creating a better workplace through their DEI efforts, fewer than one in five women give their company top marks, suggesting room for improvement. 
• A majority of survey respondents believe women and people with diverse backgrounds are underrepresented among their company’s leadership team, signaling a structural issue for the beverage alcohol sector to overcome. 
• Only 57% of survey respondents think their company’s culture is very accepting of their family/personal commitments. 
• Women surveyed believe the benefits associated with a diverse leadership team include better decision-making, enhanced creativity, greater organizational balance, and even improved financial performance. 

“We are thrilled to work with WOTVS on this critical research for a second year,” said Kimberly Betts, Deloitte’s Global Consumer Industry Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Leader. This study offers smart strategies to help beverage alcohol industry companies make positive progress toward their DEI goals.”  

Check out the full report right here.