Acting Up and Pushing Back: A Qualitative Study Exploring Women Workers' Resistance to Gender Inequalities in the UK Craft Beer Scene

Atkinson, A ORCID: 0000-0002-9936-6138 and Thurnell-Read, T (2026) Acting Up and Pushing Back: A Qualitative Study Exploring Women Workers' Resistance to Gender Inequalities in the UK Craft Beer Scene. Gender, Work and Organization, 33 (4). pp. 1556-1568. ISSN 0968-6673

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Abstract

The production, sale, and consumption of alcohol remains highly gendered, and although the craft beer sector has positioned itself as prioritizing progressive values, recent studies indicate that women are still excluded from the craft beer sector. This article presents an analysis of qualitative interviews with women working in various roles in the UK craft beer sector and explores the way in which they report experiences of gender inequality and sexism in the industry. The findings recount participants' experiences of the various ways in which women are made to feel out of place and their professional identities devalued and delegitimated, with women's taste and knowledge subordinated to that of men. However, importantly, the agency of women working in the sector is emphasized, with all interviewees engaged in the active assertion of their right to participate in the sector and to “call out” sexism and exclusionary behavior as a means of fostering more inclusive and egalitarian possibilities in the sector.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	4405 Gender Studies; 4410 Sociology; 44 Human Society; Alcoholism, Alcohol Use and Health; Substance Misuse; 10 Reduced Inequalities; 5 Gender Equality; 1503 Business and Management; 1608 Sociology; 1699 Other Studies in Human Society; Gender Studies; 3505 Human resources and industrial relations; 4405 Gender studies; 4410 Sociology
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) H Social Sciences > HQ The family. Marriage. Woman
Divisions:	Nursing, Public and Allied Health
Publisher:	Wiley
Date of acceptance:	8 March 2026
Date of first compliant Open Access:	1 September 2026
Date Deposited:	01 Sep 2026 14:23
Last Modified:	01 Sep 2026 14:23
DOI or ID number:	10.1111/gwao.70140
URI:	https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/29265

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