Women in hospitality: why better inclusion is important

Creating an inclusive team that empowers women can bring huge benefits to your employees, venue and customers

This year, 8 March marks International Women’s Day. It aims to ‘Inspire Inclusion’ of women in the wider world.

One way to do this is to create more welcoming and empowering workplaces. Lots of progress is already being made in hospitality, and there are lots of ways venues can help make female employees and customers feel comfortable in their environment.

For many managers and owners, fixing issues such as skills shortages and low employee motivation is their main workforce focus. So creating a more female-inclusive venue falls down the to-do list. But this is a way to reverse skills shortage challenges and boost motivation. Plus, it can quickly bring extra benefits to venues. Not just in the happiness of their team, but their customers too.

Creating an inclusive team that empowers women can bring huge benefits to your employees, venue and customers

Empowering women brings big benefits
The huge value of empowering women is why many businesses are now making it a top priority. Having a balance of male and female employees helps teams make better decisions, solve problems and meet the needs of all your customers. It also makes women feel more welcome and relaxed when they visit your venue.

Having female leaders brings even bigger benefits. Women CFOs improve business profits by 6%**. Promoting female employees to the top jobs also helps break down barriers and make workplaces more inclusive.

The challenges facing women in hospitality
There are several barriers to women having careers in hospitality. Although the industry has one of the smallest gender pay gaps, women are still paid 8% less on average***. There is also a lack of women in leadership roles, with only 25% holding the most senior jobs****.

Often responsible for many domestic tasks, giving women the flexibility they need for a good work-life balance is a major barrier to overcome. Both female customers and employees are also more likely to face harassment and stereotyping. Taking action against these behaviours is essential for hospitality to become more inclusive of women.

“7.3% is the pay gap between men and women working as managers in hospitality”

- Source: Office for National Statistics. March 2023

Rebecca Marshman-Rondeau
Group Head Pastry Chef for BaxterStorey, Becky started in hospitality at 15 and has worked in Michelin star restaurants, at major sporting events and is now in the private sector.

What’s life like working as a female chef?
Life as a female chef has changed. Back when I was younger, the industry was very male-dominated. Today, more women are starting to come up the ranks. You hear a lot more about women in food which you wouldn’t have 10 years ago.

The industry as a whole is trying to be more inclusive. Lots of places are working harder to support all employees. BaxterStorey is all about inclusivity, where individuality and ambition is encouraged. That’s why I like working here.

Do you think there are particular barriers for female chefs?
Back when I started in the industry, the kitchen was an uncomfortable environment. I’ve had to deal with a lot of aggression and sexist comments in my career. It’s harder for people to get away with bad behaviour these days. People’s mental health is more of a priority and there’s proper HR and support in place. The industry’s staff shortage also means more businesses are having to offer perks such as better pay, reduced hours and maternity leave.

What advice would you give to a woman starting her hospitality career?
There’s a difficult line you have to tread of respecting your boss and sticking up for yourself. When I was younger, I took way too much from people. I let things go when I should have stood up and spoken to someone. You get into that ‘yes chef’ mindset, but now I don’t tolerate anything.

What tips would you give a venue that wants to be more inclusive?
They need to chat with women in their team about what they can do to make work better. They need to treat everyone the same. It shouldn’t matter what your gender or ethnicity is. Everyone should be given respect. People think women can’t handle it, but I’ve run passes in the main kitchen and managed whole teams on events. Women can do it, so we deserve more credit.

Karissa Mason
Karissa is a Deputy and Events Manager at the Queen of Bradgate, Leicester. Having started out working as a part-time bartender aged 18, she now helps run this independent venue.

What’s it like to work as a woman in the bar industry?
My experience over the years is that people expect a man to be running bars. If you think of a pub, many customers expect to see an older man with a loud voice as the landlord. It’s sometimes quite annoying but also feels like I’ve achieved something in quite a male-dominated industry. I didn’t expect to be running a venue when I started. All my managers were male. Here, a lot of them are female, so we’re heading in the right direction.

What benefits do female managers bring to a venue?
It’s a generalisation but I think we pay a lot more attention to the smaller details. This is important in a lot of situations, including looking after female staff and customers. If you’re a woman who goes out to bars and works in this environment, it’s unfortunately likely that you’ll have been on the receiving end of some harassment. So you can spot the little signs of when something might not be quite right. On a busy night, I’ll walk around the venue regularly to see who might be vulnerable. I’ll also make sure all of our staff are happy and aren’t getting any trouble. We’re a lot more vigilant when it comes to harassment and make it clear to customers that it’s not welcome.

What has been the biggest change since you started your career?
I think everyone’s more considerate of each other these days. Whether they’re male or female, I’d hate to think that any of my younger staff wouldn’t feel comfortable calling out a customer who says something rude to them. When I started I wouldn’t speak up, but nowadays I’d have no problem telling a customer that something was unacceptable. I’ve dealt with a lot of people and situations, so I’ve got good people skills. I want to pass this on to my younger team members.

*Source: CGA, Transforming The Employee Experience In Hospitality, 2022
**Source: JLL, Finding a voice: Empowering women in hospitality, 2023
***Source: PwC, Gender Pay Gap Reporting, 2022/23
****Source: PwC, Women in Hospitality, Travel, and Leisure, 2020

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