Who’s Running UK Beer? New Data on Gender Balance in Senior Roles
Women On Tap CIC has partnered with SIBA, The Society of Independent Brewers and Associates, to enhance their annual members survey and unlock access to vital data on women in ownership and top leadership roles in UK beer.
The survey is issued to the SIBA membership annually, culminating in the release of the SIBA Independent Beer Report every spring, which gives vital in-depth insights into the shape and health of the beer industry as well as presenting any notable shifts or trends.
There’s a section in the survey on the beer workforce, which looks at things like job functions, salaries, professional development, gender splits, and wider diversity.
To date this has provided insights into a wide range of job functions within a brewery, including management, brewing, sales, marketing, admin, packaging and so on - but not ownership/ top-level leadership roles.
However Women On Tap believe a key indicator of progress being made towards a more gender balanced industry is how many women are in positions of influence, ie in ownership or the very top level decision making roles.
An addition has now been made to the 2026 survey to capture this.
This new insight will not only be valuable for Women On Tap, it will also provide an important snapshot for the industry, evidencing the status quo and acting as a marker against which to see and measure change. Those are the people leading and shaping the beer industry, driving public perception, and influencing consumer behaviour.
As is seen in other sectors, Women On Tap believes that with more women at the top of beer organisations we will see more women working in - and thriving in - the beer workforce and more women as confident beer consumers. The social enterprise has worked since 2017 to put women in the spotlight across the beer industry, boosting representation, creating opportunities and platforms for connection and networking, and inspiring employers to address gender balance in the workplace.
Rachel Auty, founder of Women On Tap CIC said:
“We’ve been delighted to work with SIBA for the 2026 survey to make what we feel is an important addition. In the question about the people working in the business, we’ve now added ‘Owner/ Director/ CEO’ so we can measure and track the gender splits at the most senior level of breweries and other beer organisations.
We see this as a key indicator of change – it tells us who is leading and steering the industry, and how that might be changing – and it’s data that hasn’t existed before. I’m incredibly grateful to SIBA for supporting this move.”
Read the full press release from SIBA here.
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