On the Cannabis Industry's Gender Gap

Cannabis industry women feminism — On the Cannabis Industry's Gender Gap

The industry is blossoming, but may be leaving women behind

Written by Allie Volpe

Published on July 25, 2019

Written by Allie Volpe
Published on July 25, 2019

In a ballroom in a Washington D.C. hotel, hundreds of women applaud the notion of making money. Of combating pain. Of diversity. Of community. Of the intersection of all of the above. The applause represents a belief in the existence of an industry fueled by both capitalism and inclusion, that a business can impart inclusive structures and create products designed for healing, that women can lead profitable companies who positively impact consumers in the process.

A diverse swath of women from Virginia, California, Hawaii, Puerto Rico convene in a hotel in downtown Washington D.C. because they maintain hope in cannabis as a diverse sector conducive to women in leadership roles. The Women Grow Leadership Summit, held in early June and hosted by Women Grow, is an organization which creates programming and events for women in the cannabis industry. It aims to equip women with the business, legal, and social intel to continue their careers in the cannabis space, ranging from dispensary owners to copywriters. Though the event’s panels covered a breadth of topics, including sex and cannabis and the confounding legal questions surrounding CBD, the running thread of many conversations centered on how women can compete with the old boys club.

Women in cannabis don’t have the leadership pull they once boasted. As recently as four years ago, women were well-represented in the industry, opening dispensaries, starting their own companies and providing ancillary services like marketing and legal counsel, says Sara Gullickson, CEO, Item 9 Labs Corp, a developer and manufacturer of innovative cannabis products and delivery platforms. “Because the plant is a female plant and the industry is about caring and patience, breeding a safe environment to have taboo conversations, women really stepped up,” says Gullickson. “Fast forward five years, we’re seeing corporations getting involved and the industry is transitioning from being a female-led industry back into the good old boys club—where C-suite and corporate level positions are getting taken up by white men.”

Cannabis, to me, means community. As women, we are the star: We develop community, we take care of community, we’re the caretakers.

According to a 2017 Marijuana Business Daily survey, women represented 27 percent of executive-level roles in the cannabis industry, compared to 36 percent in 2015. (In other industries, 23 percent of leadership positions are held by women, according to the survey.) As states continue to legalize medicinal and adult use, and as social taboos around the cannabis consumption fade, many mainstream investors have realized the financial potential in the cannabis industry—to the detriment of women who already were forging ahead in the space, Gullickson says. “Everyone was excited about the opportunity for women,” she says. “As corporations came in, and as the industry turned from activism to Wall Street, the women, in essence, got pushed out or the men stepped up—you can look at it either way you want to.”

Though Gullickson did not attend the Women Grow Leadership Summit, her sentiments were echoed among the event’s guests: Can women turn the tide and close a widening gender gap in cannabis? And if so, how?

One of Lauren Forsch’s missions as a small cannabis business owner is to promote diverse voices. Borsch, who owns Popped.NYC, looks to hire women who bring different experiences and outlooks when members of the New York cannabis community express interest or passersby stop to talk. Her small staff of 10 works from Forsch’s New York City apartment—where she also hand makes CBD body body—to plan Popped.NYC events and market the brand. Her latest attempt at roping more women into the industry is through a brand representative program, which enlists sales representatives to purchase a sample pack of Forsch’s products (including a CBD oral suspension and CBD body butter) and sell them to local retailers at wholesale prices with a 10 percent commission. “I’m looking for nontraditional people to come into this field and I’m looking for people who are trainable, who maybe didn't have the access because of [a lack of] privilege.”

For some women, finding diverse business owners, voices, and stories in cannabis is a fraught endeavor. Anja Charbonneau sought to change the scope of the industry’s narrative by writing her own. In 2017, Charbonneau founded Broccoli, an elegantly designed magazine devoted to female cannabis consumers with a focus on fashion and culture. A decidedly different verve from the tie dye and pot leaf aesthetic across the country's college campuses, Broccoli’s focus is to highlight the ways cannabis intersects with women’s lives. “Whether it’s a creative tool or something that helps them relax or they’re purely using it for medicinal reasons, it’s just one piece of the puzzle of their entire lifestyle,” Charbonneau says. “Women are better at looking at the big picture and they’re definitely much more comfortable talking about it. We connect with each other all the time to share stories and experiences, so it’s natural cannabis fits into that trend.”

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Because community is a theme embedded in cannabis culture, women in the space rely heavily on a network of other entrepreneurs and activists. When Charbonneau was developing Broccoli, for instance, many women offered thoughtful direction and contributor recommendations, she says. Forsch has teamed up with other women-owned small cannabis businesses for events. Some female CEOs in cannabis embrace diverse applicants who may not have direct experience, but whose background would be an asset to the company.

This strength-in-numbers approach is integral to creating and maintaining diversity, says Roz McCarthy, the founder and president of Minorities For Medical Marijuana, a non-profit championing advocacy, research, social reform, public policy, and wellness. “Cannabis, to me, means community,” McCarthy says. “As women, we are the star: We develop community, we take care of community, we’re the caretakers. The women of color—women, period—they’re going to step up and get people excited about being in the industry.”

While McCarthy sees the dip in women in leadership roles as temporary, she still believes allies in cannabis must put in a concentrated effort into changing the tides. Because the industry is still so young and has managed to avoid many of the patriarchal structures of other fields, the cannabis trade still has an opportunity to operate differently, to give many personalities a seat at the table. “We don't want to have a conversation 10 years from now that says ‘We have no minorities, there’s no women in the industry,’” McCarthy says. “The things that we're seeing change in regards to inclusion, in regards to opportunity, these conversations are being held so early that as the industry begins to grow, some of these sweeping changes we want to see are going to happen because we're talking about it sooner, we’re holding people accountable sooner.”