France is a global reference point for wine culture, quality, origin and export value. Its wine ecosystem is not a single workplace: it includes vineyards, estates, cooperatives, negociants, retail, HORECA, wine tourism, training, communication, journalism, consulting and local support organisations. This breadth is the starting point for any Observatory reading of gender-based violence (GBV), harassment and workplace equality in the sector.

Recent sector data show the importance and vulnerability of French wine. According to OIV data, French wine production in 2024 was around 36.1 million hectolitres, significantly below 2023 levels. FranceAgriMer also notes that French wine exports in 2023 fell in both volume and value, while wines and spirits remained one of France’s strongest contributors to the trade balance. [1, 2] The sector is therefore both economically strategic and under pressure from declining consumption, climate stress, restructuring and changing market conditions.

For the Grapes of Change Observatory, the central question is not only how large the French wine sector is. It is whether the sector can make women’s experiences, risks and leadership visible enough to act. France has an unusually strong public advocacy environment around sexism and sexual violence in wine, including organisations and networks that have brought testimonies, prevention and support into the public debate. At the same time, the public evidence base remains incomplete: there is no consolidated national dataset showing women-owned wineries, women-managed wineries, wine-sector-specific harassment cases, reporting mechanisms or support coverage across wine regions.

The annual focus of this report is therefore: from testimony to structured protection. Testimony makes a hidden problem visible. Structured protection means turning visibility into prevention, workplace procedures, confidential signposting, support partnerships and measurable accountability.

Central Observatory question for France

How can a highly visible wine country move from public awareness of sexism, harassment and GBV to reliable protection, reporting and support across vineyards, wineries, hospitality, events and rural wine territories?

A symbolic wine power with a complex prevention route

France should be read as a wine ecosystem rather than as a list of producers. The national wine identity is built on terroir, appellations, heritage, expertise, export reputation and regional pride. Yet the same ecosystem also includes precarious and seasonal work, small family businesses, customer-facing roles, late-hour hospitality settings, wine fairs, media relations, informal networks and rural territories where access to specialised support may be uneven.

This matters for GBV prevention because risks do not appear only inside wineries. A cellar worker, a vineyard employee, a woman managing a family estate, a sommelier, a journalist, a trade-fair professional, a wine-tourism guide, a consultant or a young trainee may all belong to the wine sector, but they do not have the same employer, bargaining power, visibility or reporting channel.

France is also distinctive because public discussion of sexism and sexual violence in the wine world is more visible than in many countries. Organisations such as Paye Ton Pinard have helped make testimonies and advocacy part of the sector conversation, while Solidarite Femmes Beaujolais brings specialist support into a rural wine-producing territory.

Paye Ton Pinard is a non-profit initiative operating within the French wine industry on issues related to gender-based and sexual violence (GBSV).

Its activities combine:

  • raising awareness among stakeholders in the wine sector,
  • providing training on the prevention of GBSV in the workplace,
  • collecting testimonies and supporting victims,
  • supporting companies and agricultural organisations in implementing preventive practices,
  • and working towards transforming professional norms in a sector characterised by the predominance of small-scale structures.

VITI-F (Pays de la Loire / Loire Valley)

VITI-F is a collective created in 2023–2024 in the Pays de la Loire region, bringing together women professionals from the wine industry (women winegrowers, vineyard workers, wine merchants, sommeliers, technicians, and other sector stakeholders).

The collective has developed around several areas of action:

  • promoting the representation of women in the wine industry,
  • improving working conditions in vineyards and wine-related events,
  • preventing gender-based and sexual violence (GBSV),
  • promoting gender parity within professional bodies,
  • and organising training sessions, workshops, and professional discussion spaces.

VITI-F is part of a broader effort to transform working conditions in a sector characterised by a high fragmentation of farms and estates, a predominance of SMEs, and a social structure that remains strongly gendered.

This creates a strong opportunity for the Observatory: France can show how awareness can become an infrastructure for action.

France in brief

A dense sector, not a single organisational model

France combines internationally recognised wine houses and estates with cooperatives, independent winegrowers, small family domains, merchants, cavistes, hospitality venues, wine schools, wine tourism operators, communication agencies and specialised media. This creates a rich ecosystem, but also a prevention challenge: no single employer, trade body or public agency reaches all women working in or around wine.

The French country material provided for this Observatory work contained a very large number of sector links, covering production, exports, wine regions, wine retail, wine shops, wine tourism, HORECA, PR agencies, consultancies, magazines, family-owned businesses, farms, employment and women in wine. This confirms that the problem in France is not lack of visibility of sources; it is the need to curate them into a clear public narrative and a usable monitoring agenda.

For the Observatory, France therefore becomes a case of translation: translating public attention and advocacy into workplace practices, sector standards and support pathways that can reach small businesses, family vineyards and customer-facing roles as well as larger companies.

Women in French wine: visibility without a complete public dataset

Women are highly visible in the French wine ecosystem as winegrowers, estate managers, sommeliers, journalists, educators, communicators, consultants, retailers and advocates. However, public data do not yet provide a comprehensive national measure of women-owned wineries, women-managed wineries, women in boards of sector bodies, women in pay structures, or women affected by harassment and GBV specifically in the wine sector.

Official data specifically concerning women owners or women leaders in the French wine sector remain limited. To date, there is no exhaustive national statistical database dedicated exclusively to “women in wine.” However, several institutional sources make it possible to build a solid analytical framework based on broader agricultural data and sectoral indicators.

According to Agreste and the French Ministry of Agriculture, women represent approximately 28–29% of farm operators in the wine sector. Nevertheless, there is still no consolidated national database on wineries owned or managed by women, which makes it necessary to rely on indirect indicators and complementary qualitative sources.

In parallel to these statistical limitations, professional networks contribute to strengthening the visibility and structuring of women’s participation in the sector. Femmes de Vin is a national professional network bringing together women working across the wine industry, including winegrowers, wine merchants, technicians and communication professionals. The network aims to strengthen professional visibility, peer exchange and regional networking within local wine ecosystems.

Ladies Wine is another professional network active in several French wine regions for women working in the wine and spirits sectors. It organises networking events, professional meetings and knowledge-sharing activities designed to support career development and intersectoral exchanges.

This gap should be treated carefully. The absence of a consolidated dataset does not mean that women are absent. It means that women’s presence and risks are not yet measured in a way that allows public monitoring across the supply chain. The Observatory should make this visible without reducing France to a single story of crisis or progress.

Data transparency: what can be seen and what remains invisible

Rights, duties and practical reach

France has a strong legal and institutional framework covering equality, discrimination, harassment, sexual harassment and violence against women. For the wine sector, the crucial issue is not whether legal definitions exist. The practical question is how these rights and obligations become visible, trusted and usable in a sector that includes many small businesses, family structures, rural work settings, customer-facing roles and events.

Equality and non-discrimination at work

The French Labour Code prohibits discriminatory treatment in employment. Sex, pregnancy, family situation, sexual orientation and other protected grounds are included among the criteria on which workers cannot be excluded, sanctioned, dismissed or treated unfavourably in recruitment, remuneration, training, promotion or working conditions. [7]

For wine-sector organisations, this means that equality cannot be limited to reputational statements. Recruitment, pay, promotion, allocation of responsibilities, access to training and succession in family or cooperative contexts are all relevant to the Observatory agenda.

Sexual harassment and sexist conduct at work

The French Labour Code defines sexual harassment as repeated comments or behaviours with sexual connotation that undermine dignity because of their degrading or humiliating nature, or that create an intimidating, hostile or offensive situation. It also covers serious pressure, even if not repeated, used for the real or apparent purpose of obtaining an act of a sexual nature. [8]

French workplace practice also includes obligations linked to prevention, information and internal representation. In larger organisations, referents and staff representative bodies may have a role in addressing sexual harassment and sexist conduct. [9] For small wineries, estates and seasonal work contexts, this raises a practical challenge: the legal framework must be translated into simple procedures, accessible contact points and external signposting.

Gender equality instruments

France also uses company-level equality tools such as the professional equality index for companies above the relevant employee threshold. The index focuses on measurable gaps such as pay, individual increases, promotions, maternity-return increases and representation among the highest-paid employees. [10] It is not a wine-sector-specific tool, but it is relevant for larger wine companies, groups, distributors and service organisations.

For smaller actors, the Observatory should not present compliance tools as if they automatically fit every setting. A family vineyard with few employees needs a different route into prevention than a national distributor or a large hospitality group. Associations, BSOs, cooperatives and interprofessional organisations can therefore play a central translation role.

Violence against women and support pathways

France has national information and support resources for women experiencing violence, including the government portal Arretons les violences and the national helpline 3919, managed by the Federation Nationale Solidarite Femmes. These services are not wine-specific, but they matter for the wine sector because workplaces, training institutions and sector associations can make them visible to workers and managers. [11, 12]

France also has broader legal and social support pathways available to women facing discrimination, harassment or violence. The CIDFF (Centres d’Information sur les Droits des Femmes et des Familles) provides legal information, social support and guidance for women and families through a national network of local centres. [13]

For urgent situations, emergency services can be contacted through:

  • 17: Police
  • 112: European emergency number
  • 114: emergency SMS service for deaf or hard-of-hearing people

The Défenseur des droits also plays an important role as France’s independent authority for cases related to discrimination, harassment and unequal treatment. It can be contacted via the free national number 3928 or through Défenseur des Droits. [14]

The Observatory should be clear that it is not an emergency or individual reporting channel. Its role is to signpost, inform and help the sector build prevention and response capacity. In France, this is especially important because wine regions include rural territories where victims may face isolation, dependence on local networks, fear of reputational damage and limited anonymity.

Practical relevance for the wine sector

For French wine-sector stakeholders, the legal framework points to five practical priorities: clear internal policies, visible reporting routes, training for managers and teams, referral to specialist support services, and protection against retaliation. These priorities should be adapted to the organisational reality of the sector: independent growers, cooperatives, family estates, wine tourism operators, restaurants, trade fairs, distribution and media all require different entry points.

Five findings for the French Observatory profile

1. Public testimony is visible, but structured monitoring remains limited

France has a strong public conversation around sexism and violence in the wine sector, supported by advocacy actors and media attention. Yet visibility does not automatically create a structured evidence base. The Observatory should distinguish between testimony, advocacy, media coverage, official statistics and measurable company practice.

2. The wine ecosystem is broader than vineyards and cellars

Risks and prevention entry points extend across wine tourism, restaurants, bars, retail, fairs, journalism, communication, consulting and training. A prevention approach focused only on wineries would miss many women who work in the sector but do not fit the classic image of vineyard or cellar labour.

3. Small, family-based and rural contexts need usable tools

France has many small domains, independent producers and family-based businesses. These settings may lack dedicated HR capacity, formal reporting systems or specialist knowledge of equality obligations. Prevention tools must therefore be short, practical and capable of being disseminated through associations, BSOs and cooperatives.

4. Customer-facing and event-based work create specific risks

Wine professionals working in hospitality, tastings, fairs, tourism, sales or media relations often operate in social environments where alcohol, client interaction, travel or late hours are normalised. These contexts require specific rules on client behaviour, bystander intervention, safe transport, event protocols and support escalation.

5. Women are visible in the sector, but power and protection are not fully measured

Women in French wine are visible as entrepreneurs, winegrowers, sommeliers, communicators and advocates. However, public data do not yet allow a complete assessment of women in ownership, management, pay structures, reporting systems or board-level decision-making across the supply chain. This should become a monitoring priority rather than a footnote.

France data snapshot

France wine sector at a glance

Wine ecosystem map

Data visibility and monitoring priorities

Official data and sector information

Wine-sector and professional networks

Legal and institutional resources

Support services and advocacy organisations

References

  1. OIV. Statistics and global vitivinicultural data
  2. FranceAgriMer. Bilan du commerce exterieur des vins et spiritueux
  3. French Ministry of Agriculture. Infographie – La viticulture francaise
  4. Agreste. French agricultural statistics portal
  5. FranceAgriMer. VISIONet data platform
  6. FEVS. Fédération des Exportateurs de Vins & Spiritueux de France
  7. Legifrance. Code du travail, Article L1132-1
  8. Legifrance. Code du travail, Article L1153-1
  9. Service-public.fr. Harcelement sexuel
  10. Professional Equality Index official portal
  11. Arretons les violences – French government information portal
  12. Fédération Nationale Solidarite Femmes
  13. Centres d’Information sur les Droits des Femmes et des Familles
  14. Défenseur des Droits
  15. Solidarité Femmes Beaujolais
  16. Paye Ton Pinard
  17. Defender of Rights
  18. INAO – Institut national de l’origine et de la qualité
map of France