Breaking the Glass Bar: How Hospitality Managers Can Eliminate Gender Bias When Recruiting Bartenders

Recruiting is an art, not a science. Diversity isn’t just a corporate talking point—it’s a measurable advantage. Teams that represent a range of backgrounds, genders, and perspectives outperform those that don’t. In hospitality, diversity isn’t just good ethics—it’s good business. Guests come from every demographic imaginable, and the more inclusive your team, the better you can serve and connect with your audience.

Yet, gender bias continues to shape hiring decisions in restaurants, bars, and hotels. Nowhere is this more visible than behind the bar. While 60% of American bartenders are women, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, men still dominate leadership and high-profile positions in the beverage industry. Haley Hamilton of Mel Magazine summed it up perfectly: “If more than half of American bartenders are women, why are we still so frequently treated as outsiders?”

Hospitality leaders have the power to change this dynamic—but only if they confront bias intentionally and structurally.

Understanding Gender Bias in Hospitality

Gender bias happens when employers unconsciously associate certain traits or abilities with one gender over another. In hospitality, these stereotypes are subtle but persistent. Men are often perceived as stronger or more assertive, while women are labeled as nurturing or emotional. These assumptions quietly shape hiring, promotions, and even the distribution of lucrative shifts.

A 2024 Food Industry Equity Report found that women in hospitality are still 40% less likely to be promoted into management roles than their male counterparts. Meanwhile, white male food and beverage professionals continue to be overrepresented in fine-dining roles—where earnings can exceed $150,000 per year—while women and workers of color are often steered toward lower-paying or less visible positions.

These patterns not only reinforce inequality but also limit creativity, innovation, and guest experience diversity within hospitality businesses.

Why Gender Diversity Matters Behind the Bar

Bartenders are storytellers, salespeople, and ambassadors for your brand. The person behind the bar defines the tone of your guest’s experience. Diverse bartending teams bring broader perspectives on flavors, presentation, and cultural trends—key ingredients in a modern, inclusive hospitality experience.

When women are excluded from top bartending roles, your business loses both talent and authenticity. Gender-diverse bar teams are more approachable to a wider range of guests, more adaptable under pressure, and often more collaborative. Inclusion, in this case, is profitability in disguise.

How Hospitality Leaders Can Eliminate Gender Bias in Hiring

1. Rethink Job Descriptions and Language

Audit your job postings for biased wording. Terms like “rockstar,” “dominant,” or “strong leadership presence” subtly favor male applicants. Replace them with neutral, inclusive phrasing like “team-oriented,” “guest-focused,” or “experienced mixologist.”

In 2025, using gender-neutral terms in hospitality postings has been shown to increase qualified female applicants by up to 42%, according to LinkedIn Talent Insights.

2. Standardize the Hiring Process

Bias thrives in unstructured interviews. Create consistent interview questions that focus on skills, experience, and guest service philosophy—not personality impressions. Use scorecards to evaluate candidates based on objective criteria like knowledge of cocktails, POS proficiency, and composure under pressure.

Blind résumé reviews, where names and photos are removed, can also help reduce unconscious bias in the initial screening stage.

3. Balance Visibility and Opportunity

Ensure women bartenders get equal access to high-traffic shifts, private events, and mixology competitions. These are the platforms where reputation and income grow fastest. Rotating shift assignments and creating transparent scheduling policies can prevent favoritism and build fairness into your operations.

4. Develop Mentorship and Leadership Pathways

Many women leave the hospitality industry before reaching senior roles due to a lack of mentorship and advancement opportunities. Pair junior bartenders with experienced mentors—regardless of gender—to develop skills in beverage management, vendor relations, and customer engagement.

Companies with formal mentorship programs see a 25% higher retention rate among women in hospitality, according to a 2023 Cornell Hospitality Research report.

5. Train Managers to Recognize Bias

Unconscious bias training should be a core component of management development. Managers influence everything from scheduling to promotions. Helping them recognize their own assumptions is the first step toward real equity.

Include practical workshops where managers practice inclusive interviewing, bias interruption techniques, and constructive feedback methods.

6. Measure and Publish Progress

Accountability drives change. Track gender representation in your hiring, pay, and promotion data. If women make up 60% of your bar staff but only 10% of head bartenders, that’s a measurable equity gap. Use those numbers to set annual improvement goals and share your progress internally.

Transparency builds trust—and signals to future employees that diversity isn’t a slogan, it’s a standard.

Setting a New Standard for Inclusion

The next generation of hospitality professionals, especially Gen Z, is watching how companies act on diversity. They prefer employers who demonstrate fairness and representation, not just talk about it. Restaurants and hotels that prioritize inclusion will gain a competitive edge not just in staffing but in customer loyalty.

As one leading hospitality executive recently said: “Diversity is not a trend. It’s the future of hospitality.”

To create workplaces where everyone can thrive, start by addressing unconscious bias, offering equitable opportunities, and promoting from within. The goal isn’t just gender balance—it’s building a culture where every employee feels seen, valued, and empowered to deliver exceptional guest experiences.

Recruiting for Everyone

Gender bias is the real deal; American women still make less than their male counterparts and the gap isn’t closing until about 2058. How can employers shift the balance of power in the hospitality industry so any gender bias when hiring bartenders can be eliminated well before that date?

A Harvard economist says there are several ways restaurants, hotels and bars can proactively head off any gender bias during their hiring processes:

• First, make sure the ads you place are gender-neutral. In addition to the obvious elimination of male-specific pronouns, Glassdoor reminds us to avoid “bro-speak,” which is language that emphasizes, “an aggressive, beer-drinking, foosball-oriented culture.”
• Second, consider blinding resumes by replacing gender-specific names with numbers. This is especially effective if you are screening candidates in a committee or group.
• Next, ensure gender neutrality by asking the same interview questions of everyone, regardless of culture, gender or any other category. This will help eliminate any shared connection biases that could skew the interview results one way or another.

Gender bias is real, but employers can use these techniques to overcome these stereotypes and place the most qualified bartenders on the floor—no matter what their gender.

For more tips on how to eliminate bias during the hiring process, contact the team at Gecko Hospitality.