Women are Consuming More
According to a recent survey from the Cannabis Consumers Coalition, as many, if not more, women than men are consuming cannabis. This recent survey was one of the first to show that cannabis consumption is not completely dominated by men.
FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK & INSTAGRAM
According to the survey, 53% of women consume cannabis as opposed to 42% of men, though it is important to note that more women than men responded to the survey. Larisa Boliver, the author of the report on the study stated, “Although there is a disparity among reports of the gender of the cannabis consumers, the importance of the female consumer is not negligible…The most profound finding in our report was that that majority of respondents were women by over a 15% margin.”
Women Leadership in the Cannabis Industry
Though it was previously thought that majority of cannabis consumers were men, it is not surprising that female consumers are as prevalent as their male counterparts. Women make up 36% of cannabis executive positions and 63% of high level management positions in the industry. That is compared to only 15% of top executives being women in the companies on the S&P 500, with women holding only 25% of leadership roles. It is clear that there is a higher percentage of women in leadership and executive positions in the cannabis industry than in other industry today.
RELATED:WOMEN TAKE CHARGE IN THE CANNABIS INDUSTRY
The nascent cannabis industry has not had the chance to build up the traditional barriers for women to enter top leadership positions. The industry is filled with new ideas and people who are often less constricted by traditional gender roles. Women are finding less resistance to enter the cannabis industry, and many female entrepreneurs and business women are moving from more traditional industries to the cannabis industry because they find that there is more freedom.
Giadha Aguirre De Carcer, the Chief Executive Officer of New Frontier Data, a data solutions company for the cannabis industry, stated, “I came from male-dominated industries like banking, tech and government and they were all difficult to navigate career wise.” When she entered the cannabis industry, however, she found that,“There is much less resistance towards women”.
Another example of a woman led company is Healthy Headie, a direct to consumer shopping experience created by Holly Alberti. Holly’s mission as CEO of Healthy Headie is to engage the community by providing "access to information, education and quality cannabis products and services". She says, "We believe we can safely introduce conscious consumption of cannabis across the globe through a unique social selling channel and stimulate local communities through a network of independent business owners." Holly is a leader within the industry, an example of how women taking are charge while at the same time influencing and helping more women from the outside enter into cannabis consumption mindfully.
If you are new to cannabis and want to learn more, take a look at our Cannabis 101 post. HelloMD can help you get your medical marijuana recommendation; it’s 100% online, private and efficient.
