Women in Weed: In California’s Estimated $23 Billion Cannabis Industry, How Do Women Fare?

Woman smoking a joint

A few unscientific studies indicate women make up only a third of marijuana consumers. [Photo by Kym Kemp]

From homesteading marijuana mamas sweating as they packed chicken manure deep in the brush to girls teetering on high heels wearing mini skirts at the first cannabis conventions to mothers in blazers carrying computers, women have looked for a way to succeed in the weed world.

How successful are they though? According to a recent article in the Orange County Register, California is already making an estimated $23 billion dollars in cannabis cash. That’s far higher than the next biggest commodity, milk. Are women a part of that economic boom?

A panel discussing women in the cannabis industry

A panel discussing women in the cannabis industry in 2014. [Photo by Kym Kemp]

According to a 2015 chart by Marijuana Business Daily, women have snagged a higher percentage of the executive positions in the cannabis industry then they have in non-marijuana businesses–an average of thirty-six percent compared to a mere twenty-two percent in businesses as a whole.

An article in Telesur, a news organization with Latin roots, speculates this is because “the industry is so new, it isn’t weighed down by a roster of veteran patriarchs, leaving room for women to join its charters.”

One woman suggests, “Nobody is inheriting a business from their father, nobody’s been doing this for 20 years.”

Coming from the Emerald Counties where outlaws have been growing marijuana for close to 50 years, assertions like this erase years of history. However, we have noticed an apparent larger number of women involved in executive in the industry centered around a plant perhaps fittingly nicknamed Mary Jane.

A documentary called Mary Janes: The Women of Weed will be coming out this year. It looks at some of the women creating businesses in cannabis industry. One woman in the film trailer states, “We have the opportunity to create the first billion dollar sector that is not dominated by men.”

Woman looking at marijuana buds

Woman looking at marijuana buds at the Emerald Cup in 2014. [Photo by Kym Kemp]

Whether women from the Emerald Counties, particularly women farmers, will be a large part of this growing sector remains to be seen.

An article in the Christian Science Monitor that came out yesterday points out though that, particularly in cultivation (and investment) “women leaders remain sparse.” The article suggests that “women, particularly mothers, might shy away from growing because there is a stigma associated with it.”

We’d like to see the numbers on women marijuana farmers–particularly those in our area. Hopefully, this will be one area that Humboldt State University’s Humboldt Institute for Interdisciplinary Marijuana Research delves into soon.

We know some local women are already benefiting financially from cannabis. We’d like to know how many and how much they are part of supporting our local economy.

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J
Guest
J
7 years ago

I’ve been in the industry for a decade and in my experience about 5% of grows are owned and operated by a single woman. More are owned by a married couple who split the work. But primarily the properties are owned by men with a man hired to manage the grow and woman are hired for trimming or hourly jobs like leafing. I’d love to stop seeing lazy, alcoholic men hired to manage grows over hard working woman based on ill conceived notions that all men are stronger than woman. Women can’t afford property here(these days) without getting married or managing a grow so for independent women who get passed up for well deserved promotions on farms, there is little hope of buying property.

Old School
Guest
Old School
7 years ago
Reply to  J

For every reply like yours, “J”, I wish I could refer you to a lot of my own experiences with women (i’d call many of them girls) basically slutting themselves around grow scenes to get off easy. Yes, lots of hard workers all around. Yes, lots of alcoholics (more now than ever). But both genders are proving themselves equally fallible in “the industry”. It’s just not true to say women this, men that about the scene. Everybody’s playing.

J
Guest
J
7 years ago
Reply to  Old School

I agree. I wish both genders treated this industry with more professionalism. I’m also aware of how much grow hoes give women workers a bad name, they are looking for a come up by snagging a grower while I’m just trying to come up by working 7 days a week, year round. But overall when a property owner has a choice between two equally qualified canidates he will choose the male over the female. I guarantee and I’d love for there to be data on this topic for our counties.

hmm
Guest
hmm
7 years ago
Reply to  J

When you write, “two equally qualified candidates”, I suspect you are completely ignoring their ability to perform manual labor.

Just sayin
Guest
Just sayin
7 years ago
Reply to  hmm

You need to meet more mountain women

Wildcat
Guest
Wildcat
7 years ago
Reply to  Just sayin

For sure. Can see the dude coming through in that comment.

chelsea burns
Guest
chelsea burns
7 years ago
Reply to  hmm

i work as hard if not harder than most men on the hill.

J
Guest
J
7 years ago
Reply to  chelsea burns

You go girl!! I believe it!

had enought
Guest
had enought
7 years ago
Reply to  hmm

sure j is.

Uncledave
Guest
Uncledave
7 years ago
Reply to  hmm

Ever watch a Baby being born? If that isn’t work I don’t know what is. Women welcome it. If men even had a period they’d shoot themselves. It’s no contest.

had enought
Guest
had enought
7 years ago
Reply to  Uncledave

uncledave you must be joking. what does a womens period have to do with working in the field. or maybe your a 5 yearold. that would explain it.

hmm
Guest
hmm
7 years ago
Reply to  J

Neven in my life have I heard anyone express the notion that all men are stronger than women.

Taurus Balzhoff
Guest
Taurus Balzhoff
7 years ago
Reply to  J

Ladies, I hope you all can find something more respectable to do. You are good people and you deserve to be happy. Drugs are for losers, pot will let you down, make you unhealthy, and damage your children’s lives. Don’t get sold on the drug industry!

had enought
Guest
had enought
7 years ago
Reply to  J

Hay Jno one i know hires lazy drunks. and sorry women are not as strong as men but can do most of the job. you sound very bitter. you should get some help. maybe counseling ,and stop hanging out with lazy drunks. this might be good place to start. good luck

J
Guest
J
7 years ago
Reply to  had enought

And you sound like a super happy, kind and intelligent person so I care a lot about you think of me:) But really, I do enjoy when strangers personally attack me and pretend they know me and how I live, it says a lot about you, thanks for the chuckles!

had enought
Guest
had enought
7 years ago
Reply to  J

i then try talking about something you know

Taurus Balzhoff
Guest
Taurus Balzhoff
7 years ago
Reply to  J

To call what you people do an “industry” is absurd. Here is a picture of what a commercial pot growing operation will soon be:

In the first place, there will be laborers. These folks will probably not be white. Although many backwoods, illiterate and uneducated speed-balling weed farmers can expound on the minutiae of genetic drift in cannabis, this type of stoned employee will not be used in commercial cannabis. These new farm workers will likely manufacture clean, organic grow-soils on-site, which will end the trucking of mass quantity amounts of bagged grow-soil all over Northern CA. The disgusting process of using millions of gallons of diesel and gasoline to transport potting soil for the purposes of growing pot, will come to it’s natural end. We hope that the strains of weed that the new grows will produce, will grow well on valley farmland, and not require the augmentation present in potting soils. Plant scientists are implementing this plan now. Since the growing cycle will be less rushed, like in a biker grow, we hope it will take less water, fertilizer, rodent poison. More specialized strains will most likely be grown in huge greenhouses, but pedestrian strains for mass consumption will be grown like row crops, tended to by regular farm labor, and sold cheaply, like tobacco.

For you folks currently insisting on destroying the forests, degrading the environment, and growing stupidity weed far from your market, there is little hope. Since you are all too stoned to organize, centralize processing and supply, and assemble distribution and advertising and branding, and in fact, too fucked up to do anything at all except take drugs and roar around in giant pickups, while attracting crowds of ridiculous neo-hippie trimmers every summer, and zombie train wreck druggie homeless in the forests the rest of the time, you will all hopefully find out that your time is up.

As for the women in weed: I know you just want sustenance and a way to make a living in place. I know that women have great strength and abilities. It is possible that women will build something that will last, but I hope you see that you can achieve something beyond
subsistence farming as a way to pay for the costs of raising your family, and that you could aspire to a regular sort of living in some other industry. Women, grow and evolve beyond the drug culture, start a real business, get an education, be someone. You are a good person, and you deserve to be happy.

Not a Lefty
Guest
Not a Lefty
7 years ago
Reply to  J

I didn’t know that ya’ll were so sexist up there….

Old School
Guest
Old School
7 years ago

“The industry” is literally thousands of years old, and pushing 100 years old in this neck of the woods. What is now meant by “the industry” in articles like those linked above, and it really deserves notice and clarification, is the government taking a percentage of every harvest, whereas yesterday the government was literally spending our money to destroy the exact same industry. Other than that, there’s really nothing being done to marijuana that hasn’t in some way been done to it a long time ago, by all kinds of people.

Old School
Guest
Old School
7 years ago
Reply to  Kym Kemp

You’re just taking that too literally, kym. “pushing 100 years”….let’s say 1970, 45 years? change it to “pushing 50 years” for comfort…same point….drawing closer to an inevitable centenial. “Thousands of years old” is definitely true, but might be off by a day or two as well, if you want to nit pick.

Sleepy Alligator
Guest
Sleepy Alligator
7 years ago
Reply to  Old School

Considering the service Kym provides to her readers shouldn’t she take all information on her site “too literally”? I consider that to be a requirement for honest reporting.

Ernie Branscomb
Guest
Ernie Branscomb
7 years ago
Reply to  Kym Kemp

Kym
The People from Mexico, that worked on the railroad, grew “Marijuana” all over the Eel canyon much before it became a mainstream drug. Check your history. The case that you are referring to was the first arrest after it became a popular mainstream drug.

The golden spike was driven in 1914 connecting Sausalito with Eureka, so who knows how far back The Weed really goes.

By the way, that is why the drug is known as “Marijuana” It’s a Mexican word.

Ernie Branscomb
Guest
Ernie Branscomb
7 years ago
Reply to  Kym Kemp

Kym
I was in high school in the late 50’s/ early 60’s. Our health class film warned us of the dangers of drug use. The section about marijuana showed us the brain of a user, it was bloodshot and yellow. The brain of a non-user was clean and grey. We didn’t know much about drugs. When we asked about marijuana, we were told that it was a weed that the Mexicans grew along the railroad and they used it for tobacco. It was ignored at the time. It was only when white kids started using it that it became a problem.

The photos of the brain became obvious as a lie much later. The racism of marijuana being okay when only the Mexicans used it also became obvious.

At the time we were under the thought that marijuana was commonly found along the railroad, it was planted and allowed to grow wild. Seeds and all. As far as proving it, frankly I don’t give a damn. (That’s my best Rhett Butler impersonation) I’m just passing along some bullshistory. You can prove it or not, your option. You need to talk to a very old railroad worker. I’d bet that there are some still around. I hope that someone out there knows, and will shine some light on the subject.

Sleepy Alligator
Guest
Sleepy Alligator
7 years ago

There are places out in the Midwest where it still grows along the railroad tracks. Some call it ditch weed aka Hemp!

Ullr Rover
Guest
Ullr Rover
7 years ago
Reply to  Kym Kemp

According to Michael Pollan’s “Botany of Desire” indica seeds didn’t make it into North America until the 70’s. I think that history misses some of the early growers who had indica in the late 60’s. Prior to that only sativa’s where available and could not finish their flower cycle this far North.

had enought
Guest
had enought
7 years ago
Reply to  Kym Kemp

i know where. they get this stuff out of thin air. I think the Illuminati told them

hmm
Guest
hmm
7 years ago

Farming, of any type, is an extremely labor intensive endeavor. Males are much stronger than females of the same size and typically larger as well. This fact can be expected to make it much more difficult for a female to advance within farming.

Is anyone fighting for equality in weightlifting? Females just dont lift nearly as much as males do, in weightlifting competitions. Is anyone fighting to correct this injustice?

Susy Barsotti
Guest
Susy Barsotti
7 years ago
Reply to  hmm

Yeah, but we have stamina, focus, and tend to have excellent team spirit.

J
Guest
J
7 years ago
Reply to  Susy Barsotti

Yep, if woman are strong enough to endure pregnancy, childbirth and constantly carrying a child while performing other chores than they are strong enough to till soil and lug bags up the mountain side. Not to mention their nourshering nature. Anyone who has grown weed knows there really is only two times a year growing is labor intensive, soil prep and harvest. Any able bodied person can do these two. Trimming for 3 months is much more demanding on body and mind then a few days tilling soil or lifting tarps full of harvested weed.

Sleepy Alligator
Guest
Sleepy Alligator
7 years ago
Reply to  Susy Barsotti

Well that explains why females are better at trimming than males. Generally speaking of course.

had enought
Guest
had enought
7 years ago
Reply to  Susy Barsotti

uncledave you must be joking. what does a womens period have to do with working in the field. or maybe your a 5 yearold. that would explain it.

Dan Fuller
Guest
Dan Fuller
7 years ago
Reply to  hmm

hmm, your second sentence contradicts itself!!! Males are much stronger than females of the same size and “typically larger” as well, how can they be “The same size but then Males can be ‘larger” that makes absolutely NO sense!!!

had enought
Guest
had enought
7 years ago
Reply to  Dan Fuller

dan you what he saying. stop being a jerk

Nof
Guest
Nof
7 years ago

Women grow better pot. Across the board. Every time.

I can think of at least 20 women i know who grow, many of them by themselves. Most also grow organic.
I remember when a humboldt hunny was a hard working hills lady who grew pot and food. I know a few who built their own houses too, on their own.

To say no women have been growing for 20 yrs is BS, ladies in humboldt and mendo have been at it for over 30 years. Most do not have huge grows. They know how to do it right.

Susy Barsotti
Guest
Susy Barsotti
7 years ago
Reply to  Nof

Imagine! Growing pot AND food?!

A friend of mine who does many local deliveries for the lumber store reports that most places he visits are strictly mono-croppers, not a carrot to be found….

Grrrls
Guest
Grrrls
7 years ago
Reply to  Susy Barsotti

I remember when everyone grew food too, for obvious health/economic reasons but also as cover for the herb and as a way to see pest&other problems. Tomatoes and herb need pretty much the same regiment. In the fall squash leaves will tell you when powdery white starts happening.
Theres nothing like tending your plants while munching fresh raspberries and other goodies from the garden. The hummingbirds luv hanging around the herb too 🙂
I highly recommend growing a food garden before doing a cash crop. Its great training.

J
Guest
J
7 years ago
Reply to  Nof

Woman grow the best weed, hands down! I agree they normally grow reasonably sized organic gardens. Just because I love statistics could you give an estimated percentage of how many grows you’ve seen that are 100% woman owned and operated. Or how many woman you think are hired to manage grows compared to men? I’m all for the old school humboldt hunnies!

Sleepy Alligator
Guest
Sleepy Alligator
7 years ago
Reply to  Nof

“Across the board. Every time.” is not really the best wording to use if you’re attempting to make a valid point. It’s about the same as when people abuse the word “literally”. It’s like saying all indoor is better than all outdoor or vice versa. It’s also a bold claim considering that, in this county, for every one of those twenty female growers you know there’s probably twenty male growers within a couple mile radius.

Yaya
Guest
Yaya
7 years ago

Have you been to so hum and nor mendo? You’d be surprised how many all women grows there are.
We just dont put it out there like the dudes, less ego about it.
Plus there are women working at every level, tho i’d say the buyer/driver market is majority male.

Sleepy Alligator
Guest
Sleepy Alligator
7 years ago
Reply to  Yaya

Many times but how am I supposed to know who’s doing what behind all those locked gates? I mean how am I even supposed to know where all the locked gates are?

had enought
Guest
had enought
7 years ago

Hello your not suppose to know. thats why they have gates.

Sleepy Alligator
Guest
Sleepy Alligator
7 years ago
Reply to  had enought

Yeah that was exactly my point!

Liz
Guest
Liz
7 years ago
Reply to  Nof

For over 40 years in these hills!

Lucy
Guest
Lucy
7 years ago

There’s a significant amount of women who make a living and provide for their families from the cannabis industry, and it’s not just outdoor guerilla farming or prancing around in high heels to cannabis festivals and boutiques.
They aren’t just grow-hos or simply supplementing their partners’ income.
They have their own spot, and they run it. They know what it takes to keep a plant alive, navigate the variables that affect every aspect of growing a quality product, and budget their finances and time to pay for the overhead and stay in the competitive game, in addition to being compensated adequately in the industry.
Also, processing cannabis is one of the last remaining jobs that’s truly a hands-on cottage industry. There’s a reason why most trimmers are female–because it’s considered an “auxiliary” job ( the excuses that men’s hands are “too big and clumsy for the job”, or “I’m too busy to sit down all day for days”), and it provides employment that’s flexible and pays enough to accommodate a mother’s busy schedule. She can work at home (or elsewhere) and still be able to pick up the kids from school, etc.

Gazoo
Guest
Gazoo
7 years ago
Black rifles matter
Guest
Black rifles matter
7 years ago
Reply to  Gazoo

Fuck huffpost

had enought
Guest
had enought
7 years ago

love the name lol

Guest
Guest
Guest
7 years ago

That poster was from a time when women were real women. Hardworking, honest ,faithful and God fearing women. Seeing this poster with a Marijuana leaf on the arm of this patriotic symbol is disturbing. And down right wrong in my opinion. My grandmother bless her heart would be in protest. Along with all who lived through those times. Make your own symbolism. Don’t disgrace this true patriot symbol.

had enought
Guest
had enought
7 years ago
Reply to  Guest

take your meds Guest. its just a blog. relax. fine something real to be up set about if feel the need to be upset.

J
Guest
J
7 years ago

Just want to say thank you Kym for posting about this! I know there are so many women kicking ass in this industry and I often fear where my generation will take this industry(I love how the small and respectfully previous generations conduct business and I chose to associate with people decades older than me) but with constant discussion about the issues there is a chance it will go in a better direction.

MOLA:42
Guest
MOLA:42
7 years ago

I have done manual farm labor in my time and my personal experience was that the women doing the same work did just as well. Attitude means more than muscles.

There were lazy guys who were worth nothing despite their muscular strength, they just didn’t work.

Of course, there were lazy women too.

Anyway, claims that men do some things better than women due to more muscle power do not impress me very much.

Gazoo
Guest
Gazoo
7 years ago
Reply to  MOLA:42

I feel the woman’s plants were/are more taken care of on an individual level and came out with more crystals at the end, plants were about half the size aprrox. 1-2 pounders but the quality is always top notch. Just in my experience

Guest
Guest
Guest
7 years ago

My mother was the hardest working woman I have ever known. Her hands bore the scars of hard farm work. In fact I owe her everything for instilling in us boys the value of a hard days work. Her forearms from milking cows by hand and the strength she had was iconic of a hardworking faithful mother of days gone by. I’m an advocate for our women. Just not an advocate of this Marijuana movement. Just my opinion.

L Morrison
Guest
L Morrison
7 years ago

Seems to me the grow hoes fair pretty well. Nice clothes. Fresh hair. Nice cars. Except they do have to deal with their shit head grower “boyfriends”.

good lord
Guest
good lord
7 years ago
Reply to  Kym Kemp

selective focus. people talk shit about grow bros all the time. your blog has comments trashing male growers in general every day. look for it. all they want is young girls to work for them and they dont give a shit about anything or anybody other than their greed. its a staple of talking shit about the “black market”, and you participate.

pretty lame, kym.
Guest
pretty lame, kym.
7 years ago
Reply to  Kym Kemp

you really hate everything about the slur but wish there was more of it for men. and your comment about “attractive women” is just as stupid. over time ive come to realize youre very juvenile. youd make a great grade school teacher, and i mean that in a good way.

had enought
Guest
had enought
7 years ago
Reply to  Kym Kemp

im with you. i dont like it either. these people need someone to look down on. glade i dont live in there skin.

Nora
Guest
Nora
7 years ago

The only women making money off of the damn shit is…1- the wives of the biggot assholes that get away with growing thousands of plants in multiple properties and 2- the damn foreign women and men who do not belong here and taking thousands of dollars of our American money and taking it out if the country… along with taking the trim work away from the people in Humboldt county who need the money more than the foreign people who make a mess of our home place. And making it hard for the locals with families to support like me who lost our legitimate lively hoods and have no choice but to try and get trim work….but only to be denied work because the fucking foreigners take it ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!

had enought
Guest
had enought
7 years ago
Reply to  Nora

nora you might be the most misinformed persons on this blog. most all of what you saif is a lie. your option backed up by what. you have no choice and who fault is that. a trimer ? realy.stop being a victim and get i live. hope you dont have kids.

Honeydew Bridge Chump
Guest
Honeydew Bridge Chump
7 years ago

Real Women aren’t insurgent growers.

Real Women raise children…

Grow chicks aren’t women, but media manipulated clones that don’t flower.

Humans don’t grow dope.

Surrender and get help all grow garbage.

Wrecking communties, harming Children, and destroying lives for federal reserve notes makes you worthless in the spiritual realm.

There isn’t a large enough comet hitting the planet to return all the grower karma.

Go back to your slums!

had enought
Guest
had enought
7 years ago

honeydew your funny. the spiritual realm. lol i read your post. [edit]. you dont know shit about spritual grouth or you would write stuff like you do. get some help. maybe med. [edit]

gunther
Guest
gunther
7 years ago

Without women, who would make the brownies? JUST KIDDING!

Anon Forrest
Guest
Anon Forrest
7 years ago
Reply to  gunther

Maybe kidding, maybe not…. The edible market is booming, after all.

Shak
Guest
Shak
7 years ago

IMO, the main point of the article is created for justifying that women will face the same tax brackets as men. Funny how that works.

Daryl
Guest
Daryl
7 years ago

North coast has been demonopolized.
Without the environmental monopoly farming will cease. The only reason its been successful is because it was illegal everywhere else. Now all of California is open game. Lettuce prices by 2020.

Anonymous
Guest
Anonymous
7 years ago

One way you can tell a hard working farmer woman is by looking at her hands. They won’t look like most other women’s at all. They look like men’s, so I’ve been told.

had enought
Guest
had enought
7 years ago
Reply to  Anonymous

at the risk of sounding sexist i dont want my wife mother daughter to have to work hard in the fields to get by. i dont know any women that like getting old fast being out in sun. thats why i made sure they had other options like school.

enough hadt
Guest
enough hadt
7 years ago
Reply to  had enought

yeah the illuminati might get em if theyre outside. what a patriarch!

Anonymous
Guest
Anonymous
7 years ago
Reply to  had enought

The only thing that would make me old fast is a desk job and being told what to do by a man. And if your wife, mother, or daughter does get an education most likely her boss will be male. Life is good!

Denouement
Guest
Denouement
7 years ago

BTW, Mendo is about to kick Humboldt’s ass! But then, the rest of the state will be sure to put Humboldt pot growers out of business, forever.
Women, growing weed is NOT a sensible occupation!

Anonymous
Guest
Anonymous
7 years ago
Reply to  Denouement

Unless of course you have Prime Ag land.

Daryl
Guest
Daryl
7 years ago

The laws are being formed to benefit the rich people. Stuart bulie inventor of the wine cooler has 10 permtted grows on Bell Springs. Last week the board of supervisors passed a bunch of regulations that put his plans above everyone elses. Get rid of the people and let a few prosper. Sorry women, but nobody is going to make it except the few rich people who can afford to do it like walmart. Sad but true

Anonymous
Guest
Anonymous
7 years ago
Reply to  Daryl

Stuart Bewley