Despite low numbers of women who were Green Fairy enthusiasts and actually partook regularly, Pernod Fils, the first company to manufacture absinthe in the early 1800s, was clearly interested in women’s rights. At a time when company profit-sharing was rare even for male workers, Pernod Fils offered it to their female workers. Furthermore, during the Victorian age when discussion of women’s bodies was a repressed conversation even for women, Pernod Fils gave their female employees access to health care.
The Green Fairy culture wasn’t all progressive for women, however. During the late 1890s and early 1900s, absinthe was banned in most countries, as many saw its psychological effects as a dangerous threat to the family unit. Since drinking to excess was often brushed aside in this era as the unfortunate by-product of a hardworking man’s plight, we can only assume that the concern for over-imbibing in absinthe as threat to family was perceived as the crime of women.