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Burton Snowboards CEO covers tab so workers can attend Women's March on Washington

Donna Carpenter, CEO of Burton Snowboards, knows many of her employees want to go to Washington to protest Donald Trump's inauguration — so she's paying for their hotel rooms and travel costs so they can go.
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Burton Snowboards co-owner Donna Carpenter has offered to cover the costs for her employees to travel from Vermont to Washington, D.C., to attend the Women's March on Washington. (Ben Sarle)

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This Saturday's Women's March on Washington will be a little bit larger thanks to a Vermont CEO who is covering costs for her employees to attend.

Donna Carpenter, CEO and co-owner of Burton Snowboards, extended the offer to all female employees of her company, as well as any men who want to tag along. She has promised to pay for two nights in a hotel and up to $250 in travel costs.

I'm worried about this country- Donna Carpenter, CEO of Burton Snowboards

"It felt like almost an imperative, a gut reaction to the state of women's rights in the United States right now," Carpenter said in an interview with As It Happens guest host Helen Mann.

"It's a male-dominated industry and these are tough women who are committed to being part of action sports and winter sports, and I knew this would resonate with them," she said. "I knew a lot of them were going to be going anyway, and I just thought if I could help in some way, that would be meaningful." 
Donna Burton is the CEO of Burton Snowboards. (Winnie Au)

The march, which will also coincide with marches in cities around the world, is being held to send a message to Trump on his first day in office "that women's rights are human rights," according to the website.

Sexism and gender equality were enduring issues throughout the bitterly fought U.S. presidential campaign. Allegations of sexism, sexual harassment and sexual assault dogged Donald Trump throughout the campaign, and in October a tape was released of Trump appearing to brag about sexually assaulting women. Trump apologized for the remarks after the tape was released.

Carpenter said all that contributed to her decision to help her employees attend the march.

"I'm worried about this country. Our whole discourse has degraded to the point where it's 'grab 'em by the p--sy' right?" she said, referring to the tape. "And we can say no, we don't accept that, we're going to treat each other with respect and inclusion." 

It's a male-dominated industry and these are tough women ... I knew this would resonate with them- Donna Carpenter, CEO of Burton Snowboards

Around 30 Burton employees have taken Carpenter up on her offer, which she said will end up costing about $10,000.

Asked if she was worried about alienating any employees who may disagree with her politically, Carpenter said she wasn't concerned.

"We live in Bernie land," she said, noting that Vermont is the home state of Bernie Sanders, who challenged Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination for president. Carpenter said she supported Clinton for president, but many of her employees had volunteered on Sanders' campaign.

"I think that my employees share my values because we're kind of a tribe — the snowboarding community is kind of a tribe that has shared values," she said.  

"Everybody was incredibly excited. I've had more employees say, 'Oh my God, I texted my mom and told her what you were doing.' So I think the employees actually feel supported, and feel heard."

Most of them are planning to leave Friday. In time for the inauguration?

"We might ignore that."

For more on this story, including Donna Carpenter's thoughts on Canada, listen to our full interview. 

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