How many times have we heard jokes like, "girl, get in the kitchen and make me a sandwich?" Socially, women tend to be placed in the kitchen as caretakers - women cook the majority of home meals - and men, well, they've got more "masculine" things to do like tinkering with cars and enjoying the color blue. That is to say, a male-dominated cooking industry seems counter-intuitive to what I've encountered for most of my life.
I found an interesting post on a feminist blog (FemiNoshing: Why Are Most Chefs Men?) which explained that there is rampant sexism in the industry. What's offered inside:
- "women are incapable of elevating cooking to an art" - an old argument, the likes of which kept women out of many circles (cooking and otherwise) for a very long time. "Women are not food artists"
- Rampant sexism: "...if you couldn't laugh at rape jokes, you were an uptight bitch." - also a reluctance to call out colleagues, which perpetuates a cycle.
- "Physical issues" - it's exhausting work that women are not considered up for, and that they may wish to avoid.
These phrases are out of context in my little post, so I would recommend reading it yourselves. It is very interesting. Both also include a bit about men considering food a "challenge," something we talked about in class. There are a lot of sources out on the internet, many that are useful and thought-provoking (especially if you are considering writing paper #1 on topic two, gender in Harrison and Bourdain's essays!)
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| This image is from a NY Magazine article that addresses the same topic among high-tier female members of the culinary industry. It's definitely not as serious as the post Feminoshing, is short, andis a bit humorous at times as the women are interviewed about their place in the field. ("A Woman's Place?") |
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