The most recent winner of Top Chef was a woman and one of the most famous cooks in American history, Julia Child, has been a household name for six decades and almost half the students within culinary schools are women. The question then is- why aren’t we seeing more female culinary leaders across the globe and particularly in Jamaica?
I can give you the answer -The culinary world is deeply sexist.
Very little to no data is present in Jamaica on exactly how many classically trained female chefs hold executive positions within large corporations, but trust me you don’t need data to prove the nonexistent progression of women within culinary to executive leadership whether in Jamaica or globally. If you want proof, look no further than the TIME’s special issue on the “Gods of Food.” On the cover are three men, no women. Of the 13 “gods of food” in the issue, four are women, but none of them are chefs.
We can all agree cooking professionally is an aptitude that encompasses commitment and hard work coupled with boundless hours of training. Women have been associated with home kitchens for millennia to feed their families yet today the popular perception is that the commercial kitchen is a high-testosterone environment which encourages boisterous, abusive behaviour and is no place for women to work.
Several women move away from culinary projects largely because of misogyny, sexism and persistence of oppressive conduct towards women chefs. Just recently a female chef who is a mentee of ours, resigned from a prominent Kingston based hotel because of overtly agressive sexual advances at work. As women continue to fight for seemingly basic rights like equal pay and even paid family leave, they are also still forced to fight even for respect from their peers in the workplace and work much harder than their male counterparts to overcome negative stereotypes against women.
We know hands down that women chefs have numerous strengths that they bring to the industry. Several of the female chefs we know personally once they began leading a kitchen, focused on creating a more harmonious atmosphere that encouraged their staff to create and grow. Harassment and the sexualized joking prevalent in a lot of kitchens decreased, and these women reported having better-functioning and more diverse restaurants in both the front- and back-of-the-house.
Encouraging and promoting a diverse workforce is just one of the steps the industry can take on this journey. So many female chefs have proven themselves worthy and it is time to realize, when women lead, the entire culinary industry could benefit.
Going forward, is it imperative that we see more women stand up and speak out against sexism in the cooking industry – or any industry. Luckily, as time goes on, there has been an increase in women coming out against discrimination in the workforce. Only through the outspoken words of women, and of course the support of their male allies, will the culinary industry finally outgrow the ancient, outdated tradition of discrimination towards women.
