The #MeToo movement has already disrupted the worlds of film, politics, education and international aid. Now women in the culinary world are set to gather for a high-powered meeting in Sweden as the restaurant industry confronts its own sexism.
More than 400 top female chefs, food activists, scientists and farmers from around the world will attend the two-day Parabere Forum in Malmö that begins on Sunday – an event that has taken on new meaning amid a growing women’s movement in the sector.
In the past year, once celebrated celebrity chefs and restaurateurs, such as Mario Batali in New York and John Besh in New Orleans, have been accused of sexual harassment of female staff, while the James Beard Foundation has begun considering the behaviour of restaurant professionals when making nominations.
Since the French journalist, Maria Canabal, launched the Parabere Forum in Bilbao in 2015 to help empower women in the culinary industry, its network has used its collective power to call attention to unequal representations of female chefs in events and the media. The questions they have been asking for five years are suddenly part of a global conversation.
Canabal has created a database of more than 5,000 successful women in the industry from 32 countries, using it to counter claims that women aren’t being recognised because they aren’t running professional kitchens.
“Food and wine must be about inclusion. We shouldn’t leave anyone behind,” said Canabal. “If society is to evolve towards greater sustainability, greater equality, stronger growth and increased social progress, women must be able to take their rightful place.”
While women make up approximately half of all culinary students, and female-owned restaurants are growing at a steady rate, gender bias remains widespread in the industry. In 2014, the US-based Restaurant Opportunities Center found that 90% of women in the culinary industry had reported being sexually harassed at work.
Another study by pay transparency website Glassdoor found that female chefs in the US made 28.3% less than their male colleagues – the second-highest percentage among the careers examined.
From Michelin stars down, awards and media attention are given disproportionately to male chefs. The 2017 World’s 50 Best Restaurant list included just three restaurants with female head chefs (Central’s Pia León, Arzak’s Elena Arzak and Cosme’s Daniela Soto-Innes), and all three are routinely credited alongside men (respectively, their husband, father and male boss).
“Women are talking openly about struggling with the boys’ club mentality, with the harassment and with the military structure of kitchens,” said Canabal. “The most important thing is that now people are ready to listen. They no longer want to accept what it is unacceptable.”
For more read the full of article at The Guardian
