The Bottom of the School Food Chain: Systemic Inequities and Abusive Practices Against Nutrition Workers

• In Event: Gender, Sexuality and Policy Dynamics in and Beyond the Workplace

Abstract

This phenomenological research draws on feminist theories to uncover systemic inequities encountered by school nutrition workers (SNW) in California, which are rooted in a neoliberal education model that has successfully imprinted in the social imaginary the notion of scarcity as a key element of the contemporary schooling system. This empirical project shows how oppressive logics operate and perpetuate unfair working conditions of a group composed predominantly of women and people of color. We argue that, in addition to perpetuating SNW’ oppression, failing to improve the school nutrition workforce has also a detrimental effect for students. Finally, in alignment with the 2025 AERA theme, we draw from participants’ systems of knowing to explore opportunities for remedy and repair.

Authors

• Maria Eugenia Rojas Concha, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Valparaiso

• Beth Katz, Food Insight Group