Beauty and Her Feast: The Impact of Domestic Expectations on Women’s Experiences in Professional Kitchens

• In Event: Organizations, Occupations, and Work Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (90 minute): Table 3: Racial and Gender Dynamics at Work

Abstract

There is a lack of research on women's role in professional kitchens and how domestic
expectations of women influence women’s experience in professional kitchens. Professional
kitchens are masculinized spaces that lead women to face many barriers regarding work in
professional kitchens. Professional kitchen culture is male-dominated, which results in a
masculine work environment where women are sexualized, forced to prove their competency,
and seen as generally unfit. Through sixteen in-depth interviews with women who work in
professional kitchens, I explore how professional kitchens utilize gendered expectations of
domestic and professional work to maintain male domination and affect women’s sense of
belonging in the industry. I examine barriers that prevent women from advancing to higher
positions, such as chef, in professional kitchens and I want to explore the tools women chefs
used to overcome these barriers. This study also examines how women navigate the masculine
and male-dominated workplace environment of professional kitchens. I ask about challenges that
arise from this and how these women navigate them. Additionally, I explore how women
navigate their own domestic duties and family while working in professional kitchens. Finally, I
discuss how the #MeToo Movement and COVID-19 pandemic benefited women in the industry.
I expect to find that societal expectations of women in domestic kitchens negatively affect the
career advancement, workplace experiences, and work/family balance of women chefs.

Author

• Peyton Lane McConnell, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill