Chopped Gender Roles

Lara Ramirez
Student ID: A04617385
Food & Society 3372
Fall Semester 2015
Dr. Harris

It is a cold hard fact that men dominate the culinary world, and all aspects that go along with it. After reading "Taking the Heat" and watching 3 episodes of the Food Network's Chopped, it was quite obvious to see the unequal and unfair treatment of women in the culinary world. I chose to watch Chopped because Chopped is a show that isn't solely about one single man, or woman. However, after watching, it was evident that men outnumbered the women on the show. The episodes I watched had only one female on the panel of judges while the other 2 were always men. The show only has 3 women chefs’ total who serve as judges and they are Alex Guarnaschelli,
The male's status always expanded above and beyond the women's. For one, the male judges all had such enormous personal success. All 6 male judges on Chopped all attended prestigious culinary schools and all currently own their own restaurants (some have several) The women had also attended prestigious culinary schools, but they had accomplished no more than just earning the title of a "chef". The judges all had similar educations, but it was only the males who were awarded such honors and prestige in the culinary world. "Recent numbers suggest that relatively few women are head or executive chefs. Only 20 percent of women held these positions in 2013 according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. This number may be even lower if we consider how many woman chefs are actually the owner or co-owners of their restaurants" (Harris and Giuffre 2015: 41). Such low percentages prove that the status of women chefs are extremely low when compared to that of males. Males hold 80% of all power when it comes to being successful in the kitchen. A women could acquire the same education as a male chef, but for some odd reason his status and opportunities would always be greater. The status of the contestants followed the same pattern. All of the men were either restaurant owners, executive head chefs, and had impressive résumés. When it came to the women competitors they held positions that weren't as impressive. A majority of them
Unlike many of the male competitors who were married and had families, most of the women were young and unmarried. They had no children and were only driven by their own success. An important part of the show is that they ask you what you would do with the money if you win. A lot of the times the women would get extremely emotional and say that they were doing this in honor of someone, such as a close family figure (mother, father, dad, etc.) or for the money to start their own restaurant. The men would say that they were doing this for their family, and wanted the money for their wife or children. This is where the greatest difference between female and male chefs’ motives lied. "Although underchefs are supposedly evaluated by "talent", additional factors such as who is perceived to be more devoted to their jobs can also influence career outcomes. Because men chefs, even fathers, would probably never have to leave the kitchen for caregiving responsibilities, they were able to prove their commitment to work and to being the ideal worker, and this would disadvantage women chefs in the long term" (Harris and Giuffre 2015:160). Being a women chef has more disadvantages than that of a male. To start a family would be devastating to the career that the woman has worked so hard for, so in result she does not have one. She is persistent on winning and only