Gender Inequality When It Comes to Cooking

Have you ever wondered why women do most of the cooking especially at home? Food work is usually associated to women although we all know that both genders eat as much as the other. Perhaps this is because traditionally, men went out to work while women stayed at home doing the house chores which include cooking. But that was decades ago, now we live in a time where both men and women are earning money for the family and yet society still accepts that women do more food work than men.

There is a schema of “cooking by our mother’s side” which means learning to cook during childhood through our mother’s teaching that might influenced why we see cooking as a task for women. Mothers are the primary cooks at home and transmitters of cooking knowledge in the family. It is expected that mothers teach children how to cook and eat healthy foods. Failing to do so make moms feel ashamed and guilty as for them it is a sense of responsibility and commitment to their family. Some fathers cook with their children but don’t have the same sense of responsibility for teaching their children to cook more than mothers. For dads, it is more of a fun and bonding experience with their children rather than a learning opportunity for their kids.

While it is clear that mothers have a greater sense of responsibility in cooking for the family and teaching their children to cook, research has found that parents did not prioritized teaching their daughters to cook over their sons. However, there seems to be influences beyond children cooking with their moms that change the attitude in men and women when it comes to cooking. If both girls and boys are taught to cook in their childhood, why do women bear more of the cooking responsibility when they become adults?

Although many of us first learned cooking at home when we were young, the skills and knowledge that we learned were actually minimal. For children it is merely a play. It did not develop in a sense that we have the confidence and competence to cook our own food. Many of us do not developed our cooking skills until we are young adults or when we start living on our own. Some of us learned recipes and developed cooking skills with the help of our friends, dormmates, restaurant work, self-teaching from internet and cookbooks, cooking classes, and of course from our moms who we call when we want guidance or miss their recipes. Living away from home motivates us to learn cooking skills as it becomes a pleasure and as well as a life skill.

Mothers are one of the many sources we learn cooking skills from. Perhaps when food preparation is less associated to women, mothers in particular, men will step up to the plate and make cooking equal to both genders.

Isabella Whitmore enjoys cooking and learning new recipes. She also enjoys writing for https://electrickettlesplus.com/, an appliance website that provides different types of electric kettles which are essential for cooking.