Writer Thao Ly Nguyen takes a closer look at the Munchies article: We asked male chefs why there are so few females in professional kitchens.

According to a Munchies article: We Asked Male Chefs Why There Are So Few Females in Professional Kitchens, having few females in professional kitchens is to do with classic gender stereotypes.

>>> Read the full Munchies article here

The male chefs they questioned – all head chefs or higher ranking – suggest that the lack of women in restaurant kitchens is because women are unable to do it, find the work too hard, and quit because there are other things they’d rather do like have children.

“I think it's mainly because we work long hours, ten to 12 hours a day. Men can continue a little longer than women” said Dennis Trappenburg, chief cook at GYS in Rotterdam to Munchies.

Daniel Lansbergen, cook at Kafé België in Utrecht, had a similar view and said to Munchies “standing for 12 hours straight is more difficult for a woman, because women are just built differently”.

“You start as a dishwasher, and that means doing the dirty job first,” explains Renee Heijnen, chief cook at Restaurant Muziekcafé 't Oude Pothuys in Utrecht to Munchies. “Girls don't want that. […] Women just want to be home in the evening and care for the children, rather than sweat in a kitchen.”

The problem with this article does not only lie in the rather archaic assumption of women and what they want, but it is also strange that the writer decided not to ask women why there are so few women in the kitchen. Instead, men were questioned even though they may not necessarily know why there are so few women in the kitchen. Instead, men were questioned even though they may not necessarily know the answer, a point which Michael O’hare quickly questioned on Twitter.

Is it better to ask women who aren't chefs but wanted to be why there are fewer female chefs? Male chefs are surely the least likely to know

— Michael O'Hare (@hairmetalchef) April 3, 2017

Last month, The Staff Canteen spoke to numerous successful women in the industry, so let’s see what they have to say about being in the kitchen.

"I think there is this whole idea around macho culture, but I feel like that has become very old fashioned," said Freddie Janssen, founder of F.A.T.