Gender Roles in Cooking and Housework

Gender roles. You may hear that phrase very often in modern media, but not quite understand what it means. Gender roles are defined as “...societal norms or expectations associated with specific genders. For instance, within families with children, boys are often assigned tasks like car washing, while girls are expected to work in the kitchen. There’s an extreme view that certain tasks must be done exclusively based on gender. However, it’s essential to recognize that these norms often stem from cultural and traditional influences. Men might be expected to handle all provider roles of the family, and women manage the home. Similarly, more physically demanding tasks like car maintenance and repairs are often reserved for males” (ayobambo@youcookandlive.com).

But how do gender roles affect cooking in your house? If your mother was like the other 71% of women with children, then she probably was the primary cook in your household. While this isn’t always necessarily a bad thing, the expectation that women are the cooks in the home can lead to some not always intended and unfortunate consequences. 

Many women are expected to cook by their partners and receive no compliments when they do so, whereas men are rewarded and praised for cooking for their family or partner as if it is a difficult and aggravating chore. Women often face double standards and hypocritical ideas compared to their male counterparts, especially when it comes to household chores and cooking. “These experiences highlight the double standards and expectations solely dependent on gender, especially in terms of cooking. Men who are able to cook are highly praised, whereas it is often an expectation that women know how to. Society is praising men for cooking, which should instead be treated as an important life skill, not a gendered task,” states Anika Veeraraghav of dailycampus.com.

Cooking is a skill that can be exercised and practiced, not something that you know instinctively. And yet, women are expected to be good cooks without exceptions, no matter what. “On average, women cook about nine meals a week, men about four,” according to a 2023 NPR report on The Gallup and Cookpad home-cooking survey conducted over a five-year period. 

Some might say that this expectation is unimportant. Why does it matter that women cook more, or that they are expected to do so by society?

The gender pay gap across the world is growing day by day. It closed during COVID, making many hope that it would disappear altogether eventually. Unfortunately, the gap has begun to reappear over the past few years in many countries. 

In countries where the gender pay gap is wider, women tend to marry more often and cook more per week. There are exceptions, of course, like the one found in Italy, where men actually cook more than women. This is likely due to a general flip in societal expectations found in Italy in general, making the information found there an outlier, one not used in most data. 

Another issue must be brought up during this discussion. Women, while expected to cook in the domestic household, are generally barred from working in professional kitchens and jobs that involve cooking. How can a group of people who are expected to spend half their lives cooking still be forced out of fields that are generally considered male, even those in restaurants?

All this to say, what can we do about it? How do people with such a little influence like us solve a problem that spans so wide? Please, stay informed. Be mindful of the biases and gendered expectations you have for the people around you. And try to help out with the cooking in a while if you usually don’t. Making food is an important and helpful skill to have.