Nationwide, roles for women outside of management show mixed results. Female employees account for:
52 percent of all restaurant workers
71 percent of servers nationwide
41 percent of fine dining bartenders (although 55 percent of family style restaurant bartenders, at lower earning level)
But only 19 percent of chef positions
More than a third of all women working in the restaurant industry are mothers, and well over half are single moms
The National Restaurant Association states that more than half of the restaurants in the US have women as full owners or co-owners, with women as about 45 percent of restaurant managers. That statistic is actually higher than the 38 percent of female managers in other industries. Women are simply more likely to hold mid to senior leadership roles in the restaurant industry than other industries.
Two-thirds of tipped workers — in states that don’t mandate the full minimum wage — are women, according to ROC United’s research. Jayaraman argues that this practice “indicates the value that America has placed on women, and in particular women of color, over the last 150 years.”
The 2020 U.S. documentary A Fine Line by Joanna James explores why less than 7% of head chefs and restaurant owners are women despite having traditionally held the central role in the kitchen. Although women make up 50% of culinary school graduates, less than a fifth of executive chefs are female, and even fewer own their restaurants according to the James Beard Foundation. Women of color are particularly underrepresented in the food industry: in 2017, women of color made up only 14% of entry-level positions and only 3% of chief executive roles, a 2017 Women in the Food Industry report by McKinsey found. In comparison, white men made up 37% of entry-level positions and 70% of chief executive roles. The cause? Some point to the industry’s persistent institutional structures that have historically benefited men.