Enough of these sexist cooking surveys!
Another day, another gender-focused food story breaks. Sigh. This time it was about how women become good cooks at the age of 55, and not a moment before.
Sorry, but there are only so many sexist press releases I can handle... none of them flattering, all of them patronising. Now, Co-operative Food tells us women have to wait until the ripe old age of 55 to become good cooks.
I can barely muster the energy to write about this one. Why this constant need to link women with failings? Excuse my ignorance, but isn’t it mainly women who have been feeding us since the dawn of time? Where’s my press release celebrating that?
Women are rubbish cooks – it's a fact
Let me give you a few examples of such press releases, recently sent to my inbox. I've had ‘British blokes are far superior to women in the kitchen, new survey reveals’; ‘Modern mums are missing traditional kitchen skill-sets, according to new research’; ‘Shock horror! 60% of women don’t know how to boil an egg’… I could go on. What about the percentage of men who can’t boil an egg? Or which ‘traditional kitchen skill-sets’ (whatever they are) men are missing?
Not that men escape scot free – all this focus on women completely ignores their progress in the kitchen, and only reinforces stale stereotypes about how only women are allowed near the stove.
It's also relentlessly negative. Can we please have a press release about what men/women/children can do in the kitchen?
But hey ho, I have to report the news. So here we go folks… a story about how women reach their culinary peak at 55.
The story
This 'research' conducted by the Co-op found that by the time women reach their mid-fifties they have finally learned: how to cater for parties of 12 or more; how to throw together random ingredients to make a decent meal; and how to rescue a botched dinner party. These are obiously all essential skills if you want to be an accomplished woman in the 21st century, alongside sewing on buttons and tending to wounds.
The Daily Mail has, of course, picked up on the story. They report that being able to differentiate between herbs and getting all elements of a roast dinner ready at the same time are also skills particular to a 55-year-old female. That and producing 15 meals on a regular basis, including chicken casserole, steak and kidney pie and seafood linguine.
Apparently 85% of women aged 55 and over can confidently cook eggs without breaking the yolk, 55% know what herbs to put with which meats… oh dear. I can’t go on. Please someone tell me, what on earth has frying an egg got to do with being a woman? Why did this research target only females? Indeed, I went around the office and asked all 15 men of various ages whether they had cooked eggs before… and surprise surprise, all of them had bar one (who cannot stand the taste of them).
Pick on someone else!
And now for a 55-year-old woman’s opinion on the research. My mother's, to be precise. “To be honest I don’t keep a record of my culinary achievements. Who cares! And I can’t see why there needs to be a reflection of gender in that study. Totally bizarre,” was her response.
I don’t know. Maybe I’m blowing it all out of proportion. But please, PR people, can’t we pick on a different section of society next time?
Do you think I’m overreacting? Or do stories like this annoy you too? Tell us in the Comments box below.
More sex and sexism
Cadbury launches Crispello chocolate aimed at women
Who needs a stripper to promote a fizzy drink?
Food ads on TV: a woman's place
Comments
Be the first to comment
Do you want to comment on this article? You need to be signed in for this feature