Blog
Photo Assignment Carlos Dominguez GSW 230
I decided to focus this photo assignment on the old
school and ridiculous belief that women belong in the kitchen. There are many
stereotypes out there about gender such as wage gaps between males and females,
how women are represented through modeling, and how females talk to other
females or vice versa the way males talk to females. I however find the issue
that females “belong” in the kitchen making specific foods to be outlandish
especially because I experience it firsthand 5 days out of the 7 days a week.
Now don’t get me wrong, women are amazing cooks and my mother is proof of that.
My dad is also a great cook, however my point isn’t that men can’t cook because
it isn’t socially acceptable but the fact that it is frowned upon for women to
make specific foods during gatherings such as grilling meat or anything that is
a “man’s job”. I experience this every day when I am at work which is Chipotle.
I am what’s considered a back of the house crew member meaning I prep food and
run the grill during my shift. I have been working there for one year now and I
noticed something nuts… that not one single girl has ever worked a full shift
in the grill with me. Sure they might come in and flip fajitas, the chicken and
mix me a rice. The point isn't that they aren’t allowed to work grill because
they are, I am sure various Chipotles have girls working the grill on their
own, my point is that I believe popular culture has deemed it not appropriate
for women to make food that is considered the man’s work. The job I work at
represents in a way the oppression of women solely because of the position they
work on average when they come into work. I know for a fact some of them want
to work the grill, they enjoy cooking just like everyone else because the grill
is fun. The sad thing is that their requests are ignored completely and they
are then put on the line… yes. They are put on the line serving food to
customers walking in, not being a part of the real culture Chipotle is about
which is MAKING great food, not SERVING great food and that just isn’t fair. The
way I see it, why can’t women work the grill at my work, along with at picnics
or at family gatherings? Why is it that it’s there responsibility or
entitlement to work the “easy” jobs like making salads or deserts as contribution
along with serving food to their children, their “man”, and any other guest
that arrives to their home? I definitely believe this all stems back to the
fact that popular culture is so woven into our culture that we don’t realize
it, and I will be the first to admit that I didn’t think about issues like that
in that context. It’s a ridiculous social injustice, and although it might not
seem harmful in the work field, and in homes but it really is. Feminism means a
whole different thing to me after taking this class, to me it means that men
and women are equal in every way and without hesitation deserve the same
respect, opportunities and social rights as everyone else. The picture I chose
is pretty general although it did have an impact on me because I instantly made
a correlation with the females at work and their tasks in contrast to the males
at work. The women is standing behind the man, assuming her husband, and
letting him grill the food, although I felt a bit of oppression towards the
female because why stand behind the man and let him only cook when she could
probably cook better than him? It’s the 21st century, women can cook
delicious grill food and I’d be more than happy serving my kids and guests at
my home. It’s all about perspective.
