Beauty and Her Feast: The Impact of Domestic Expectations on Women’s Experiences in Professional Kitchens

<span style="font-weight: 400;">There is a lack of research on women's role in professional kitchens and how domestic expectations of women influence women&rsquo;s experience in professional kitchens. Professional kitchens are masculinized spaces that lead women to face many barriers regarding work in professional kitchens. Professional kitchen culture is male-dominated, which results in a masculine work environment where women are sexualized, forced to prove their competency, and seen as generally unfit. Through sixteen in-depth interviews with women who work in professional kitchens, I explore how professional kitchens utilize gendered expectations of domestic and professional work to maintain male domination and affect women&rsquo;s sense of belonging in the industry. I examine barriers that prevent women from advancing to higher positions, such as chef, in professional kitchens and I want to explore the tools women chefs used to overcome these barriers. This study also examines how women navigate the masculine and male-dominated workplace environment of professional kitchens. I ask about challenges that arise from this and how these women navigate them. Additionally, I explore how women navigate their own domestic duties and family while working in professional kitchens. Finally, I discuss how the #MeToo Movement and COVID-19 pandemic benefited women in the industry. I expect to find that societal expectations of women in domestic kitchens negatively affect the career advancement, workplace experiences, and work/family balance of women chefs.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>