Abstract
Cooking activities in the traditional kitchen or in the domestic area—which are supposed to be the domain of women—are interpreted as an obligation as well as a form of a woman’s service to her family, spouse, children, and even other people who are close to her life. In other words, cooking in the domestic area is an undefined job. Regardless of the fact, when cooking shifted to the public space, it turned into a professional job, a work area which was later known as the professional kitchen. People who work in a professional kitchen are given the title professional chef. Ironically, such a professional kitchen, often thought to be easily controlled by women—who for centuries have always been related to cooking activities—is actually controlled and dominated by men, starting from culinary studies (tata boga) to the industry. As a skill, cooking is actually an activity that can be performed by anyone, regardless of gender. In reality, cooking activities, in both traditional and professional kitchens, place women in a marginal and subordinate position. To learn why women, who are often considered as “the queen of the traditional kitchen”, find it difficult to control and dominate professional kitchens, we examine a number of studies that have analyzed the professional life of female chefs as well as various forms of gender inequality in the chefs’ workplace or the professional kitchen.
Bahasa Abstract
Kegiatan memasak di dapur tradisional (area domestik) sering kali dilekatkan pada diri perempuan dan dimaknai sebagai kewajiban sekaligus bentuk pelayanan perempuan kepada keluarga, pasangan, anak-anak, bahkan orang-orang lain yang berada di dekat kehidupan perempuan. Dengan kata lain, memasak di ruang domestik merupakan pekerjaan tidak terdefinisi. Namun, ketika beralih ke ruang publik, kegiatan memasak berubah menjadi sebuah profesi dengan area kerja yang disebut dapur profesional. Orang yang bekerja di dapur itu diberi predikat chef profesional. Ironisnya, perempuan yang sejak berabadabad lalu telah lekat dengan kegiatan memasak, justru sulit memasuki apalagi menguasai dapur profesional yang didominasi laki-laki, mulai dari bidang ilmunya (tata boga) hingga industrinya. Sebagai sebuah keterampilan, memasak sejatinya adalah kegiatan yang
dapat dilakukan oleh siapa saja, apa pun gendernya. Pada kenyataannya, kegiatan memasak, baik di dapur tradisional maupun di dapur profesional, selalu menempatkan perempuan pada posisi yang marginal dan tersubordinasi. Untuk mempelajari mengapa perempuan yang kerap disebut “ratu dapur tradisional” justru sulit mendominasi dapur profesional, kami membedah sejumlah penelitian terdahulu yang menganalisis kehidupan kerja chef perempuan, termasuk berbagai bentuk ketidasetaraan gender di tempat kerja, yakni dapur profesional.
Recommended Citation
Septiani, Intan Y, and Mia Siscawati. 2022. Chef Minoritas di Tempat Kerja: Perempuan di Dapur Profesional. Paradigma: Jurnal Kajian Budaya 12, no. 2 (August). 10.17510/paradigma.v12i2.564.
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