Engender blog

Guest Post: A Woman’s Place is in the Kitchen (a professional kitchen, that is)

Guest post from Leonie Sooke

Leonie is a freelance chef and food stylist. Strongly influenced by working under a number of inspiring female head chefs, her career spans television; cookery books; London restaurant work; writing and presenting prominent talks for the V&A and Tate Britain, which showcase irreverent women in food history. Find her at curatedcakes.com or on instagram @Leoniesooke

Once again, this year’s employment figures highlight the inequality within the restaurant industry: data from the Office for National Statistics shows that only 18.5 per cent of Britain’s top chefs are women.[1] It’s an age-old problem. From Renaissance cooks and Victorian culinary masters to the macho celebrity chefs of today, men have taken centre stage on the professional platform.

Yet much has changed in the past few years. In the wake of pioneers such as Alice Waters, Ruth Rogers, Angela Hartnett and Margot Henderson, there’s a rising generation of young women taking the food scene by storm. Just consider Claire Ptak and Lily Vanilla with their pioneering bakeries, Florence Knight heading up the kitchen at Polpo or Kim Woodward at the infamously masculine Savoy Grill (to name but a few). The ‘boys club’ of late has certainly lost much of its cool.

Guest Post: #AGORA16: After Young Feminist Summer School

Claire attended this year’sAGORA feminist school organised by the European Women’s Lobby. Her place was sponsored by Engender who offered funding for a young BME feminist from Scotland to attend. We are hosting a series of blogs by Claire throughout her time at AGORA. Here are her thoughts after completing the AGORA.

My intention for Young Feminist Summer School had three parts: 1) Learn about effectively bridging the gap between theory and activism. 2) Support other women in their learning and be part of collective growth. 3) A bonus objective – have fun and meet new people. AGORA ’16 brought me all of these things and more.

Guest Post: Pioneering Women’s Education in Scotland

Educational access is still a matter that unfairly affects girls all over the world from living safely and prosperously. An education is not only empowering for women but also the best way to alleviate them from poverty. The Pioneers of Women’s Education have campaigned for girls to have equal access to education and the fight continues as more than two-thirds of the illiterate adult population are women. Here Plan International blog for Engender about Scotland’s educational pioneers.

Guest Post: During #AGORA16: Part 3

Claire is attending this year’sAGORA feminist school organised by the European Women’s Lobby. Her place has been sponsored by Engender who offered funding for a young BME feminist from Scotland to attend. We are hosting a series of blogs by Claire throughout her time at AGORA. Here she reflects on the final leg of her journey.