Anyone who has ever been inspired to open up a restaurant knows, the kitchen has always been a woman's domain. It's the stories of grandmothers, mothers, aunts and older sisters - sometimes even the love of friendly female strangers, that inspires some of the greatest professional chefs and kitchens in the world. This statement is not to be mistaken as a generalization, it's a universal fact. From the beautifully patterned walls of authentic Indian and Mexican restaurants to the flower arrangements and tablecloths of some top ranked Scandinavian concepts, each part of the dining experience somehow draws it's inspiration from women and their natural environments around food. You simply cannot disassociate women from the kitchen, or better yet, nourishment, because their stories and the environments cultivated by the restaurants we eat in today are inextricably linked.
Yet the irony of the restaurant industry is not lost upon us. It's rare that women are highlighted in the restaurant industry or given much opportunity to ascend to the level that men have. Food culture and culinary heritage passed down from woman to woman have been, over centuries, taken for granted - and that is no different today. In an amazingly succinct article from the James Beard Foundation, writer Amada Cohen summed it up when she wrote "Over the previous 27 years, 361 James Beard Awards have been given. 81 of them have gone to women. Every year since 2000, Food & Wine magazine has selected the “Best New Chefs in America.” Out of the 192 chefs who have received this honor, 28 have been women. There are 72 Michelin-starred restaurants in New York City. Of those, women run six. There are 14 restaurants in the U.S. with three Michelin stars—none have female chefs." These numbers, speak for themselves. We're only left to imagine what food experiences could have been had if more women were recognized for their talent and contributions.
We all know how much work it takes to run a restaurant, now imagine never being recognized for it. Sociologists, gender studies experts and economists have pointed to a myriad of reasons why women have sat second step to men - Cohen presents her own ideas as well, but for the most part, women's disenfranchisement in the professional realm can be distilled down to a systemic lack of empowerment. Women are thwarted, in many aspects of their lives not just professionally, because of a lack of access to education, a lack of basic support for working women, or a lack of tools and resources needed to overcome the first two challenges.
It's in the last challenge that lies the catalyst for change. Large systemic issues on social, political and economic levels, which require significant overhaul in order to be impactful in achieving gender equality, not only need to be recognized, but ultimately resolved. In addition to highlighting the struggles women face, we must become allies in their cause. In doing so, we not only equip ourselves and society with the knowledge to know better, but can also build the right tools to do better as well.
Anyone who has ever been inspired to open up a restaurant knows, the kitchen has always been a woman's domain. It's the stories of grandmothers, mothers, aunts and older sisters - sometimes even the love of friendly female strangers, that inspires some of the greatest professional chefs and kitchens in the world. This statement is not to be mistaken as a generalization, it's a universal fact. From the beautifully patterned walls of authentic Indian and Mexican restaurants to the flower arrangements and tablecloths of some top ranked Scandinavian concepts, each part of the dining experience somehow draws it's inspiration from women and their natural environments around food. You simply cannot disassociate women from the kitchen, or better yet, nourishment, because their stories and the environments cultivated by the restaurants we eat in today are inextricably linked.
Munchtime generates leads for restaurants through a social networking component on the application. We straddle the worlds of restaurant technology and social media in a niche industry called social dining. Our actions to help enable women are therefore two fold.
Our business model's success is contingent upon local food establishments seeing the value of having a partner that can provide them with economic support. These partners not only include minority and women owned establishments but also future entrants into the market that may be encouraged to enter as a result of seeing a clearer path to revenue. Our application also has a cost savings component built in which uses app functionality to showcase restaurants in the most egalitarian way, eliminating the need for paid promotions. Simply put, we don't make money off of restaurants and that helps businesses at greater risk, succeed.
Our engineering team is made up entirely of female leads who spend their time thinking about the ways women will engage with our application, both on a personal, social and cultural level. Be it allowing users first right of refusal and not showing user profile photos off the bat, or generalizing our users age into brackets and only allowing meetings in public spaces where guests are announced by staff. We have taken decisions to eliminate opportunities through interfaces that succumb to hate speech and violence in exchange for safer, offline opportunities to have positive social interactions that boost self-esteem and prioritize mental health and social connectedness.
Technology today owes women so much more than what's currently being offered - and we're here to prove it. Which is why when we celebrate 'Women In Technology" on Mother's Day - it becomes problematic. Women are not a component of an industry that can freely exist without them. Women are the industry and it's time we recognize that and built towards it. That's why on Mother's Day, a day to celebrate food, womanhood and heritage, we don't want to disassociate women from anything. From now on, it should be 'Women And Technology', because what's out in the world belongs to women as much as it does to anyone else - and we want to help them be a part of it.
