THE PROBLEM
The hospitality industry still creates many hurdles for women, including sexism, gender stereotypes, bias, and a well-established masculine culture. On top of this there are few networking opportunities, limited mentorship, the glass ceiling, poor work-life balance, and gender microaggressions that all make it tougher for women to advance in their careers.
What? How can this be?
The hospitality industry is tough with long, irregular hours, high stress, physically demanding work and often low pay with little security. Unfortunately, Chicas face many barriers to success in the restaurant industry. They must overcome rampant sexism harassment and antisocial hours.
THE HARD FACTS
Sexual Harassment
Sexual harassment in the hospitality industry is a serious problem, often evident in inappropriate comments, unwanted advances, and a culture that dismisses or trivializes such behavior, creating a hostile environment for employees. Las Chicas is committed to changing this and providing support to those who have experienced this.
Culture
Bad workplace culture in the hospitality industry often leads to high turnover rates, low employee morale, and a toxic environment, negatively impacting both staff and customer experiences.
Mental Health
Mental health issues in the hospitality industry are increasingly prevalent, as high-stress environments, long hours, and demanding customer interactions can take a significant toll on workers' well-being.
BE THE CHANGE
What are we doing about it?
From collaborating with female Mexican chefs to develop our recipes, to supporting the next generation of chefs with our Las Chicas Collective initiative, we have big ambitions to champion women and help close the culinary gender gap.
EDUCATION
WE ARE RAISING AWARENESS OF THE CULINARY GENDER GAP, ITS ROOT CAUSES, AND HOW YOU CAN HELP TACKLE IT.
Through our packaging and media channels, we are highlighting the issues faced by female chefs. We are displaying some of the hard-hitting statistics that reveal the inequality that exists in the chef profession and we are actively gathering data on the culinary gender gap and its root causes.
ACTION
WE ARE TAKING DIRECT ACTION TO SUPPORT FEMALE CHEFS THROUGH A RANGE OF INITIATIVES
Toxic kitchen culture is the key driver of the culinary gender gap and not enough is being done to address this issue, leading to very limited progress in getting more women into sustainable chef careers. We partnered with Healthy Hospo to develop a series of 3 courses for culinary students, kitchen staff and hospitality management tackling the 3 main root causes of the culinary gender gap: antisocial hours, sexual harassment and drug abuse. We are offering the first 2000 courses free of charge:
Explore all courses at: Las Chicas (healthyhospo.com)
INSPIRATION
WE ARE PLATFORMING SOME OF THE MOST INSPIRATIONAL FEMALE CHEFS AND FIGURES IN HOSPITALITY TO INSPIRE THE NEXT GENERATION OF FEMALE CHEFS
We partnered with El Caustro, the leading culinary institute in Mexico and co-developed our Las Chicas recipes with two rising female Mexican chefs: Karla Encarnacion and Ximena Gonzales. We are striving to inspire the next generation of female chefs. In addition to breaking down barriers, it is hugely important that we also inspire them through sharing the stories of women who made it to the top of the industry, despite the challenges they have faced.
