One of the most prevalent misconceptions about women in the food business is that while women make good cooks, men make better chefs. This fallacy almost nearly sums up the sordid state of affairs in the F&B domain when it comes to gender inclusivity. As a bootstrapped female solopreneur in this domain, I have observed firsthand the many challenges women face when pitted against an inherently skewed playing field. To this day, women continue to battle several barriers to progress, including gender discrimination, lack of mentorship and sponsorship, as well as stereotyping and the resultant prejudices. The good news is many of these barriers to progress are fixable and are being addressed by industry bodies and forward-thinking organisations to help balance out the gender ratio in the food business, especially at senior levels.
Fair and square
To address the disparity, it’s important to understand why the industry is primed for enhanced female representation—statistics shared by Bankrate, a consumer financial services company, reveal that globally, over 80 per cent of purchases and purchase influence are made by women. Further, nearly 89 per cent of women assume primary responsibility for household chores, including shopping for and preparing food. But that isn’t all. Creating more equitable workplaces for women can yield business benefits. Consider 2023 figures shared by the World Economic Forum, which highlight that ensuring equal gender representation in business and eliminating discrimination towards women workers and managers can increase profitability and productivity by 40 per cent. Further, women-led SME enterprises have historically demonstrated strong performance for banks. This begs the question: how can we, as an industry, further encourage and better support women to groom new generations of female leaders? Here are a few vital interventions:
- Crunching the numbers: The gender funding gap when it comes to women-led startups in the F&B space must be acknowledged. In fact, as per a 2019 report by Bain & Company, women entrepreneurs in India receive only 3 per cent of total venture capital funding. Concerted efforts must be made to evaluate businesses based purely on potential and performance rather than a gendered lens. Investors can be encouraged and incentivised to fund women leaders, and the establishment of venture capital firms that fund women entrepreneurs will be a significant step in this direction.
- Mentorship and networks: The existing paucity of women leaders in decision-making roles makes it even harder for aspiring women leaders to seek guidance and mentorship. As per 2018 data released by the National Restaurant Association of India, only 25 per cent of senior management positions are held by women, with the number dipping to less than 10 per cent at the C-suite level. Establishing mentorship programmes that address the specific needs of women and support networks where women can learn from and share their own experiences as they tackle new responsibilities, roles, and challenges for the first time as women. Support networks can prove especially helpful in enabling them to reach their targets in leadership roles, aid their decision-making process, enable them to access more funding and business opportunities, and also develop their skill sets.
- A culture of inclusion: With women in the F&B space breaking the glass ceiling relatively recently, their inputs are often neglected, and their contributions are under-represented or largely invisible due to a prevalent bias towards their male counterparts. Initiatives by the industry to celebrate the achievements of women achievers will see them emerge as effective role models for incoming talent. In the pursuit of a more inclusive workplace, organisations in the F&B space must not overlook the everyday realities that female professionals contend with—many women are still the primary care givers for their families, and accommodations must be made to encourage their participation, whether in the form of flexible working hours, family-friendly initiatives such as daycare, or even hybrid models.
Embracing and enhancing gender parity in the food industry is the need of the hour. When given the opportunity, women have a proven record of rising against the odds, being skilled innovators and multitaskers, and being incredibly resilient—traits that would benefit the growth and vitality of the overall industry.
