I, (Claire Askew) have created this blog for two main reasons: (a) to provide an argument for the implementation of government policies to revive and give value to 'women's work' in the kitchen, and (b) as a forum to share my experiences as I learn basic food skills. Until recently most women in North America were highly knowledgeable about how to (1) select quality fruits and vegetables, (2) store foods in such a way as to prevent nutritional loss and spoilage, (3) bake, (4) cook nutritious meals, (5) use up leftovers and avoid waste, (6) can, and (7) grow common garden vegetables. These are the traditional food skills I hope to learn over the coming months.
Throughout history, women have been doing work in the home that is crucial for the health and well-being of people and the planet. However, with the rise of capitalism and the market economy women’s work in the home was increasingly seen as ‘unproductive’ (only paid labour is ‘productive’) and devalued.
In 1900, over 60% of the North American population lived on farms. Today, that number has dwindled to a mere 2% (Goodman and Redclift 1991). In 1900, a typical North American woman devoted 44 hours a week preparing meals and cleaning up afterwards (Bowers 2000). By contrast, most women today work outside the home alongside their male counterparts and have neither the time nor the knowledge to engage in the food preparation activities that were routinely carried out by their grandmothers and great-grandmothers.
In the post-war period male-dominated governments failed to recognize the importance of women’s work and therefore did not include it in the economic indexes upon which welfare state policies were built. Lack of social policy to support women’s work in the home, contributed to the devaluation of ‘women’s work’ and is one of the reasons women increasingly sought work outside the home. Men have not to any significant degree taken up household work since women joined the paid workforce and as a result, much of the work that women used to do, is no longer being done. Today, the loss of the work traditionally done by women in the home, particularly food production labour, has come at a great cost to the environment and to people’s health.
Policy makers in North America are struggling to develop policy solutions that tackle the current environmental crisis and the rapidly increasing financial burden caused by the growing costs of public health care. Canadian policy makers have focused much of their attention on technological solutions to address environmental issues. The Canadian solution to stemming health care costs include public/private partnerships and reduced health care coverage of prescription drugs, home-care and disability services. One solution not on the table, is the implementation of policies to revive and give value to 'women's work' or work traditionally done by women in the home including cooking, gardening, preserving food, sewing, mending household items and cleaning using homemade cleaning products.
This blog is about demonstrating that spending time in the kitchen and learning traditional food skills is a political act, but also one that can be rewarding and creative. I am not arguing that it is women who should necessarily do this work, but instead that it is essential that somehow this work is done, period. I hope this blog will help to spread the idea that for the sake of planetary sustainability and our health, North American governments must realize the crucial importance of the work traditionally done in the kitchen by women and implement policy to ensure its revival.
