Session 5 – Heteronormativity, Sexism + Food

Overview

  • In this session, we will focus on gender and how it relates to and shapes issues of inequity in the food system.
  • In tutorial rooms, your TA will review your proposal and give you feedback to make revisions.
  • In the first hour we will have a lecture on issues of gender as it relates to and shapes food insecurity and inequity in the food system. In the following 30 minutes, we will work on the second part of your proposal, the Project Measurement Plan.
  • In tutorial, you will have time to work on your project proposal directly.

Objectives

After completing this lesson, you should be able to:

  • Define terms and concepts related to gender diversity
  • Identify simple strategies for creating accessible and affirming practices
  • Articulate the ways in which gender issues relate to food justice and community food security
  • Identify project indicators that relate to your project outcomes
  • Articulate your data sources and collection methods associated with each indicator

Key Terms + Concepts

  • Gender and food justice
  • Indicators
  • Data sources
  • Collection methods

Required Readings + Resources

  • Allen, P., & Sachs, C. (2012). Women and food chains: The gendered politics of food. Taking food public: Redefining foodways in a changing world. Eds. Forson, P. W., & Counihan, C. Routledge. pp. 23-40. Retrieved through Canvas or the UBC Library Website.
  • Complete the BC Provincial Health Services Authority (PHSA) Introductory Trans Care BC On-Line Course (approx. 30mins)
    • This training is designed for care providers, care teams, and staff working with transgender, non-binary, and gender diverse individuals accessing their services.

Gender + Food Systems

"Whether or not we like to admit it, our food practices remain profoundly gendered." (Brady et al, 2017, p. 81).

Despite advancements in divisions of labour in Canadian households over the past few decades, women are more likely to be engaged in, and responsible for, food and foodwork. And food practices are still tightly associated with our social construction of femininity and contribute to dominant social expectations about the performance of "being a woman" in Canada. Adopting a feminist perspective reveals patterns of inequality in the food system as they relate to women's paid and unpaid labour. As noted by Allen and Sachs (2012, p. 23), there are contradictions within women's positions and experiences in relation to food and food systems: "women perform the majority of food-related work, but they control few resources and hold little decision-making power in the food industry and food policy. And, although women bear responsibility for nourishing others, they often do not adequately nourish themselves." In this week's lecture, we will discuss ways in which oppression operates to prevent women from freely participating in an equitable food system.

References

  • Allen, P., & Sachs, C. (2012). Women and food chains: The gendered politics of food. Taking food public: Redefining foodways in a changing world. Eds. Forson, P. W., & Counihan, C. Routledge. pp. 23-40.
  • Brady J., Power, E. Szabo, M. & Gingras, J. (2017). Still Hungry for a Feminist Food Studies. in Critical perspectives in food studies (Second ed.). Eds. Winson, A., Sumner, J., & Koç, M. Don Mills, Ontario: Oxford University Press. pp. 81-94.

Tutorial Session

In your tutorial session, your group will...

  • Finalize your proposal, section by section

Additional Material

A great read to begin a deep dive into gendered politics of food.

Just like any other male-dominated industry, women fishers face discrimination, harassment and other gender-based disparities.

source: https://wiki.ubc.ca/Course:LFS350/Gender