TY - JOUR
T1 - Front and back of the house
T2 - Socio-spatial inequalities in food work
AU - Sachs, Carolyn
AU - Allen, Patricia
AU - Terman, A. Rachel
AU - Hayden, Jennifer
AU - Hatcher, Christina
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2013, Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht.
PY - 2014/3/1
Y1 - 2014/3/1
N2 - Work on farms and in restaurants is characterized by highly gendered and racialized divisions of labor, low wages, and persistent inequalities. Gender, race, and ethnicity often determine the spaces where people work in the food system. Although some research focuses on gendered divisions of labor in restaurants and on farms, few efforts look more broadly at intersectional inequalities in food work. Our study examines how inequality is perpetuated through restaurant and farm work in the United States and, specifically, how gender and race/ethnicity influence where people work, their tasks and responsibilities, and their work experiences. In describing restaurant work, people in the restaurant industry typically refer to the front and back of the house to distinguish between different working spaces, jobs, and workers. We use this spatial metaphor of front and back of the house to analyze intersectional inequalities of food work in restaurants and on farms. The data derive from conversations with 63 restaurant and farm owners, managers, and workers in California and Pennsylvania. Our findings suggest that gendered and racialized bodies often define who works in the front and back of the “house,” and that owners and workers often naturalize gender and racial divisions of labor in food work. Despite these patterns, we found evidence of attempts to reduce these inequalities on farms and in restaurants.
AB - Work on farms and in restaurants is characterized by highly gendered and racialized divisions of labor, low wages, and persistent inequalities. Gender, race, and ethnicity often determine the spaces where people work in the food system. Although some research focuses on gendered divisions of labor in restaurants and on farms, few efforts look more broadly at intersectional inequalities in food work. Our study examines how inequality is perpetuated through restaurant and farm work in the United States and, specifically, how gender and race/ethnicity influence where people work, their tasks and responsibilities, and their work experiences. In describing restaurant work, people in the restaurant industry typically refer to the front and back of the house to distinguish between different working spaces, jobs, and workers. We use this spatial metaphor of front and back of the house to analyze intersectional inequalities of food work in restaurants and on farms. The data derive from conversations with 63 restaurant and farm owners, managers, and workers in California and Pennsylvania. Our findings suggest that gendered and racialized bodies often define who works in the front and back of the “house,” and that owners and workers often naturalize gender and racial divisions of labor in food work. Despite these patterns, we found evidence of attempts to reduce these inequalities on farms and in restaurants.
KW - Farm
KW - Food work
KW - Gendered labor
KW - Inequality regime
KW - Migrant labor
KW - Restaurant
KW - US food system
KW - Workers
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84876845776&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84876845776&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s10460-013-9445-7
DO - 10.1007/s10460-013-9445-7
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84876845776
SN - 0889-048X
VL - 31
SP - 3
EP - 17
JO - Agriculture and Human Values
JF - Agriculture and Human Values
IS - 1
ER -