Are there more men (pastry) chefs...

[Melanger]

I swore that I was going to sit on my hands on this one... just this one post and then I'll duck for cover.

I actually posted this about a year ago on a different thread:

"The most important thing in terms of being a successful "woman" chef is to not to define yourself as a "woman" chef but rather to define yourself as a chef. If you allow yourself some sort of excuse or cushion or even worse a lack of drive because you feel that at some point your gender will limit your ability to succeed or to come out on top then you have cut yourself off from the chance of greatness even before the journey has begun.

I am 28, I have been doing this for 10 years. I have been a sous chef at a five star restaurant, I put myself through hotel college at the same time, I am an assistant pastry chef at a multi-billion dollar hotel, I love what I do, I am part of the team. I excel. Why?

Because I have never, I repeat, never, thought that my gender would in anyway inhibit my ability to get to the top. You read, you learn, you work. You practice precision. You devote yourself to the profession. Devouement du metier. Is this path any different than the path the any other chef has taken, male or female, to the top?

No. It is individual will, intelligence, fortitude and strength that lift you to great heights, not a free pass past the glass ceiling."

Well, tempered by another year of experience, I'm sticking by it. Sure, there are establishments where the chefs are dead set against women. However, to demonize the majority of an industry based on the viewpoints of a few is short sighted, to try and justify inequality based solely on gender is just plain dangerous and does a great disservice to those on both sides of the fence.

Long live the meritocracy.

[dejaq]

I swore that I was going to sit on my hands on this one... just this one post and then I'll duck for cover.

I actually posted this about a year ago on a different thread:

"The most important thing in terms of being a successful "woman" chef is to not to define yourself as a "woman" chef but rather to define yourself as a chef. If you allow yourself some sort of excuse or cushion or even worse a lack of drive because you feel that at some point your gender will limit your ability to succeed or to come out on top then you have cut yourself off from the chance of greatness even before the journey has begun.

I am 28, I have been doing this for 10 years. I have been a sous chef at a five star restaurant, I put myself through hotel college at the same time, I am an assistant pastry chef at a multi-billion dollar hotel, I love what I do, I am part of the team. I excel. Why?

Because I have never, I repeat, never, thought that my gender would in anyway inhibit my ability to get to the top. You read, you learn, you work. You practice precision. You devote yourself to the profession. Devouement du metier. Is this path any different than the path the any other chef has taken, male or female, to the top?

No. It is individual will, intelligence, fortitude and strength that lift you to great heights, not a free pass past the glass ceiling."

Well, tempered by another year of experience, I'm sticking by it.  Sure, there are establishments where the chefs are dead set against women.  However, to demonize the majority of an industry based on the viewpoints of a few is short sighted, to try and justify inequality based solely on gender is just plain dangerous and does a great disservice to those on both sides of the fence.

Long live the meritocracy.

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very eloquently put Melanger...your words speaks true Wisdom, I think you summed it up in a nutshell.

M