Healthy eating is good advice, but there is one major blind spot
The campaign against ultra-processed foods is in full swing. Policymakers agree that we should eat fewer processed foods. Therefore, the advice is to cook from scratch more often and steer clear of ready-made meal kits and packaged convenience foods. However, there is one major blind spot, says Madhura Rao, Assistant Professor of Food Systems Governance for Planetary Health at the Faculty of Science and Engineering. The extra work involved in eating more healthily still falls predominantly on women. Why does public health policy widen the gender gap?
The invisible burden of “food work”
As the number of people living with obesity and lifestyle-related diseases such as diabetes has continued to rise for years, governments are increasingly trying to influence consumers’ food choices. They do so through measures such as taxes on unhealthy products, but also through initiatives like the Nutri-Score, warning labels on packaging and public awareness campaigns. Most recently, the Netherlands Nutrition Centre introduced new dietary guidelines encouraging people to eat less processed red meat and more legumes. Madhura Rao welcomes these developments. As an Assistant Professor of System Earth Science, she studies the impact of food choices and food policy on both human health and the health of the planet. Yet one important question often goes unasked: who actually takes on all the extra work involved in eating more healthily?
Research shows that women are not only more likely to do the cooking, but also take on a larger share of what is known as foodwork than men. Eating healthily or changing one’s diet at all often requires considerably more foodwork than buying ready meals or heavily processed foods. Rao explains: “By foodwork, we mean all the tasks involved in ensuring that a household eats healthily. This includes grocery shopping, planning meals, managing what’s in the fridge, keeping an eye out for special offers, and taking account of dietary requirements such as allergies, as well as sustainability considerations.”
While these tasks may seem routine or self-evident, together they amount to a substantial amount of invisible labour that, in many heterosexual households, still falls primarily to women. “I find that striking,” says Rao. “There is no biological reason to assume that women are naturally better at these tasks. Planning, cooking and grocery shopping are skills that anyone can learn.”
Dr Madhura Rao is an Assistant Professor of Food Systems Governance for Planetary Health at the System Earth Science department of the Faculty of Science and Engineering. Her research focuses on sustainability transitions in the food system, with particular emphasis on power asymmetries, social justice, education, and public policy. In addition to her research, she teaches courses on food systems, sustainability and science communication to UM students.
A global pattern
Why, then, do women still shoulder a greater share of foodwork? According to Rao, it all comes down to traditional gender roles. “When women rarely participated in paid employment, they were responsible for what we call social reproduction: all the unpaid work needed to keep society functioning. Their domestic labour enabled men to engage in paid work. Today, many women work outside the home, yet they still carry a disproportionate share of household responsibilities. What’s more, this work often remains unpaid and undervalued. Men have traditionally been accustomed to receiving pay and recognition for their work. Perhaps that is why they are less inclined to see domestic work as something they should take responsibility for.”
The Netherlands is by no means the only country where this gender gap is evident. Globally, women spend, on average, twice as much time cooking as men. Across the European Union, 79% of women spend time cooking and cleaning every day, compared with 34% of men. In the Netherlands, this gap is somewhat smaller: 81% of women and 47% of men engage in these tasks daily. Even so, the disparity remains substantial. Rao believes the Netherlands’ strong culture of part-time work may play a role. “Nowhere else in Europe do as many women work part-time. As a result, they may end up taking on a larger share of the household responsibilities.”
More inclusive policy
According to Rao, the unequal division of labour within households certainly does not mean we should pay less attention to healthy eating. Rather, policies should take greater account of how the work involved is shared. She sees more inclusive communication as an important first step. “It helps if healthy eating campaigns are aimed at the whole household or at parents in general, rather than implicitly addressing mothers in particular.”
Rao also believes there needs to be greater awareness of the unequal distribution of foodwork. “This issue is still too often overlooked in debates about gender equality,” she says. Giving greater attention to foodwork and domestic skills in education could also make a difference. “In Sweden, schoolchildren are taught practical household skills as part of a subject called home and consumer studies,” Rao explains. “That appears to be paying off: Sweden has the smallest gender gap in foodwork in Europe.”
“It helps if healthy eating campaigns are aimed at the whole household or at parents in general, rather than implicitly addressing mothers in particular.”
Madhura Rao
Systemic change
At the same time, Rao believes the greatest gains can be made at a systemic level. “At the moment, if you want to eat healthily, you often have to cook from scratch, but that’s not feasible for everyone. Other countries show that there are alternatives. In some countries, for example, subsidised community kitchens offer healthy meals at affordable prices. Countries such as Finland and Brazil also provide hot school meals, meaning parents have one less meal to prepare each day. Initiatives like these make healthy eating more accessible.”
Rao also argues that food manufacturers and governments should take greater responsibility. “The government should consider which food products are allowed onto the market in the first place. For example, limits could be set on the amount of salt or sugar that products may contain. Of course, consumers should be free to make their own choices. But if food is designed to be addictive and harmful to people’s health, it is worth asking whether those products belong on supermarket shelves at all. Ultimately, society as a whole bears the consequences of unhealthy diets.”
Text: Romy Veul