Behind kitchens’ doors: a case study on gendered dynamics in Italian canteens

This article examines how gender hierarchies are reproduced and negotiated within Italian institutional catering kitchens. Drawing on ethnographic research conducted in a large catering cooperative in Northern Italy, the study combines three months of participant observation across multiple cooking centres with seventeen semi-structured interviews with kitchen workers and supervisors. The analysis highlights a persistent paradox: although women constitute the majority of the workforce, they remain under-represented in managerial and technical full-time positions. The findings show how everyday organisational practices—including task allocation, scheduling, and performance evaluation—intersect with broader social expectations surrounding domestic care and the moral value of feeding others. These dynamics channel many women into less prestigious and lower-paid roles, while men more frequently occupy supervisory positions linked to production oversight, technical authority, and institutional recognition. By examining spatial organisation, contractual arrangements, and expectations of emotional labour, the article demonstrates how gendered career trajectories are produced within the ostensibly neutral environment of institutional food service.