Feminists being driven to the kitchen by the 'horrors of society', says Women's Institute expert
'Part of it also must be that more men are involved in it; cooking is less low-status,' says Professor Maggie Andrews
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Your support makes all the difference.Feminists are returning to cooking as an escape from modern working life, according to an expert on the Women's Institute.
Maggie Andrews, a professor of cultural history at the University of Worcester, said men's increased enjoyment in cooking is partly responsible for kitchen work being seen as less "low-status".
Professor Andrews said TV shows such as the Great British Bake Off have caused a "shift in our culture" making some parts of homemaking "much sexier".
She added these shows have also been "awfully good for numbers" at the Womens Institute (WI).
Speaking at the Hay Festival, she said: "In the Eighties, the assumption was that feminism was about escaping the domestic, getting out of the home, getting a job and being financially independent.
"People are more sceptical about that now – they see a much more complex picture. They see the domestic space as one area of women’s power.
"Certain elements of the domestic have become much sexier, much more popular, an escape from the horrors of society.
"Part of it also must be that more men are involved in it; cooking is less low-status."
The WI, with its celebration of work in the home and garden, has long been a target for feminist criticism.
Professor Andrews added: "There’s been a real shift in our attitudes to domesticity, within the feminist movement and scholarship, there’s been a lot of people looking at the domestic in the way they didn’t 30 years ago.
"Feminism and the WI have sort of come together. Maybe domesticity isn’t a bad thing, or possibly work isn’t quite as much fun as we all thought.
The comments have attracted some criticism from gender equality campaigners, however, who said it wasn't true women are now finding household chores "sexy".
The chief executive of the Fawcett Society, Sam Smethers, told the Times: "Most women don’t have a choice between work and home, they have to do both.
"What we really need to do is value the caring work that is predominantly done by women."
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