My wife and I were talking, and she was wondering if there are more men or women making cheese.  There seems to be a preponderance of men active on the Forum; but how about actual cheesemakers?

Also, who are more apt to be experimenters - men or women?  I vote for men, she voted for women.  I’m thinking that men are more common as chefs of renown simply because they ARE more experimental; and that this would carry over into cheesemaking as well.

I am thinking that there are more reknowned male chefs for the same reason that there are there are more reknowned males in most respected professional fields:

There is still a bias for men—and against women—in the professions of the developed world, even if it is unspoken.  Also, related to the bias, women tend to be in a higher proportion of entry-level or secretarial type jobs, and not because of their own preferences either.  Until all things are equal as far as these two things go, I don’t think that you’ll be able to figure anything out just by counting numbers of men and numbers of women in each profession.
A couple of years ago I watched a video in my sociology class where a man and a woman, with equal qualifications and college degrees, entered a business that was hiring both a manager and a secretary.  They both asked about the management position, but the woman was told it wasn’t available, but that she could apply to be the secretary.  Sure, this is only one case, but it is indicative of things that still happen.

To say that men are more experimental, seems to me, to feed into this bias.  There are plenty of women scientists.  Additionally, if you look at the tasks that were historically performed by women, can you not imagine the amount of experimentation that must have taken place to perfect daily chores over time?  Also, let’s not forget that in large part the culinary tradition that has been handed down to us in most cultures has a foundation built by women.  They were the ones that had the time to cook when men were out doing more physically demanding chores, which is the major difference between men and women—physical strength. 

All this said, I understand that neuroscientists/psychologists say that men and women, on average, look at the world in somewhat different ways, but experimentation is a quality of human nature as far as I can see, not a quality of the male brain.

That’s my answer.

My answer:
I ain’t gettin’ into this one.

LOL, well Im a guy and I like to experiment

Neil - 21 June 2008 02:07 PM

LOL, well Im a guy and I like to experiment

That’s what I’m getting at:  in my house we both cook.  But my wife is one who follows a recipe and I, on the other hand, will throw in whatever moves me at the moment.

IMHO I think guys tend to participate more on web forums.  Of course my other forum interests are offroading and whitewater kayaking, not heavily female interests.

I also almost never follow a recipe exactly, at least not after the first time.  I always have to experiment.

So, where are all the cheesy women?

Guy here.

Even i am man, but to be logical , when it came to professionalism , men are more capable to achieve more results , statistically  

example: how many women CEO (senior management level) in the world , comparing to how many men?
Example 2: how many famous chefs in the world are women?
Example 3 : how many women politician (president) are women?

I am not saying that women are less, but , interest between two genders are different (in general)... and just comparing between the two percentages, u will find 90% to 10 %

LOL, walking on a mine field.

I really am in disbelief here.  That comment is analogous to, during the time of slavery, trying to make the argument that slaves are genetically meant to do manual menial labor because that is what they were doing at the time, and not taking into account the significance of the power of the people who put the slaves there in the first place, and the methods used to do so.

Alan - 22 June 2008 06:18 PM

I really am in disbelief here.  That comment is analogous to, during the time of slavery, trying to make the argument that slaves are genetically meant to do manual menial labor because that is what they were doing at the time, and not taking into account the significance of the power of the people who put the slaves there in the first place, and the methods used to do so.

Very true!  The Good ‘Ole Boy’s network is alive and well.  You’ve gotta play golf, talk sports and kiss the right butt.  Intellect, skill and work ethic play a distant second still in becoming highly successful in most networks today.  Which is why women are shut out from the start.  The “glass ceiling” still seems to be made of reinforced concrete for the most part.

Wow, has this gotten out of hand.  All I asked was whether there are more men or women making cheese, and which of the two are more apt to be experimental in the process.  I never intended it to be a commentary of slavery, or the downtrodden role of women in society.

While I encourage open, mature discourse on the forum, and am not quick to discourage any healthy debate even if it strays from the topic of cheesemaking, this is now sufficiently “off topic” and off the original intent that I’m going to close the thread.