Empowering Women in Food

Empowering Women in Food

Empowering Women In Food

Funded by the department of Women and Gender Equality, RIWC has partnered with a cross-section of stakeholders from both the private and community sector to identify barriers to economic mobility; current resources available for women to achieve economic security; and to develop an Action Plan to implement systemic change within Ontario’s food sector.

Our Objectives:

  • Engage stakeholders from the industry to collaborate and identify gaps, priorities and opportunities and to implement effective solutions to advance women’s economic security within the sector.
  • Identify institutional barriers to women’s economic security within the foodservice and hospitality sector.
  • Leverage recent efforts that have been undertaken to promote women in food, eliminate gender-based discriminatory practices in the restaurant industry, and propose changes to employment standards in the province as needed to develop a coordinated approach within the sector.
  • Develop a coordinated Action Plan to address workplace safety, gender-based discriminatory practices, and economic mobility within the food and restaurant industry.

Outcomes from our cross-sectoral dialogue have contributed to the completion of a GBA+ review of system barriers in the foodservice and hospitality sector, the development of a coordinated action plan, and the development of new resources in the community to increase the economic security of women in the sector. Our resources include the development of a 2-hour ESA/OHRC/OHSA training workshop and handbook for racialized and marginalized women. The training workshops will be piloted across four different culinary programs across Ontario to assess the impact and relevance of the information provided.

Other initiatives in development include the development of a new sector-specific code of practice for restaurant owners in the sector and a series of conversation guides to be piloted through a mentorship program for new culinary school graduates.

Empowering Women, Empowering Women in Food, Women in food
Empowering Women, Empowering Women in Food, Women in food
Donors and supporters, Riverdale Immigrant Women's Center, RIWC