List of influential Vancouver chefs under fire for excluding women

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) — A list of Vancouver’s most influential chefs and restauranteurs only features men, a move a group of industry women is slamming as “lazy” and “antiquated.”

Business in Vancouver recently released a list of 500 people who have had “a notable impact on B.C.’s communities, industries, and economy.” When Cassandra Anderton, Co-President of Les Dames D’Escoffier saw the list did not feature a single female, she was not impressed.

“I think that they just didn’t do their homework properly here. It is lazy.” she says, noting the majority of those featured are also white.

“My basic response is, that is a sad state. We do have a situation where men are still in a lot of power positions because of advantages in the past. But there are women who have broken through these ceilings and who are driving economic success. There are women that need to be celebrated, and we need to give a voice to women in this industry now. They are important players, regardless of gender. They are powerful they are certainly worthy of being on that list.”

The publication’s editor in chief has since released a statement saying the selection process “generated a blind spot,” the omission of women was not intentional, and the criticism has been heard.

“I can understand the response in a sector in which women have fought hard for their place. While we are not responsible for the system that produces this inequitable recognition, we would never wish to reinforce it.,” writes Kirk LaPointe.

“The selections were worthy and reflective of the establishment in the sector, but we could have done more to account for other forms of leadership and prominence in the category.”

“What does leadership mean in this industry? Is it moving things forward or is it just keeping the status quo?”  

Anderton agrees.

“What does leadership mean in this industry? Is it moving things forward or is it just keeping the status quo?”

She says lists like this one don’t do anything to challenge a system where men have traditionally had far more power.

“If we’re not celebrating diversity and putting names of women, names of people from other groups forward, they’re not getting the attention that they need. We continue on this cycle of the people being at the top staying at the top,” Anderton says.

“We perpetuate a culture that has been around for far too long.”

Publication will add to list, improve future selection criteria

Business in Vancouver says women will be added to the digital version of the list, and outlines a few other things they are planning on doing in response to the criticism.

“We will create a series of articles and podcasts later this year to examine issues involving women in the restaurant sector. And the public response of the last few days will inform our criteria and selection process in all categories for the next edition in the summer of 2022.”

Anderton says efforts to advance diversity and inclusion need to be ongoing, and it’s something she’s had to reckon with in her own group where white women were overrepresented.

“We recently are looking at how we can diversify and we are diversifying. We’ve luckily got many leaders in our organization now that are from different backgrounds,” she says.

“I just hope that people realize the advantages that have been given to certain groups in the past and vote with their dollars to move women and groups that haven’t been represented forward.”