No longer just a blokes business: the stakes improve for women in butchery
Richard Cornish
Photo: Janie Barrett
Butchering has traditionally been blokes business. A stocky man with a white shirt, blue apron and scabbard full of knives. But that stereotype looks set to change with an influx of women entering the industry.
It is estimated that less than 5 per cent of Australian butchers are women, and 95 per cent of senior positions in the meat industry are held by men, according to global organisation Meat Business Women.
However, change is coming. Three years ago, just 5 per cent of students at Victoria s South West TAFE meat processing course were female. This year that figure has tripled to 15 per cent.