Michelin-starred chef Jason Atherton<\/a> told The Times that he had \u201cnot seen it\u201d in any of the kitchens he had worked in.<\/p>\nAtherton later issued an apology on Instagram and wrote an article to clarify his position, in which he said: \u201cI categorically do not believe there isn\u2019t sexism in the industry, of course there is\u2026 I just have not witnessed it personally. I was answering for me, no one else.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, Atherton\u2019s initial comments prompted an open letter from 70 prominent female chefs, including Ab\u00e9, as well as Anna Haugh, who will be a judge on the new series of Masterchef and Candice Brown, a former winner of The Great British Bake Off,\u00a0condemning \u201cpervasive\u201d sexism within the \u201csystematically flawed\u201d sector.<\/p>\n
![\"Chef](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/c92ac474-65fa-4b08-9647-d2a8535aab82.jpg\")
Jason AthertonShutterstock Editorial<\/p>\n
Signatories to the pledge include Ottolenghi, the popular restaurant and deli known for its Middle Eastern-inspired cuisine, and Hawksmoor, the renowned steakhouse. Compass Group, which provides contract catering for schools, offices, hospitals and Premier League stadiums, has also signed.<\/p>\n
Ab\u00e9, who is now opening her own bistro, Teal, in Hackney, east London, hopes that hundreds of operators and restaurants will follow suit \u2014 whether it\u2019s a neighbourhood pizzeria or a fine dining establishment. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe good thing about this pledge is that when somebody reads it, it\u2019s going to make them think, \u201d Ab\u00e9 said. \u201cThey\u2019ve probably never had to think about these issues before because they come from a position of privilege.<\/p>\n
\u201cEspecially around pregnancy, parenthood and the menopause, guys zip through life with not a care in the world about any of these things, and they\u2019re not aware. So we need to be like: \u2018Hey, this is happening.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Signatories to the pledge must adhere to commitments including supporting pregnancy, parenthood and return-to-work transitions, fair pay and equal promotion pathways, women\u2019s health awareness, and zero tolerance of harassment, bullying and discrimination.<\/p>\n
Ab\u00e9 would like to see the government appoint a hospitality minister who could step in to ensure that signatories adhere to the pledge.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that the government has a responsibility to ensure the well-being of people in hospitality in the same way that they do food safety inspections. So there could be some kind of government-led scheme, but unfortunately I don\u2019t think that that\u2019s going to happen anytime soon.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt always comes down to time and funding. We\u2019ve been petitioning for a hospitality minister for five years, and no luck yet.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ab\u00e9, who is also the author of\u00a0A Woman\u2019s Place is in the Kitchen, an expos\u00e9 of toxic professional kitchens in Britain, said that the pledge was necessary because it was a way to take action.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHospitality had a MeToo moment<\/a> last year. But, naturally these things die down. The momentum doesn\u2019t continue at such a fast pace forever.<\/p>\n\u201cSo I\u2019ve been working away in the background to find a lasting way to implement change. Societal change takes a long time. We need to keep moving the needle.<\/p>\n
\u201cMen and women should be treated as though they are men and women. We can\u2019t be expected to do all of the same things. It\u2019s just not possible. So provisions need to be put in place for that.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome women have such bad period pains that they can\u2019t get out of bed. That needs to be recognised more. And it\u2019s the same with menopause. Women go through really massive hormonal changes, and that needs to be recognised.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Shouty chefs, macho bravado and punishing hours \u2014 it\u2019s not easy to be a woman in a professional…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":364690,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[146,85,46],"class_list":{"0":"post-364689","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-il","10":"tag-israel"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364689","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=364689"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364689\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/364690"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=364689"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=364689"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=364689"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Rene](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/c1a16da3-0c12-4e3e-9f1a-6238afbcec82.jpg\")
Ren\u00e9 Redzepi and, below, members of One Fair Wage delivering a formal demand letter for the chef calling for dialogue and change after accusations of abuse within Noma and the industry at largeThibault Savary\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n![\"Members](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/83b68b40-712c-497b-b434-17d494817b31.jpg\")
News Enterprises<\/p>\n