The Effect of Gender Discrimination on Work Motivation Among Women Working in the Kitchen Departments of Food and Beverage Businesses: The Case of Kütahya

Abstract

The aim of this study is to determine the problems arising due to the gender discrimination experienced by women working in the kitchen department of food and beverage businesses in Kütahya, Türkiye, and to examine the effects of these problems on the work motivation of working women. Accordingly, semi-structured interview technique used in social sciences frequently was employed in line with the purpose of the research. Thus, various questions were asked to working women and findings related to problems based on gender discrimination were obtained. According to the findings of the study, it has been determined that the most common problem based on gender discrimination experienced by female kitchen workers is stereotypical prejudices stemming from physical characteristics. Although there are studies on gender discrimination in hotel businesses in the literature, no research has been found on this subject in food and beverage businesses. Because of the fact that the study was conducted with face-to-face communication with female kitchen workers and the problems related to gender discrimination in food and beverage businesses were analyzed with primary data, it’s thought that the study will contribute to filling the gap in the literature on making the right decisions for the future of the sector, and suggestions for the sector are presented in the study.