Thanksgiving is just around the corner, so we did a little digging this month into how Americans celebrate the upcoming holiday. What we ended up unpacking were gender gaps around roles and responsibilities when it comes to the Thanksgiving meal. That little rabbit hole then led us to uncover not only a gender gap in holiday cooking, but meal prep in year round.
- 82% of Americans say they will be celebrating Thanksgiving with a home-cooked meal – YouGov, 2021
- And 48% of women say they do all or most of the Thanksgiving cooking, only 24% of men say the same – YouGov, 2021
- Yet, 4.7 more meals, on average per week, are cooked by women than men worldwide – Gallup, 2023
- And 80% of women do most of the grocery shopping in households where a partner/spouse and children are present – Capital One, 2023
These gaps, alone, standout, but when we look at them alongside other data points – such as women making up 47% of the US civilian labor force in 2023, up from 30% in 1950 (Pew Research) and women often spending 10x more time than men on unpaid care, volunteer, and domestic work (Men Care) – it really starts to amplify the gender gaps around something as finite as a Thanksgiving Day meal. To all the women already planning that feast, know you are seen and valued. And to all those supporting women planning that feast, know that 62% of them say the most stressful part of the meal is the clean-up… please lend a hand! Enjoy the holiday, all.