Power and pleasure around the stove: The construction of gendered identity in middle-class south Indian Hindu households in urban Malaysia

Abstract

Synopsis In the literature on household gendered work, women are conceptualized as ‘producers’ while men are conceptualized as ‘consumers’ of women's services. Rather than contest this argument, this paper shows that food may be used for a myriad of purposes, whether to resist, maneuver, change, express, and even reinforce the sexual division of labour. Specifically, conversations with 20 middle-class South Indian women residing in Klang Valley show that they derive personal gains from food production as it facilitates in the construction of gender and class identities. Although women's attitudes and practices generally reproduce the dominant gender ideology, they do not perceive foodmaking as a form of gender subjugation since this role is coloured by how the ‘self’ is constructed. Furthermore, women view this role to be a significant cultural value, which may be continuously adapted, reproduced, modified, revised, recreated, and elaborated in whichever way they feel befits the situation.