Cooking up change: an exploration of gender roles and food-related responsibilities in Singapore's globalised landscape

• Main Authors: Chin, Ying Jie, Neubronner, Charlotte Ling
• Other Authors: Laavanya Kathiravelu
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: Nanyang Technological University 2024
• Subjects: Social Sciences; Online food delivery applications; Gender roles; Food-related responsibilities; Convenience consumption
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/175714
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

The proliferation of online food delivery applications across Singapore has rapidly advanced in recent years, with its convenience and variety being key driving factors behind its popularity. Drawing upon sociological perspectives on gender and convenience consumption, this research study hopes to explore how the presence of online food delivery applications has changed food consumption habits and allocation of food-related responsibilities within couples. Qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted with dual-income couples, to investigate how food-related tasks were divided. The results demonstrate how there is still an unequal sharing of food-related tasks between genders when they cook at home and when they order from food delivery applications. Women still do most of these tasks while men play a supporting role. As such, this study contributes value to the current literature by providing a deeper understanding of the evolving relationship between technology, gender roles, and food consumption patterns in contemporary Singapore.