# Gender Beliefs in the Kitchen: A Qualitative Exploration of Safe Food Handling Behaviours in Australia

## TL;DR

This study explores how gender norms influence food safety practices in Australian households, revealing how social expectations shape behaviors and perceptions.

## Contribution

The study introduces a gendered lens to domestic food safety practices, revealing how social norms and optimism bias affect behaviors.

## Key findings

- Participants showed false confidence in food safety practices, reflecting optimism bias.
- Women tended to show more vigilance in food handling compared to men.
- Food safety behaviors were found to be performative, especially when cooking for others.

## Abstract

Foodborne illness remains a persistent public health issue, yet domestic food safety practices are shaped by individual knowledge, social expectations, and gendered norms. This study examines how gender norms and expectations shape Australian consumers’ safe food-handling knowledge, perceptions, and practices. Guided by a social constructionist epistemology and feminist framework, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 28 participants aged 18–24 years recruited from a university research participation pool. Data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. Three themes were identified: “I know what I am doing”, optimism bias and false confidence, “Men’s casualness versus women’s strictness”, gendered safe food handling practices and expectations, and “Careful about others, relaxed for myself”, food safety as a social performance. Participants often expressed false confidence in their practices, reflecting optimism bias and reduced perceived susceptibility to foodborne illness. Women tended to portray vigilance and responsibility, while men described more relaxed approaches, reflecting gendered socialisation. Food safety also emerged as performative, with heightened care displayed when cooking for others. These findings highlight that domestic food safety is socially embedded and both reflects and reproduces gender norms. Addressing these dynamics through socially informed, context-sensitive interventions may improve public health outcomes.