Historically, butchery has been a brawny boys club, with the exception of the lowest-paying meatpacking jobs. But today, women are joining the industry in droves and have a real influence on its future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to the\u00a0Bureau of Labor Statistics<\/a>, 10,000 women have entered the retail field of meat and seafood markets in the last decade. Their increased presence has come as the demand for local meat has risen:\u00a0Consumers want to know where meat is coming from, how it was raised and butchered, and that it is healthy and safe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n These new preferences require more local producers and skilled butchers. In fact, in North Carolina alone, the number of farmers selling local, pasture-raised <\/a>meat direct to consumers has increased from just a few in 2002 to over a thousand today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Because the meat business has been heavily dominated by men for so long, one of the biggest changes for women entering the field is the ability to find female roles models for employment, training, and support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These six women have taken it upon themselves to solve that problem, along with the myriad other issues that exist for small farm owners. They\u2019ve had to endure comments like, \u201cWouldn\u2019t you rather be baking cookies?\u201d with vision and guts, intent on educating consumers, collaborating and supporting small farmers. Besides laying the best chops on the table, women who succeed in the business are cutting through stereotypes and are opening doors to a new, more sustainable industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Underly created <\/em>Range Meat Academy,<\/em><\/a> an innovative online meat-cutting certification that addresses the need for increased education in the field of butchery, which lacks adequate training, especially for women who have historically been excluded from higher-level positions. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n But hope lies in unexpected places. In recent years, after a demonstration at the New England Meat Conference, a butcher approached Underly and told her he\u2019d never seen a woman cut meat. The experience opened his eyes, enough so that he felt compelled to promote a woman to meat cutter and give her on-the-job training. \u201cYou cannot do what you do not see,\u201d Underly said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Spondike, 20, faces an overwhelmingly male field when she competes for WorldSkills USA, an organization that trains young people through vocational education and competitions. Right now, Spondike is Team USA\u2019s only culinary arts representative, and she credits Underly as a major inspiration.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n What does Spondike think young women need to succeed in the meat business? Confidence. \u201cKnow you have the skill, step up to the plate, and show what you can do,\u201d Spondike said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Hashley is a former Peace Corps member who piloted a project to create a new way for small poultry farmers to slaughter on their own property, thus giving them autonomy. Today she designs educational programs for farmers.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The unit is currently used as an educational device for Tufts\u2019 New Entry Sustainable Farming Project<\/a>, where Hashley serves as director, and which provides career training and economic opportunities to new farmers, and has inspired farmers to build their own humane, small, on-farm processing facilities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAs a woman, you have to know what you\u2019re talking about and speak with authority,\u201d Hashley told HuffPost. \u201cI\u2019ve found people are hungry for information. I always show up knowledgeable and prepared.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Stillman developed a first-of-its-kind, vertically integrated farm processing system, seeing birds all the way from live poultry to chicken pot pie. Stillman serves as a role model for the growing community of women who want to make a viable living in farming and butchery.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Stillman\u2019s crew is 75% women, and her team takes pride in being part of the whole process from the slaughterhouse to sales. Women are changing old stereotypes and currently \u201cruling the roost\u201d in the meat business, she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAll my life, the tractor was the centerpiece of the farm. Nowadays, it\u2019s the cell phone. Women are selling their farms\u2019 stories and kicking butt at it.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Davis is a former writer and editor who created the nation\u2019s first meat collective in Portland, Oregon. Space supports small farmers who sell whole animals to the collective, while chefs and butchers teach their hands-on craft to consumers, creating awareness and demand for meat that is sustainable and humanely produced. Davis\u2019 memoir, <\/em>Killing It<\/em><\/a>, details her journey.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWomen in the industry are often relegated to menial tasks,\u201d Davis said. \u201cThey are entering a competitive industry. We provide female mentors to foster collaborative relationships. With the help of an increasing community of women business owners in the industry, Grrls Meat Camp is creating an army of mentors.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Burned out by the restaurant business, Poplawsky tried vegetable farming, but leaving meat behind felt like \u201cbreaking up with a boyfriend.\u201d Inspired by a love of animals, farming, and education, Poplawsky is creating a new meat culture in Austin with the Central Texas Meat Collective, inspired by Davis\u2019 progress in Portland.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Julia Poplawsky is just 5\u20192\u201d \u2014 but she doesn\u2019t let her petite size define her. Her rival at culinary school was a man who stood 6\u20192\u201d and \u201cpeople expected his skill to exceed mine in the kitchen, but that just motivated me,\u201d Poplawsky told HuffPost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And then, she \u201cfell in love with the physical task of meat cutting. It\u2019s like solving a puzzle using muscle memory.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n She\u2019s found that butchery also has gendered expectations: \u201cThe biggest stereotype I run into is that in the business a man still expects to talk to another man,\u201d she said. But \u201cit doesn\u2019t bog me down too much.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Inspired by a love of teaching, Poplawsky heard about Davis\u2019 work in Portland and reached out to learn more about the meat collective. Thus began the Austin-based Central Texas Meat Collective \u2014 which Poplawsky developed with local farmer Leah Gibson \u2014 where classes educate consumers about real farm-to-fork practices using whole animals purchased from nearby farms. Farmers teach classes on humane butchering practices, and in Whole Hog (the most popular class), participants learn to break down meat into individual cuts \u2014 and then get to take 15 pounds of it home. <\/p>\n\n\n\n For Poplawsky the biggest impetus behind developing the collective was the prospect of working directly with the people who raise livestock. \u201cFarmers keep it real with their grit and humility and their ability to create delicious food,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\nKari Underly, principal owner of <\/strong>Range<\/strong><\/a> in Chicago<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Julia Spondike<\/strong><\/a>, WorldSkills Team member representing Culinary Arts <\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Jennifer Hashley, director of the <\/strong>New Entry Sustainable Farming Project<\/strong><\/a> at Tufts University and owner of <\/strong>Pete & Jen\u2019s Backyard Birds<\/strong><\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Kate Stillman, owner of <\/strong>Stillman Quality Meats<\/a> in Massachusetts<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Camas Davis, founder of the Portland Meat Collective<\/a> and executive director at Good Meat Project<\/a><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Julia Poplawsky, cofounder of <\/strong>Central Texas Meat Collective<\/strong><\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n