Chopping and Changing: Musings of a Female Butcher
Photograph: Kristin Perers
The increase in those adopting a vegan or vegetarian diet in recent years has juxtaposed the relationships some of us have with meat, instilling a sense of social, environmental and political responsibility to create a food chain that’s more humane. Jessica Wragg’s career as a female butcher is one that has been impacted more than most, and today she discusses how it feels to experience contradictions in your career, and the issues of sexism and judgment that come with working in a male dominated industry …
“Thinking about my career brings a lot of confusion, so I tend to avoid it. It’s a conflicting world, with an uncertain future, and I find it altogether easier just to not stop to consider it at all. Having spent the last 11 years flitting from butchery to butchery, chopping meat on various wooden blocks across the country, trying to organise the colossal amounts of meat needed to supply an entire company with eight shops, it’s a relief to me now that somewhere along the line in March I decided it was time for a break.
Time for a break from everyday sexism, time for a break from twelve-hour shifts, from opening the door to a walk in fridge and counting the bodies of the animals that hung from metal rails close to the ceiling. From worrying about whether I could actually care about the environment and still do what I do.
Because being a female butcher, one that likes animals, is concerned about the health of the planet and is passionate about food and feminism. Well, that’s more than enough to make the mind boggle.
If I was to put those things in order, the environment and our overall health would come out on top as my biggest issue. Meat is bad; that much we know. A select few of us avoid it completely and a small group only eat meat they know is responsibly sourced. Yet the wider population of the world eat meat on a daily basis because it’s so easily available. Pop into a supermarket, pick up a packet, put it in your basket, take it home, cook it. It’s too easy, with little to no respect of where that animal came from, how it was treated and what nasties have been pumped into it to make it cheaper to produce. Our appetite for cheap meat has led to industrial farms on a giant scale, each one contributing huge amounts of carbon emissions to the environment and putting dangerous amounts of antibiotics into our food chain. The issue is so terrifying that the World Health Organisation issues a warning a few years back that by 2050, antibiotic resistance could be one of the leading causes of death in humans.
Sexism would come next. When I was 16, a man aged 42 asked me to go on holiday with him during half term. That same man felt my arse a few months before. A male customer tried to take the knife out of my hands a few years ago, citing that they could show me a better way of cutting pork. Chefs call me darling on-the-reg and ask to speak to a ‘proper butcher’. An elderly woman once asked me if she could be served by a man. Just last month a woman on Twitter said she wasn’t surprised that I don’t have a husband because butchery isn’t attractive. I’m so bored of the same comment: ‘It’s unusual to see a woman butcher!’ that I can’t be bothered to answer it anymore. The only answer to this is to be visible, to show that this is a career for women, but being the ‘visible’ one can be tough and isn’t for everyone. Media interviews, articles, videos – they’ll focus on the same angle and that angle will always emphasise your femininity against a job they see as masculine. It does nothing but enforce the stereotype.
“It’s not our responsibility to make a change, but it’s in our interest. Being the one to stick your neck out and say: ‘Hey! This isn’t right!’ seems terrifying, but it’s vital that we do it. ”
But I love the meat industry. I love what I’ve learned, and I love being responsible for teaching it to others. I love that it seems like some secret world not everyone can be a part of. I loved being the only woman for a while. I loved even more when I worked with other women like me. I love cooking, I love restaurants, I love visiting farms and discovering about the food chain. I even loved learning about slaughter and realising that to eat meat it is paramount we understand how it got to our plate.
These conflicts are difficult to pick through, and constantly clashing in my head when it comes to wondering if I can ever follow decent ethics in this career. The only thing I’m positive of is that meat is a luxury, not a necessity. It’s not a food we need to eat three times a day, maybe not even three times a week. If you care about your health, the planet, and good food, you’ll spend a little more money on meat from a butchers shop that you know has come from a responsible source. Buy a big joint, use the leftovers. The earth and your tummy will thank you.
The last five months have included a lot of soul searching. They’ve included a lot of research, some job applications that I never actually followed through, chops and changes, and above all careful consideration. How can I move forward in my career and at the same time criticise the industry in which I work? Many women face the same problem. They love their industry, but the problems are clear and rife. Perhaps their workplace is sexist and discriminatory, perhaps there are tendencies to be bias, or maybe they work in a job that, like the meat industry, isn’t sustainable. It takes guts to challenge convention. The only way to continue is to push for change.
It’s not our responsibility to make a change, but it’s in our interest. Being the one to stick your neck out and say: ‘Hey! This isn’t right!’ seems terrifying, but it’s vital that we do it. Raise your voice, write more, tweet your opinion unabashedly (unless, you know, your opinion is offensive – in that case don’t tweet it). Say yes to interviews, or even better ask for interviews. The more you put your side out there the more you’re inviting others in to help you decipher where to go next. Shout about the fact that you are one of the only women in your field and use it to your advantage. You were given this niche for a reason, use it. Call out the injustices, listen to the people who have opposing views to you and figure out if they have a point. In my case, it’s listening to vegans, vegetarians and climate change activists and I can tell you that their point is extremely valid.
Putting it frankly, no one knows where the meat industry will head to next, or whether it has a solid future in a world so full of change. Many people would argue that it doesn’t, but after five months of deliberation I’ve decided that it’s possible that it might. If it were up to me, the farming of meat would be strictly regulated to control animal welfare, and carbon emissions. Free-range meat, without any hormones or antibiotics added to the feed, would be the norm, which is not only proven to be healthier for us but for the planet too. Beef would be a luxury, and the beef available to us would be grass-fed thanks to the huge problem grain fed beef causes to the environment. We’d eat chicken, pork, lamb once or twice a week, and it would be from responsible sources.
Will the meat industry ever truly face regulation? I hope so. I hope we’ll continue to thrive and adapt. It was difficult to figure out why I’d been given this platform, particularly as I never even thought I’d want it. It’s taken 11 years to understand that someone has to talk about this – the fact I’m a woman is just a bonus. Yesterday I decided that it was time to get back on the saddle – or the block, if you will. Now isn’t the time to be taking a break, not when there’s a future to help decide.”
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Jessica Wragg is a butcher and writer living and working in London. Her first book, Girl on the Block, chronicles her life in the meat industry from beginnings in her Derbyshire home to present day, and takes a close look at sexism, ageism and the environmental impact of our meat consumption. It's out now, published by Harper Collins.