Women who frequent soup kitchens: A cultural, gender-mainstreaming perspective

Summary: The aim of this qualitative study is to explore the meanings Israeli women who frequent soup assign to this experience. The study is based on participant observation and 16 recorded interviews with women in eight soup kitchens in Israel. The study adopts a gender-mainstreaming approach to food security that privileges the life knowledge of women living in poverty. The grounded theory method was employed in the collection and analysis of the data-field notes and interviews. Findings: Four main categories regarding women’s constructions of motivations for frequenting soup kitchens emerged: (1) nutritional needs, (2) feeding others, (3) overall economic strategy, and (4) social needs. The issue of dealing with shame is also explored from a humanist and cultural perspective. Applications: The findings indicate the need for social workers to consider food security, and eating arrangements when making assessments, evaluating interventions and developing programs and policies in all practice settings. Social workers need to provide information about community food services that are accessible and user-friendly for their women clients who deal with food insecurity and social isolation. Soup kitchens should be structured to allow for active participation of the service users in the administration and operation of food security programs. Finally, social workers should adopt a critical, feminist position regarding women’s use of soup kitchens as an oppressive survival strategy that stems from inequality in gender and class power relations.