Women Chefs: NY v. DC

There’s a facinating article in New York Magazine in which seven women chefs are asked why there are so few of them at the helm in New York kitchens.  The interviewees:

April Bloomfield (The Spotted Pig), Rebecca Charles (Pearl Oyster Bar), Alex Guarnaschelli (Butter), Sara Jenkins (formerly of 50 Carmine), Anita Lo (Annisa), Jody Williams (Morandi), and Patricia Yeo (formerly of Monkey Bar and Sapa)

Why there aren’t more women chefs in New York:

Why aren’t there more women chefs in New York? Is it harder to raise money as a woman?
Anita Lo: I kind of get the feeling that there are boys out there who have people running after them giving them money.
Patricia Yeo: Because they play golf together or they play poker together. Maybe we should go play poker with them, I don’t know.
RC: It’s the boys’ club. It’s incredible, and I never used to buy into stuff like that.
AG: I have colleagues—male colleagues—who say to me, “Yeah, I just met with a big group of investors to open a restaurant.” I’m looking at them, trying to sip my coffee, like, “Yeah, bro, that must be rough.” And I go home and trade in the coffee for tequila. Did I do something wrong?

Why don’t women get the money?
PY: I think men aren’t as nervous about asking. They seem to be able to say, “Listen, this is what I want, give it to me.” Women, I think, have a harder time with it.

RC: Women are more unsure of themselves, no question, especially in terms of asking for money.
Sara Jenkins: It’s like a pride thing, too; you fought so hard to be in a certain place. And now to have to turn around and say, “Oh, but wait, excuse me, I need a million dollars, please.”
RC: Also, I’ve found that landlords will listen politely and then lease their space to a man with a track record. I had a long track record at the time I started Pearl Oyster Bar—twenty years as a chef, but not as a business owner. And that was the kind of track record they were looking for. I was lucky to find the guy that I found.

On competition:

Are there “women’s jobs” in professional kitchens?
RC: Pastry chef has always been the traditional one, and I think that’s still true today.
April Bloomfield: It’s an easy option for the girls to go into pastry.
RC: You’re not on the hot line.
SJ: You don’t have to compete with everybody else.

On whether men and women cook differently:

Do women and men cook differently?
SJ: I think women cook different food, and I think women cook better food. It’s more from the heart and more from the soul. I look at this whole molecular-gastronomy thing, and I’m like, “Boys with toys.” They’re just fascinated with technology and chemistry sets. I think we make better-tasting food. I’m sorry, I know that’s politically incorrect.
RC: I have to agree. Women’s food is, for the most part, more accessible, it’s easier to understand, it’s friendlier, it’s more comforting, and it doesn’t get bogged down in all these nutty freaking trends.
SJ: I find there’s a lot of technique in male food.
AB: I have a friend from England who’s a cook, and he said the food that’s most moved him has always been cooked by a woman. Maybe because it’s comfort food or it’s very nurturing. JW: Or maybe he just liked the idea of a woman cooking for him.

And finally,

What else keeps women from running kitchens?
RC: Some women seem to say that it’s too hot, it’s too much work. You have to give up a lot. That’s what’s hard for a lot of young women to understand. There are very few women who can have children and continue to operate restaurants, whether they’re owners or chefs.

(I would have expected to see that last answer in 1987, not 2007.)

Since DC doesn’t yet have the same cache as its northern neighbor, is a little less competitive or expensive, and has a serious mentoring network, it seems like women chefs are more embraced in Washington than in New York.  Is this true or am I off base?