Restaurant Industry Treats Women Poorly: Can Tom Robbins Save Us?

Waiting tables has never been known as a glamorous job, but a new study released Monday indicates that conditions are especially shitty for women, who are not only paid less but also subjected to sexual harassment at a staggering rate, reports The Daily Beast. (Via Jezebel.) Where's Tom Robbins' “Daughters of the Daily Special” waitresses union when you need it?

To start with, women in the restaurant industry typically work in lower-wage-earning positions, such as waitress or hostess, while males dominate higher-paying jobs, such as chef. In fact only 19 percent of chefs are women, the study reports.

Secondly, and most shockingly, more than one third of all sexual harassment claims filed by women with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) — 37 percent, to be exact — come from the restaurant industry. That's more than five times the rate of the general female workforce.

If only waitresses really could take a tip from Jitterbug Perfume's “genius waitress” Priscilla, whose fictional org raised funds to liberate her fellow servers from from the depths of despair that is the restaurant industry. Or, we could take steps to improve these pathetic conditions and embarrassing stats. Now there's a novel idea.

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