In the 21st century, one would assume we are living in times of gender-equality, at least in most parts of the world. However, it seems like that is not the case, because—to the shock of many—women were banned from catering the Nuclear Security Summit (NSS) that took place in The Hague this week.
On Tuesday political leaders met in the political capital of the Netherlands in order to discuss the issue of nuclear terrorism. There had been a good deal of pressure on this summit, especially after Obama mentioned that the subject of the Russian invasion of Crimea was likely to be addressed during the conference. However, media attention ended up elsewhere after it was reported that the catering company that had been hired to provide for the conference, Van der Linde, had a "male-only" policy, with all workers being experienced male servers over the age of 25.
Apparently, Van der Linde does have female waiting staff, but for this particular event they had chosen to only employ male staff. The director of the company, Hans Van der Linde, told the press that having women serving would ruin the visual of the uniform chosen for the event, adding that "the personnel needs to act as reserved as possible, and you can't achieve that by adding a couple of pretty, conspicuous ladies to the mix". Director of the Protocolbureau, Jean Paul Wijers, who was also involved in the summit, believes that the main reason behind the decision was to prevent the world leaders from getting distracted.
Perhaps in a feeble attempt to cover up the scandal, Van der Linde later added that there were more practical reasons behind his decision, as male servers did not use aprons, they would "find it easier to navigate the stairs while carrying plates".
As if the situation could not become more degrading, Van der Linde spoke to the British radio channel Radio 1 about the event, and mentioned that his initial idea had been to only employ women for the event, so as to have them serve in Delft-blue dresses. To most everyone's relief, the Ministry of Foreign affairs of the Netherlands rejected that proposal, and thus Van der Linde changed to an all-male strategy instead.
Of the 58 world leaders attending the summit, only 8 are women: Julie Bishop of Australia, Helle Thorning-Schmidt of Denmark, Angela Merkel of Germany, Federica Mogherini of Italy, Dalia Grybauskaité of Lithuania, Erna Solberg of Norway, Maite Nkoana-Mashabane of South Africa, and Park Geun-hye of South Korea. Without room for female servers at the summit, how will world leaders in charge of discussing the future of nuclear security be able to avoid distraction with those leaders present in the room?
Photo: Bart Matt via Getty Images.
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Photo Friday: No Women Allowed to Serve Lunch at Nuclear Security Summit
March 28, 2014
In the 21st century, one would assume we are living in times of gender-equality, at least in most parts of the world. However, it seems like that is not the case, because—to the shock of many—women were banned from catering the Nuclear Security Summit (NSS) that took place in The Hague this week.
On Tuesday political leaders met in the political capital of the Netherlands in order to discuss the issue of nuclear terrorism. There had been a good deal of pressure on this summit, especially after Obama mentioned that the subject of the Russian invasion of Crimea was likely to be addressed during the conference. However, media attention ended up elsewhere after it was reported that the catering company that had been hired to provide for the conference, Van der Linde, had a "male-only" policy, with all workers being experienced male servers over the age of 25.
Apparently, Van der Linde does have female waiting staff, but for this particular event they had chosen to only employ male staff. The director of the company, Hans Van der Linde, told the press that having women serving would ruin the visual of the uniform chosen for the event, adding that "the personnel needs to act as reserved as possible, and you can't achieve that by adding a couple of pretty, conspicuous ladies to the mix". Director of the Protocolbureau, Jean Paul Wijers, who was also involved in the summit, believes that the main reason behind the decision was to prevent the world leaders from getting distracted.
Perhaps in a feeble attempt to cover up the scandal, Van der Linde later added that there were more practical reasons behind his decision, as male servers did not use aprons, they would "find it easier to navigate the stairs while carrying plates".
As if the situation could not become more degrading, Van der Linde spoke to the British radio channel Radio 1 about the event, and mentioned that his initial idea had been to only employ women for the event, so as to have them serve in Delft-blue dresses. To most everyone's relief, the Ministry of Foreign affairs of the Netherlands rejected that proposal, and thus Van der Linde changed to an all-male strategy instead.
Of the 58 world leaders attending the summit, only 8 are women: Julie Bishop of Australia, Helle Thorning-Schmidt of Denmark, Angela Merkel of Germany, Federica Mogherini of Italy, Dalia Grybauskaité of Lithuania, Erna Solberg of Norway, Maite Nkoana-Mashabane of South Africa, and Park Geun-hye of South Korea. Without room for female servers at the summit, how will world leaders in charge of discussing the future of nuclear security be able to avoid distraction with those leaders present in the room?
Photo: Bart Matt via Getty Images.
