The meat women

THE image of a butcher heaving a carcass of pig or cow over the shoulder and slapping it onto a bloody counter littered with offal and other mystery bits before carving through bone and sinew is an image associated with big, sweaty men.

So to substitute that with a petite woman doing the same requires a bit of visual adjustment and stereotype debunking.

Female butchers may be a rare breed, but apart from the occasional difficulty with lifting a heavy carcass (for which male colleagues are ready to step in to help), there is no difference between the genders when it comes to carving, portioning and creating the beautifully sliced steaks or secondary cuts that glisten in your favourite butcher shop.