Gender and the Environment by Nicole Detraz

Author:Nicole Detraz
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Published: 2016-11-24T05:00:00+00:00

The gendered nature of consumption

Despite this general lack of attention to gender in debates about consumption, there has been some scholarly work that examines the nexus between masculinity and femininity on one hand, and consumption patterns on the other. This work finds that socially conditioned roles and responsibilities influence what and how we consume (Ghodsee 2007; Johnsson-Latham 2006; True 2003). For instance, examinations of consumption patterns in communist and post-communist Bulgaria illustrate that multiple actors actively attempted to shape ideas about femininity in order to influence the consumption of beauty products (e.g., make-up, lotions, etc.) in that state. During the communist era, “ideals of revolutionary femininity” were used to explain and justify the limited supply of many beauty products during the period. The state specifically attempted to convince women that fashion and beauty were not relevant to their identities as women. This changed in the post-communist period, which was marked by large-scale economic shifts. Competition in new labor markets is said to have contributed to new gender roles and beauty standards for women, which featured expectations that consumption of beauty products was an essential component necessary to get highly competitive jobs.1 A dramatic increase in television and print advertising reinforced these new standards of femininity (Ghodsee 2007). This example illustrates that consumption patterns are not gender-neutral. Companies that spend large sums of money annually on gender-specific advertising know this very well (Casey and Martens 2007). Where once products like soap or body wash were considered to be acceptable for use by everyone, now we have “men's” versions of these packaged in dark-colored wrappers and “women's” versions packaged in light colors. A quick check of the labels shows that they contain much the same ingredients, but we are now encouraged to buy twice as much. Additionally, the “women's” version of many products is more expensive than the “men's” version (Willsher 2014). But what does this mean for thinking through the influence of consumption on sustainability and justice? The next two sections address how gender relates to these two important concepts.

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