Women as Producers, Women as Sellers

Women as Producers, Women as Sellers
Globalization has created still more contradictions of consumption. Many of the products that are for sale in Canada are not made under fair conditions. In the global economy, goods are frequently made in developing countries because the labour costs are less expensive for the companies. The majority of workers in manufacturing factories are women; they are paid less than men and many are fired after the age of 25 or if they marry. Women workers in export factories are frequently treated poorly - common experiences include being restricted from going to the washroom, forced pregnancy testing, and sexual harassment by male management.⁵

At the other end of the process, the majority of people who work in retail stores and malls in Manitoba are women. Ten percent of women in Manitoba are employed in general sales and service occupations with an additional 4% in food and beverage service, 3% as retail salespersons, and 2% as cashiers. These jobs are usually low paying with few benefits and make it difficult for women to support themselves and their families. Cashier ranks as one of the ten lowest paid occupations in Canada.

Costs of consumption
Besides the costs to individuals, there are other costs related to production and consumption including environmental costs. Producing products at the other end of the world rather than around the corner, means increased transportation and fossil fuel emissions. There are also concerns about packaging and the waste generated in the production process. And closer to home, a lot of purchases are made in suburban shopping malls and big box stores encouraging people to drive cars more often. Malls and superstores also require a lot of energy to heat and keep lit.

Consumption has increased with the advent of globalization. Between 1970 and 1995, consumption has more than doubled from 8.3 trillion in 1970 to 16.5 trillion US dollars in 1995.⁶ People are buying more and more and more. Consumerism is being exported to developing countries too. The lifestyles of people in developed countries are held up by some as indicators of progress to people in developing countries. When advertising enters a country where there was hardly any advertising before, in contrast to more experienced and savvy western consumers, people tend to take the advertisers at their word.⁷ The introduction of new products can eliminate traditional ways of operating in developing countries and destroy local markets. And the export of consumerism to less-industrialized countries ignores the fact that consumption patterns in developed countries are not environmentally sustainable.

Thoughtful Consumption
Because of all the contradictions related to consumption, it becomes more and more important for us to stop and think about our motivations for buying different things. We need to take our role as consumers seriously. Are we buying in excess to make ourselves feel better, to fit in, or because shopping is simply a habit we've gotten into? Considering the impact of consumption on women around the world creates yet more work for women who are already balancing a lot! Still it is important for us to remember that women have a lot of spending power that we can use to demand production that benefits all people around the world. There are many things that we can do to support fair labour practices and lessen the impact of consumption on the environment

Women are not just passive recipients of toothpaste and ready-made dinners. Women are powerful and have a powerful role to play. Working together as consumers and producers, we can make the world a more just place for all peoples and for our earth

women as customers 2

The multiple, and often conflicting, roles of women today pose significant challenges for marketers and researchers, This paper discusses actual and anticipated changes in women's consumer behavior on the basis of issues raised by studies of women's roles in non-marketing disciplines. Implications for research, marketing strategy, and public policy are discussed.

Change brought about by the continuing evolution in women's roles have affected, and will continue to affect, all aspects of our society. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the actual and anticipated effects of these changing roles on women's consumer behavior. The issues treated herein are those raised by the other five participants in this session. Underlying the multi-disciplinary approach taken in this session is a strong belief that we can better understand and anticipate the effects of women's changing roles on consumer behavior if we make use of knowledge available in the behavioral sciences and economics.

Some of the salient findings about working-class women are:

* Working-class women have been slower than middle-class women in breaking with traditional roles, and have tended to react negatively toward changes which appear to threaten established values.

* For ethnic working-class women, especially, religious institutions tend to reinforce traditional values.

* The working-class woman tends to be part of a tightly-knit social group composed primarily of female kin.

* Although the necessity of working has expanded the social horizons of many working-class women, the traditional female jobs which most of them hold are not intrinsically rewarding.

* These expanded horizons are reflected in the decreasing propensity of working-class women to define family responsibilities, especially child care, as the central focus of their lives. (Peters and Samuels 1976).

* Working class husbands and wives tend to adhere to traditional household roles and to engage in sex-segregated leisure activities, even if wives work.

* Wives' employment is often viewed as threatening by the working class husband whose ability to provide for the family is often the major source of his sense of self-worth (Samuels 1975).

* While feelings of lack of self-worth and competency in dealing with the world outside the home have decreased among working-class women, they have decreased more slowly than have the same feelings among middle-class women. The result is an increasing disparity in feelings of self worth and self-confidence between the two social class groupings.

* Working-class women are more likely than their middle-class counterparts to feel that their adult life is better than their childhood. Since part of the perceived improvement is due to acquisition of desired material goods, working-class women are more positive toward business in general and specific products, and toward the media in general and advertising in particular, than are middle-class women. (Social Research, Inc. 1973).

Taken together, these points emphasize the fact that most of our data about women come from middle-class respondents and is based on middle-class values. Working-class women make up an important market segment for many products and brands. In addition, they may react to some types of advertising appeals very differently from middle-class women (Johnson and Satow 1978). If we could believe that they are soon likely to adopt middle-class attitudes, values and patterns of behavior, their absence from most consumer behavior studies would not be an important omission. However, the S.R.I. study (1973) also indicates that working-class emphasis on upward mobility into the middle class appears for many to be giving way to an emphasis on achieving desired goals within the working-class milieu. The attention of researchers to the working-class market is therefore important and overdue.

One of the major contributions that we all make to the economy is through buying things. Women's role as care givers has meant that women play an especially prominent role in buying things that provide sustenance for home and family. Studies show that women are responsible for buying 80% of household goods.¹ Although it is often played down, it is clear that women have a great deal of influence in the economy as consumers, in other words, a lot of spending power.

Even the non-monetary part of consumption is part of the economy. Shopping for the goods that we need to survive takes time and attention. Buying food and clothes and school supplies and home furnishings often means watching out for sales and discounts. Comparison shopping, searching through coupons, and finding the best deal, is also time-consuming. Shopping is work and is part of the unpaid labour not counted in the formal economy. But whether or not it's recognized as work, shopping is an activity fraught with contradictions and challenges.

Contradictions of Consumption
As consumers, women live under a good deal of pressure. Many women must find ways to feed their families on a limited budget. They search for a balance between affordability, nutrition, and availability, countered with the personal preferences of their families. Women who are working outside of the home face the added problem of time constraints. Certain purchases may be made to save time and energy when women are squeezed between work and family responsibilities. Stopping for fast food seems easier than rushing home to cook dinner for the family after a long day at work.

Women are also often responsible for clothing themselves and their families and are faced with similar demands in this task. Added to that is the pressure to look good and to be 'in style.' Some items, such as brand name clothes, serve as status symbols and communicate to other people what kind of image we want to present. The pressure to own such items can be so intense that even if people can't afford to, they may sacrifice their needs to buy certain things. Think of the teenage son or daughter who 'has to have' a certain brand of running shoe. Women in the workforce face the demands of proper workplace attire as well.

Increasingly, women take responsibility for buying larger items such as houses and cars. And women are also often responsible for buying gifts on behalf of their families. When kids go to birthday parties, it is usually the mother who purchases and wraps the gift. It often works the same way when a couple attends a wedding or anniversary. Women are faced with endless choices and decisions in their lives as consumers.

woking women as customers

Women typically resist identification by gender. Appeal to their sense of self by reaching out to them, instead, according to their interests, lifestyles and occupations.

Provide information

WORKING Women consumers tend to be less impulsive and more strategic. Cater to their need for information by making key knowledge—such as price, availability, return policy, etc.—readily available and easy to find, and by showing them how to actually use your products when they buy them.

Offer choices

WORKING Women tend to be choosy consumers. And while they don’t always have the time to research their purchases before they make them, they like to have options. Win them over with variety—different colors, sizes and styles, for instance—so that they can own their own selection.

Enable conversations

WORKING Women don’t just make purchases; they discuss them. When you impress a female customer—and likewise, when you disappoint one—she’ll tell all of her friends. Smart businesses will embrace women’s word of mouth and will find ways to both encourage and amplify it.

Build relationships, service

While men make purchase decisions based upon statistics and ratings, WORKING women make them based on their relationship with the seller. Develop positive relationships with female consumers by offering them unrivaled attention. Grow and sustain them with responsive, flexible and personalized customer service.


Helpful advice
Consider testing new products and services on working women, as they tend to be more willing than men to try new things, especially when those things might save them time or money.
Avoid gender-stereotyping your products; making your goods pink, for instance, won’t suddenly make them appeal to female consumers.
Just as important as who women are is what women buy; while they purchase female staples such as make-up and apparel, women also buy gender-neutral products such as cars and technology.
Women appreciate and demand fair pricing; when giving female customers price quotes, include all taxes and fees in order to build trust with them.
While price matters a great deal to women, don’t assume that discounts will trump service; women are willing to spend more when businesses court them creatively and attentively.

THE APPEAL SHOULD FOCUS ON THE FOLLOWING:
1.PRODUCT
-Functionality;
-Quality;
-Appearance;
-Packaging;
-Brand;
-Service;
-Support;
-Warranty FOR CONSUMER DURABLE.
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2.PRICE
-List Price;
-OFFER Discounts;
-Financing LIKE CREDIT CARD FACILITY;
-Leasing Options;
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3.PLACE
-shops, near the workplace.
-shopping mall, for the week ends.
-online shopping
-home/ office delivery
-ordering on mobile.
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4.PROMOTION
-mobile advertising
-magazine advertising
-tv advertising
-newspaper advertising

branding realted to ads

The world of advertising is perhaps the place that epitomizes the contradictions of women as consumers. Women's faces and bodies are used endlessly in advertising to convince people to buy certain products. The many ads we see each day create roles for women. The image of the 'housewife' or woman working in the home is commonly used to sell household goods. Think of the mother selling laundry powder or Aunt Jemima selling syrup. Repeatedly using these images gives the impression that women have a limited role in our society: all women want is shiny floors and the best cookies. These images reinforce gender stereotypes and sometimes also racial ones. The use of the housewife in advertising belittles the wide variety of unpaid work women do in the home.

Ads also adopt positive and empowering language and concepts for retail purposes. For example, Nike has an ad campaign explaining that including girls in sports improves girls' self esteem. However, this message is only for the benefit of women Nike is 'targeting' - women who have enough money to buy Nike shoes. Naomi Klein explains that, "although girls may indeed rule in North America, they are still sweating in Asia and Latin America, making T-shirts with the 'Girls Rule' slogan on them and Nike running shoes that will finally let girls into the game." Women who sew the shoes in China receive barely enough money to survive, thirteen cents an hour, and little opportunity for any leisure at all.²

Women are figured in ads to sell a range of products from cars to vacations. The female image almost always fits a western beauty myth: women are frequently thin, young, able-bodied, heterosexual and light-skinned. More recently, advertisers have begun to use an idealized image of men to sell products; men pictured are strong, lean and muscular. The result of seeing these images many times is that young people, especially young women, think their bodies are inadequate; by attempting to fit the image, some develop eating disorders. Young men are now more frequently using steroids to look like the men in ads. Unrealistic and repeated media images can be bad for our health. American feminist and ad-critic Jean Kilbourne says that in advertising, "what we learn is that a woman's body is just another piece of merchandise. Not only is she a thing, she's a thing that's for sale. Women's bodies and products are completely interchangeable in the world of ads." Kilbourne sums up the underlying message of many ads as: "You're ugly, you're disgusting, buy something."³

The world of advertising needs constant refueling to keep itself in business. To keep us buying new things, advertisers create symbolic obsolescence. This means that advertisers give us the message that old things are out of style and we must have new fashions.⁴ We are 'behind the times' unless we have the latest thing. This manufactures demand - it creates the need for certain products where there was no need before the ad told us so.

Another more recent phenomenon is target advertising. Some companies gather information on consumers' spending habits. One of the newest ways is through points cards such as Air Miles or cards from a particular store. When we fill out applications to these programmes, we give out information about ourselves: how old we are, where we live, how much money we earn. Then when we use the cards our spending habits can be tracked. Advertisers buy this information and use it to shape their next advertising campaign. The same thing is done in on-line shopping on the Internet: companies gather information about their customers and sell it to advertisers. The result is advertising which is targeted directly at us. This can make ads difficult to escape. Our visual environment is becoming polluted with messages to buy more, and it becomes hard to know the difference between items we really need, and items we can do without.