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Hemmati, M. 2000. Gender-Specific Patterns of Poverty and (Over-)Consumption in Developing and Developed Countries. In: E. Jochem, J. Sathaye & Daniel Biulle (eds.). Society, Behaviour, and Climate Change Mitigation. Proceedings of IPCC Expert Group Meeting on Social Scientific Approaches to Climate Change Mitigation. 169-190. Klewer Publications
2. Concepts For the sake of shortening this paper, it does not provide an overview of theoretical approaches to studying gender. Numerous and fruitful approaches of feminist anthropology, theory of science, sociology and social psychology have been developed over the last decades. Many of them can be used as a basis for studying consumption behaviour. The approach of this paper is a social psychological one. A few of the relevant concepts used in this approach are briefly presented below. Whereas the term ‘sex’ refers to biological differences between women and men, the term ‘gender’ refers to social differences. In societies, women and men fulfil different gender roles, and gender stereotypes describe ‘typical’ or ‘ideal’ sets of characteristics of women and men. Based on the societal ‘images’ of what is feminine and what is masculine, individuals develop gender-specific identities. As a reflection of roles, stereotypes and identities, women and men differ with regard to motivation and behaviour. One of the two ‘fundamental axioms of social psychology’ (Smith & Mackie 2000, p16ff) comes into play here: The pervasiveness of social influence. The term refers to the axiom that other people influence virtually all our thoughts, feelings, and behaviour, whether those others are physically present or not. (2) ‘Social norms describe generally accepted ways of thinking, feeling, or behaving that people in a society agree on and endorse as right and appropriate’ (Smith and Mackie 2000, p594). There are different social norms for different social groups in societies, such as those describing women’s and men’s appropriate ways to think, feel and behave. Gender specific social norms define roles for women and men to fulfil. Social acceptance is one of the consequences of fulfilling gender roles, and social sanctions are likely to occur when people do not comply with gender roles - with some flexibility determined by subgroup membership and individual interpretation. Stereotypes are cognitive representations or impressions of a social group that people form by associating particular characteristics and emotions with the group (e.g. Mackie and Hamilton, 1993; Zanna and Olson, 1994). Many different kinds of characteristics are included in stereotypes, which can be positive or negative. Some stereotypes accurately reflect actual differences between groups, though in exaggerated form. Other stereotypes are completely inaccurate. Gender stereotypes have been widespread in every society throughout history. Although they have differed across times and cultures, there are significant commonalities, such as: Women are supposed to be soft-hearted, caring, submissive, dependent, affectionate, anxious, emotional, sensitive, sentimental, with a sensitive and emotional leadership style. Men are supposed to be aggressive, independent, strong, tough, autocratic, and with a dominant leadership style. Much research has been directed to the question of how much these stereotypes are reflected in actual behaviour, thinking and feeling of women and men - or, how much stereotypes reflect actual differences. Meta-analyses have shown that men are overall more aggressive than women, particularly regarding physical rather than psychological aggression and in situations where aggression may be dangerous to oneself. Women have been shown to be more influenceable than men, particularly when influence is exerted by a group rather than through persuasive messages. Also, the difference is larger when a topic is regarded as ‘masculine’. Women are more non-verbally expressive and more non-verbally sensitive than men. As leaders, women are more democratic and men are more autocratic; however, this difference is larger in laboratory studies than of studies of leadership in real, ongoing organisational processes (Eagly 1987, Eagly & Johnson 1990). (3) Growing up in a society where gender roles and stereotypes prevail and education continues to be gender-specific, individuals develop gender-specific identities. What women and men think and feel about themselves is partly determined by what they have learned they should be like. People compare themselves against these social standards and develop goals of personal development in accordance (or in contradiction) with those standards. Thus, a gendered social environment is reflected not only in attitudes and in overt behaviour but also in the self-concept and in personal goals (‘ideal self’). Women’s and men’s motivation differs, or, more precisely, the ways in which women and men pursue certain shared goals differ. For example, women and men share the need for social acceptance and hence a basic motive to be accepted by their peer groups. However, based on their gender-specific roles and identities, they differ with regard to which behaviour will serve the goal of being accepted. Regarding the context of consumption, we know, for example, that women first address the needs of their families, particularly their children, whereas men are more likely to spend resources for their individual needs (see below). Both sets of priorities are gender-related and socially co-determined. Social status and social acceptance, for men and women, is based on fulfilling their respective roles and being ‘female’ and ‘male’ in the prescribed manners. Thus, given their roles and identities as sensitive and responsible care-givers, women should be more highly motivated to ensure that the needs of their children, of elderly, disabled and ill persons in their care, are being met. Fulfilling this role, women gain social acceptance and status as women. Similarly, as men’s social status is based on, for example, being independent, they should be more highly motivated to exhibit their independence by caring visibly for their individual needs. Men’s status is also more closely related than women’s to economic well being; consequently, exhibiting wealth, for example through luxurious consumption, is a means of demonstrating and gaining status for men. Another important aspect, linked to social status, is what determines attractiveness of women and men as potential partners for members of the respective opposite sex. Whereas women’s attractiveness is rather determined by physical attractiveness (as defined by a cultural standard), youth and friendliness, men’s attractiveness is more reliant on income level, intelligence, dominance / independence and a sense of humour. Many consumption choices can be co-determined by what makes people attractive - women investing in fashion, cosmetics and make-up, for example (see 3.3), and men in prestigious cars (see 3.5). Both have implications for energy consumption. Consumption patterns in developed countries vs. developing countries differ significantly. However, there are overlaps, particularly regarding elite minorities in developing countries and people living in poverty in developed countries. What is being said here about Northern and Southern issues related to consumer behaviour in the North vs. the South is referring to the ‘Global North’ and the ‘Global South’ rather than the developing and developed countries as such. Evidence indicates that with globalisation a host of consumption options have opened up for people in developing countries (HDR, 1998). Market research has identified ‘global elites’ and ‘global middle classes’ that follow the same consumption styles in the world, showing preferences for global brands (ibid). In a situation where survival is relatively secure and people live with a certain amount of resources, comfort and security, other motives and interests come into play than if they need to struggle daily to meet their basic needs. Consequently, gender-specific consumer behaviour differs significantly between North and South. In the Global South, we are dealing with poverty and survival. In the Global North, we are dealing with and expanding ‘consumer culture’, largely influenced by the Anglo-Saxon market system and its values. In a nutshell, environmentally damaging behaviour in the North is mostly caused by over-consumption, and in the South by lack of better choices due to poverty. In both cases, gender is an important category. Women make most of the day-to-day consumption choices for themselves and their families. Women are the major suppliers of food (shopping, cooking). And women are the majority among the world’s poor. In the North, women are the ones managing the day-to-day household and its budget, and are being confronted with the increasing demands by their children, influenced by consumer culture, and the need to make informed and healthy choices. In the South, women have the same responsibilities for managing the households, but they are faced with incomparable levels of poverty and trying to accommodate the family’s needs on the basis of often virtually non-existing resources except their own work, time and energy. Globally, women are the ones who have proven to be less concerned about themselves as individuals than men, putting the needs of their families first, and making responsible choices for them. In some cases, it can be shown that women make the more ‘sustainable’ choices (see below). There is evidence that this is due to lack of resources, to less interest in fulfilling individual consumption desires and/or to higher environmental awareness - although the existing research does not provide a fully consistent picture. One of the questions for future research and meta-analysis will be to clarify further under which conditions and in which subgroups these differences account for behavioural differences between women and men. In a global analysis of gender-specific consumption patterns, we have to keep in mind the inter-relatedness of the two mentioned relevant categories - the gender category and the category of access and control over resources. Both categories are powerful determinants of behaviour. ______________________________________________________________ (2) The other fundamental axiom is that people construct their own realities. Considered in conjunction with the pervasiveness of social influence, this also means that people construct their own realities under the influence of their social (and physical, as it represents history, culture and society) environment. (3) As a note on the side, we should keep in mind that through the cited evidence we do not know what women are ‘really’ like, what their capabilities are or could be. All we know is that all men and women have been growing up in societies where gender roles differ and gender identities differ. The 'ultimate experiment' in this matter would comprise designing a society with reverse gender roles or a society with no gender differences at all. As we cannot conduct such an experiment, we will need, inter alia, more research in genetics to clarify hereditary sources of characteristics, and further developments of societies towards gender equity, to get a clearer idea of women’s and men’s capabilities.
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Copyright © Minu Hemmati, 2006 |
