Office for Latin America and the Caribbean
Office for Latin America and the Caribbean
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Women, Men and Consumption
Applying a Gender Lens to Consumer Education
2
Women, Men and Consumption
Applying a Gender Lens to Consumer Education
Consumers International
Office for Latin America and the Caribbean
3
Author: Ricardo Iturra, with Angela Zambrano, Ana Vásquez, Carmen Varese, Lezak Shallat,
Marcela Ortiz, Juan Trímboli.
English version: Lezak Shallat
Original Spanish-language publication entitled:
Género y consumo: Hacia un enfoque de género en la educación para el consumo
See: http://educa.consumidoresint.cl/manuales.asp
Consumer Education Programme
Office for Latin America and the Caribbean
Consumers International
Santiago, Chile
2004 ©Consumers International
This publication was made possible with the economic support of Novib (Oxfam, Netherlands).
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Table of Contents
Presentation .......................................................................................................... 7
Introduction ........................................................................................................... 8
Gender and consumption as social relations
People build their lives within a system of relations ................................... 11
Gender relations ......................................................................................... 13
Consumer relations ..................................................................................... 21
Social relations within written and unwritten norms ................................... 28
Consumer rights ......................................................................................... 30
Rights in the public and private spheres
Consumer rights ......................................................................................... 33
Autonomy to choose .................................................................................. 43
Pro-equality strategies ................................................................................ 49
Workshops
Nº 1: Human rights through a gender lens ................................................. 50
Nº 2: Women’s world, men’s world ............................................................. 55
Nº 3: A day in the life of a consumer .......................................................... 59
Nº 4: Complaining is good .......................................................................... 59
Nº 5: Consumer rights for women .............................................................. 60
Nº 6: Women and advertising ..................................................................... 62
Nº 7: Consumer representation in public utilities ....................................... 64
5
6
Presentation
The Consumer Education Programme of the Latin America and Caribbean Office of
Consumers International, and the Women’s Popular Education Network (REPEM) have joined
forces to advance equal opportunities and rights for women and men in consumer relations,
as a prerequisite of modernisation and social democratisation.
The main product of this collaboration is this publication, which provides theoretical and
methodological tools to analyse gender perspectives in consumer relations and to develop
consumer education activities from this political option.
This material is aimed primarily at consumer groups and women’s organisations but will be
useful to organisations working for the protection of consumer rights. We hope it will
contribute to the efforts of teachers and popular educators who have taken up consumer
education in their work. The manual is designed to help them develop skills to analyse the
socio-political processes that frame consumer relations, and to conduct their own consumer
education activities from a gender perspective.
José Vargas Niello
Celia Eccher
Regional Director
Co-ordinator
Office for Latin America and the Caribbean
Women’s Popular Education
Consumers International
Network (REPEM)
7
Introduction
Gender and consumer relations involve all human beings. No one can live in this world
without establishing them. We live immersed in them since birth, and they are part of
our daily lives. This is the reason that they appear to be the natural order of things. If we
do not make a special effort, it is easy to forget that they are social and historical
constructs.
In our society, gender relations and consumer relations as currently practised share
certain characteristics: asymmetry, imbalance and inequality. In the sphere of
consumption, these relations favour suppliers and leave consumers at a disadvantage.
In the area of gender, these relations tend to be detrimental against women. As a result,
if we combine consumption and gender, women suffer double discrimination.
The consumer movement sees its mission as making a contribution to social justice
and sustainable development. As stated by Ana Vásquez in her presentation “The
Consumer Movement and the Women’s Movement,” given at Consumers International’s
World Congress 2000:
“Talk about social justice necessarily leads us to discuss gender equality.
The marginalisation and exclusion of women is undeniable, and it is
impossible to ignore or diminish the importance of gender in actions and
projects that seek justice and equality.”
Gender is one dimension of social inequality, and its analysis reflects one level of the
struggle for equality and justice.
The consumer movement must confront issues of gender inequality within consumer
and market relations. Trade policies have differentiated effects upon men and women
because men and women enjoy different economic and social status. Women and men
respond differently to consumer, market and trade policies because they possess
different types of private resources and different degrees of access to public ones.
When we talk about gender perspective, we are talking about changing the conditions
and position of women in society and achieving equal relations based in solidarity. The
gender perspective refers to gender as a political option.
Adoption of gender perspectives signifies the following goals:
- strive for a balance of power between men and women.
- take into account the interests and demands of both men and women.
- view both women and men as agents and subjects of development.
Gender perspectives concern society as a whole, not just individuals. The gender
perspective has to be assimilated as an issue, an option and an institutional decision.
8
This purpose of this publication is to incorporate gender perspectives into the work of
consumer organisations. For this to occur, educational activities must play a significant
role. We hope this publication will help build closer ties with the women’s movement in
our mutual efforts to achieve common objectives.
This publication offers a variety of methodological tools to integrate the areas of
consumer and gender relations, including texts for reflection, questions for group
discussion and activities.
Its basic goal is to encourage reflection about the inequalities inherent in certain patterns
of consumption, identify parallel patterns of inequality in gender relations, and discover
ways of confronting these.
The purpose of this manual is to:
- build relationships among people within a context of tolerance, respect
and democracy (on the streets and in the home), free from all types of
discrimination
- foster economic development that is beneficial to all, without
exacerbating greater economic inequities or environmental damage
- create mechanisms for citizen participation in defining public policies
and implementing the decisions that affect us
- become protagonists in the socio-political processes that underlie
consumption patterns and determine the overall context of our lives in
society.
These principles are shared by both the women’s movement and consumers’ movement.
This publication has three sections:
1. Gender and consumption as social relations. This section examines
values shared by the women’s and consumer movements, and ways to
apply these in analysing consumer relations from a gender perspective.
2. Rights in the public and private spheres. This section examines the
rights of people as consumers as an expression of human rights.
The core of this analysis looks at the right to the satisfaction of basic
needs (as an expression of the right to life) and the right to free choice
(as an expression of the right to liberty) as indicative of the degree of
autonomy that individuals enjoy. The right to choice does not refer to
saleable goods and services only, but also to public policies, public
representatives, lifestyles and the decisions of daily life.
9
The consumer rights to information, freedom from discrimination, and
education are directly related to the possibility of choice, as is the
availability of necessary economic means to exercise these rights.
The right to safe goods and services, the right to redress and the right
to representation complete the scenario for the exercise of effective
consumer rights and citizenship.
These rights promote transparency and balance in social relations, both
those based on gender and those occurring in the marketplace.
3. Workshop activities. This section proposes activities for consumer
education workshops.
Those who join us on this path will broaden their horizons and new possibilities for
intervention. These new perspectives enrich life.
We hope this manual will benefit readers looking for equality and solidarity as the guiding
principles of social harmony and readers who see education as a means of achieving
this in communities and schools, in the consumer movement and among women’s
groups.
Juan Trímboli
Co-ordinator
Consumer Education Programme
Office for Latin America and the Caribbean
Consumers International
10
Gender and consumption
as social relations
People build their lives within a system of relations
Read and reflect
Once upon a time, beings were born that were completely different from one
another, with evident physical differences. No two were alike. Some were white,
black, red, yellow, fat, thin, tall and short, or any combination. Can you
imagine such diversity? Not only that —some were of one sex and others of
another. But despite these differences (and after a series of conflicts not always
resolved in the most elegant manner), they became convinced that deep down,
they formed part of the same species —the human species, each different but
essentially the same.
But to live and grow, they also realised that they had many diverse needs
—clothing their bodies, land for growing vegetables, houses of different sizes
to take shelter in groups, normally composed of a couple and their offspring.
Throughout time, they invented objects and artefacts, some rather ingenious, to
make life easier for themselves, distancing themselves from nature and
eventually becoming dependent on these objects. Just as they need different
objects, they also need the labour of others, since their activities are quite
specialised.
11
The objects they need to live are called “goods” and the labour of others they
need are called “services.” They acquire both goods and services through
commercial transactions.
As children and youths, they depend on adults to obtain goods and services.
As they grow up, they acquire skills and capabilities that allow them to take
their own place in the world. What they acquire is strongly influenced by what
they learn from their families, their peers (friends, clubs, schoolmates, etc.),
and from the messages they receive through the media. This is called the
process of socialisation. This process is also influenced by their schooling,
where teachers transmit instruction to youngsters grouped by age. Much of
this knowledge is useful to them in their daily life. This is called the
educational process.
These skills allow them to broaden their range of activities in which they
make their own decisions.
But people are not alone in the world. Each time one person makes a decision
or wants to carry out an action, they find that others are somehow related to
that decision. They must establish ways to relate to each other, to negotiate
and come to terms —hopefully, through agreements that are fair for all
involved.
12
Group Discussion
Do people always reach agreements that establish balanced relations?
What happens when one party has more power than the others?
What could this power be based on?
Gender relations
Read and reflect
“Men and women can do different types of jobs and be equal, and they can do the
same kind of jobs and be unequal. What matters is not so much who does what,
but rather who defines the roles of the other, and whether both women and men
have a choice.” 1
“Nothing in the fact that women bear children implies that they exclusively should
1. Ellen Farr and Rudo
Chitiga in: “Gender
Concepts in Development
Planning”, Lezak Shallat
and Ursula Paredes,
INSTRAW, 1995
care for them throughout childhood. Still less does it imply that women should
also feed and care for adults, nurse the sick, undertake certain agricultural tasks
or work in electronic factories.” 2
Preconceived ideas about what constitutes “women’s work ” are one of the factors
responsible for narrowing women’s employment opportunities. Women, employed
or not, need relief from the burden of unshared and unpaid domestic tasks. More
open attitudes about women and men’s work must infuse the domestic sphere.
13
2. Maureen Mackintosh,
in: Shallat and Paredes,
op. cit.
These must be backed by government policies providing electricity, water,
3. Shallat and Paredes,
op. cit.
sanitation, health, education, childcare facilities and other basic services to
alleviate the household responsibilities of women and men. 3
Women’s access to economic and political power is far from being proportional
to their number, needs and contributions to society. Women’s reduced
participation in decision-making is reflected both in the public sphere and in
the private sphere of home and marriage.
The exercise of authority by men is so common that both men and women
accept it as natural. But authority is not a biological attribute, although it may
be imposed by physical force. It is a learned behaviour. Men are educated to
exercise authority; women are educated to obey it.
The asymmetrical power relations between women and men can be seen
everywhere. This include de facto powers, such as the privileges granted to
men by society and tradition; the inherent masculine prejudice of institutions
like the police, judicial system and legislature; the ideological legitimisation of
women’s subordination in the educational system and culture; the
institutionalised legal imbalance of discriminatory property law and
inheritance rights.
14
Group Discussion
Why are women and men assigned different tasks by society?
Who decides this? What would happen if these roles were switched?
Do you think that relations between women and men in your community are
balanced? Why?
Is it possible to have a society without predetermined roles and tasks for men and
women?
Women and men: Equal, or not so equal?
Important international agreements establish that women and men are born equal under
law, but many national laws still discriminate against women.
On December 10, 1948, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights.
The preamble states that:
“Whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as
a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights
should be protected by the rule of law” 4
Article 2 states:
“Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this
Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex,
language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin,
property, birth or other status.”
These include:
■
the right to life
■
the right to liberty
■
the right to security of person
■
the right to equal protection before the law
■
the right to protection from discrimination
15
4. This text is now
interpreted to mean
“women and men.”
■
the right to marry and form a family
■
the right to own property
■
the right to work and free choice of employment
■
the right to just and favourable conditions of work
■
the right to equal pay for equal work
■
the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working
hours and periodic holidays with pay
■
the right to free education, at least in the elementary stages
■
the right to the full development of human personality
■
the right to take part in the government of his or her country, directly or
through freely chosen representatives.
However, even in countries where equal rights are protected in the national Constitution,
women may face enormous difficulties in having their rights respected. Effective exercise
of equal rights depends on access to equal opportunities.
Group Discussion
Do women in your country benefit from conditions that allow them to:
■
enjoy good health and a long life?
■
read and write?
■
participate in public life?
■
have time for themselves?
■
have dignity and self-esteem?
Do women from different socio-economic strata enjoy the same set of conditions?
How do these conditions differ from those available to men?
To what extent can the opportunities available to men and women be compared?
Do women face restrictions not imposed upon men?
16
What are the causes of the asymmetry in options available to men and women? Do
these reflect the “nature” of one or the other?
There is nothing in the biological makeup of human beings to justify these differences.
Unequal opportunities are not created by a person’s sex but by social and cultural
determinants. This is what we call gender.
Gender and sex are not synonymous
Sex
Sex is a biological identity, either female or male. People are born as women or as
men, as defined by their biology.
Gender
Gender is a concept that refers to a system of roles and relationships between
women and men that are determined not by biology but by the social, political and
economic context. Historically, women have been responsible for domestic tasks
and men for public activities. Gender does not erase or deny the biological differences
between men and women, but does question the manipulation of biological
differences to justify discrimination between the sexes.
Gender roles are learned. They differ from one society to another, from place to place
and over time. Characteristics like long hair may be considered feminine in one era and
masculine in another.
Sexual characteristics are determined in the womb at the moment of conception.
Gender identify evolves throughout childhood and during adulthood. The construction
of gender roles and relationships is a permanent process.
Parents and siblings, relatives and friends all play a part in reinforcing certain behaviours
for girls or boys while discouraging others. Schools play a fundamental role, as do the
media and other institutions, such as churches and the workplace, that transmit values,
role models and stereotypes.
17
Key concepts
Gender attributes and roles. This refers to the predetermined expectations, held by
society in general or any specific group, of the ways that men and women should behave
in accordance to their sex.
Condition vs. Position
Condition refers to women’s material state – their immediate sphere of experience. If
you ask a woman to describe her life, most likely she would describe her “condition” :
what kind of work she does, the needs she sees for her and her children (clean water,
food, education), where she lives, etc. On the other hand, position refers to women’s
social and economic standing relative to men. It is measured, for example, by male/
female disparities in wages and employment opportunities, participation in legislative
bodies, vulnerability to poverty and violence, and so on.
Access vs. control
Access is an opportunity of a person to make use of existing resources or benefits (political,
economic resources, and time). In contrast, control is the ability of a person to define the
use of given resources, and impose that definition on others.
Equity vs. Equality
Source: Guidelines for
Developing and
Implementing GenderResponsive Programs and
Projects.
www.evis.net.ph/
~gender8/docs
grpguide.htm
Equity is a concept of distributive justice which is remedial, and is intended to overcome
bias, favouritism and inequalities. Equity is giving more to those who have less on the
basis of need. Activists prefer equity to equality as an aim because it is sensitive to
differences between the sexes and to a changing, rather than rigid, social environment.
Gender vs. Sex
Sex is a biological term that represents the genetic and physical identity of a person and
is meant to signify the fact that one is either male or female. Gender refers to sociallylearned behaviour and expectations associated with the two sexes. Maleness and
femaleness are biological facts; masculinity and femininity are culturally-constructed
attributes. Gender also refers to the socially-differentiated roles and characteristics
attributed by a given culture to women and men. In short, all differences besides the
strictly biological.
Gender-based analysis is a process that compares how and why women and men are
affected by policy issues. Gender-based analysis challenges the assumption that everyone
is affected by policies, programs and legislation in the same way. Gender-based analysis
assesses the differential impact of policies, programs and legislation on women and
men. It makes it possible for policy to be undertaken with an appreciation of gender
differences, of the nature of relationships between women and men and of their different
social realities, life expectations and economic circumstances.
18
Exercises
What happens in your community?
What jobs or tasks do you think are normal for women
(“woman’s work”), and what activities are not appropriate for
women (“women don’t do that”)?
Not appropriate for women
Women’s work
What constitutes a “man’s job”?
What activities are not appropriate for men?
Not appropriate for men
Men’s work
19
After completing this exercise, comment upon the following:
Exchange between young friends
Girl (age 7): Let’s play mommy and daddy.
Boy (age 6): I’ll be the father.
Girl: Of course, who else? Let’s go to the bedroom. Hope we don’t get caught …
They go inside the room and close the door.
Girl: Come up here, on the bed.
Boy: Lying down?
Girl: That’s right. Now you watch soccer on the TV while I bring you a beer
and cook dinner.
Comments
20
Consumer relations
Read and reflect
We often hear the term “consumer society ” used to describe our societies.
Does this mean that people consume in these types of societies only? Or that,
before the establishment of the “consumer society,” people did not consume?
If so, what did people do before the advent of the “consumer society” to satisfy
their needs?
If we view consumption as an activity that allows us to satisfy needs through
the use of goods and services, we can state that consumption has been a feature
of all societies and at every stage of social development, as have production and
trade.
What is the difference, then?
Before introduction of mass production, production was characterised by direct
relations between individual consumers and producers. Producers received
specific requests and attempted to satisfy these as best as possible. Pride and
prestige depended on it. Demand from individual clients determined the
production of goods and services, and individual preferences were largely
respected.
Relations between producers and consumers were direct. Clients requested
producers to make the things they needed in the way the wanted and with the
materials they chose. If something was done incorrectly, clients complained
directly to the producers.
This process was inverted with the advent of mass production. Production came
first, followed by the search for buyers, which relies on advertising to sell
products.
21
Group Discussion
How many of the consumption decisions you’ve taken recently have been influenced
by advertising?
Are women and men treated differently in advertising? What kinds of advertising and
what types of products target men? What types of products target women?
Consumption is a means of satisfying needs. Producers, in contrast, seek profit and,
often, the highest profit possible.
A producer is a person whose occupation is to produce, supply, distribute and/or
sell merchandise and/or provide services.
What constitutes a “good deal” for a woman consumer? For a male consumer?
Do these differ?
What constitutes a good deal for producers?
Do consumers and producers have similar goals?
22
Market relations
Market relations are established in the interaction between producers and consumers.
This interaction has multiple ramifications.
Problems can arise when the parties participating in this exchange do not share similar
objectives, economic clout or social or political leverage.
Consumers seek goods and services to satisfy specific needs. Producers want to sell.
Large-scale producers wield greater economic power than do individual consumers,
and can influence the media through information, advertising and political clout.
Consumers, on the other hand, generally act as isolated individuals, forced to accept
conditions imposed by producers. What consumer is in a position to be familiar with all
the technical details of all the products he or she uses over a lifetime?
Given these conditions, market relations tend to be unequal, asymmetric and lacking in
transparency.
■
How can this imbalance be corrected?
■
What conditions might guarantee balanced and transparent market
relations?
■
What can consumers do to achieve greater balance and transparency
in market relations?
23
Exercises
When do we consume?
Think about everything you did yesterday, from the time you got
up and until you went to bed at night. Make a list of the goods
and services you used during the day. These can be described
as acts of consumption.
What would have happened if the goods and services you used
yesterday did not exist?
Try the following exercise:
■
Imagine that the items on your list have disappeared, that no one produces
them. Now imagine that you must find a way to satisfy these needs on
your own.
■
Imagine every single action you would have to carry out in order to get
dressed, eat breakfast, etc. When did people live this way?
Think about the producers, suppliers and service providers who provide the
goods you used —what would happen to them?
Can you imagine what life would be like if we limited ourselves to satisfying our biological
needs only?
Most people require more than just the bare basics for physical survival to feel that
they are living with dignity. What other needs do people have?
What do you require to live with an acceptable degree of dignity and satisfaction?
24
Make a list of the biological needs you must satisfy. Next to each, list the things you
need to satisfy these needs.
Then list your non-biological needs and how you satisfy them.
Biological needs
How do I satisfy these?
Non-biological needs
How do I satisfy these?
■
Do these two lists contain the elements of what you consider to be the
requirements of a life with dignity?
■
Do they express your scale of values?
25
■
Do other people list the same goods and services?
■
Did past generations have the same needs?
■
What are the reasons for these differences?
Conduct this exercise with a group of men and then with a group of women. Compare
the results.
■
Are there differences between the two groups?
■
Where do you notice more differences: in biological needs or nonbiological ones?
To understand the historic, cultural, geographic, social, gender and individual
differences in our needs for goods and services, consumer education must pay
attention to psychological and social aspects of consumption.
5. Harris, Marvin.
Antropología Cultural,
p. 180.
Alianza Editorial, 1983
“Motivation for producing, exchanging and consuming goods and services are
molded by cultural traditions. Different cultures value different goods and services
and tolerate or prohibit different types of relations among those who produce,
exchange or consume.” 5
Can you detect the influence of specific cultural traditions in your own motivations and
consumer practices? Every time you or others say “it’s not done that way” or “people
don’t use that,” your comments reflect the influence of cultural traditions.
What role do advertising and fashion play in this process?
The personal, social and cultural determinants of consumption patterns work in two
ways, influencing consumer choice and, at the same time, transforming personal
consumption patterns in ways that affect society and the environment.
26
Social and environmental impacts of consumption
Individual consumption patterns have important impacts on production, since consumer
choices influence what is produced, or not produced. These preferences are often
manipulated and distorted by advertising, fashion and other forms of communications
employed by producers.
Consumer choice also affects the environment. Consumers can favour goods or services
that are environmentally-friendly rather than contaminating, thus contributing to the
preservation, or the deterioration, of the environment. Consumption also affects the
environment through the generation and disposal of wastes produced by the use of
goods and services.
Group Discussion
■
Have you ever considered the quantity of garbage that you (as an
individual, as a family and as a community) produce every day?
■
Do you know what happens to the garbage you throw away? Where
does it go? How does it affect the environment?
■
What can you do to reduce the amount of garbage you throw away?
Can you generate less garbage at home?
■
Does your community have recycling centres?
Consumer choice also influences the production processes that respect, or violate,
workers’ rights and dignity. One of the first actions organised by the modern consumer
movement over a century ago was a boycott of goods produced by companies that
exploited women and child workers.
This practice continues today, as consumer groups continue to organise boycotts of
garments, footwear, sporting goods and other goods produced in exploitative working
conditions and by child labour.
27
It is important to emphasise the social and environmental dimensions
of consumption in consumer education. Understanding the links
between consumption and production is key to empowering socially
responsible consumers.
Social relations within written and unwritten norms
Over time, a complex system of written law has evolved to bring transparency and
balance to social relations.
At the same time, the cultural “pool” of traditions, customs and beliefs generate norms,
often unwritten, that are long-lasting and generally conservative.
It is these unwritten rules that often stop people from obeying the formal laws establishing
equal rights and freedom from discrimination. These unwritten rules appear as if they
were the natural order of things.
And laws still remain that reinforce discrimination against women in areas such as
access jobs, equal wages and healthcare.
The women’s movement and consumer movement seek to change the written and
unwritten norms that uphold discrimination. Both view empowerment as a means of
generating individual and collective capacities to exercise autonomy.
Read and reflect
Autonomy: The power to control one’s own life, the internal strength and
confidence that allows us to make personal choices and exert influence for social
change.
Autonomy also embodies the idea of authority, freedom and equal opportunities
for all, and must be understood within the context of the fight against poverty and
inequality among classes, gender and races.
28
Group Discussion
Do the adults in your community enjoy different degrees of autonomy according to
their gender, social condition or age?
Comment upon the following scene. Would this take place in your community? What
other obstacles to consumption are faced by single women (the elderly, the handicapped
and others)?
Scenes from the life of María
María works in an office and uses her lunch hour to make a payment at the bank where she took out a loan for
her daughter’s dental treatment. This month, María is short on cash and cannot pay the complete amount.
María: Sir, would it be possible...you see, I had extra expenses this month, so...
Teller: And how can I help you, ma’am?
María: Can I make this payment in two installments? Just for this month, you know...
Teller: No problem. Tell your husband to come and sign and everything will be arranged.
María: My husband? Can’t I sign myself? This loan was for my daughter. I’m the mother. Her father, you
know...
Teller: No, ma’am; he has to sign.
Autonomy as a strategy
“The concept of autonomy can be used strategically (as an ideal and long-term
objective) or functionally (as a factor that determines the limits of people’s actions.)
In the broadest sense, the exercise of autonomy does not simply seek social
change; it also provides the means to do so.” 6
6. Pronk, Jan. Femmes
dans le dévelopment; le
chemin vers I’autonomie.
This view of autonomy means taking control of one’s own destiny in order to
change unequal power relations. It does not mean exchanging roles and
oppressing the oppressors, but establishing equality in a context that take account
of differences.
“It is important to involve men in the redistribution of power and resources historically
denied to women. But the main goal must be to strengthen women’s negotiating
powers so that women can redefine gender relations on equal terms.” 7
29
7. Marijke Priester, cited
in Pronk, id.
Legal and institutional frameworks
Laws are necessary to guarantee the existence of balanced and transparent market
relations
Laws regulate the activities of all involved parties and establish the institutions that
enforce these regulations, sanction violations and resolve disputes.
Laws recognise consumer rights and put them into effect.
It is the State’s responsibility to create the legal and institutional frameworks in which
economic activity (including environmental and labour dimensions) takes place. It is
the citizens’ responsibility to monitor the State’s performance in protecting consumer
rights.
■
Are you familiar with consumer protection laws?
■
Which institutions are responsible for enforcing them?
■
Are you familiar with the laws that regulate competition and business
practices?
■
Are you familiar with the laws to prevent environmental contamination?
■
Do you know which laws establish product safety and quality
requirements?
■
Are you familiar with labour regulations?
Need for organised action
How many acts of consumption do you carry out each day? If you add your individual
actions to those of your neighbours, how high would this number be? Do you think
the government is capable of enforcing the law in each of those acts?
Consumers —as the main actors of consumption— are the best qualified to make their
rights respected and defend their interests.
But individual consumers can, generally, resolve only the problems that affect them
directly.
■
How can consumers address the collective issues that have broad social
and environmental impacts?
30
■
How can consumers make the government aware of shortcomings in
the legal and institutional frameworks for consumer protection?
■
What can consumers do to change circumstances or practices that
discriminate against them in the marketplace?
The best answer is this: consumers can organise in defence of their interests. And
organised consumers can multiply their power by joining in alliances and networks with
other social movements.
Citizen action turns the “individual and daily” into the “collective and social” through
organisation.
Consumer rights
The consumer movement aims to have consumer rights acknowledged in national
legislation.
Legislation must create the balance between producers and consumers that market
forces —supply and demand— cannot achieve.
“The first consumer organisations focused on better value for money
in market relations, obtaining better quality at better prices. Over time,
consumer organisations broadened their scope to obtain better value
for people, looking at issues of access and labour conditions. Today,
consumer organisations work to promote the highest values of civil
society: freedom, justice, equality and environmental protection.” 8
The first formal consumer organisations were founded in the late 1800s and early 1900s
in the US and Europe. These were accompanied by spontaneous consumer actions of
organising boycotts and collective buying.
31
8. Serra, Antonino and
Varese, Carmen. Aspectos legales de las
relaciones de consumo.
Manual para la formación
de Formadores, page 16.
Consumers International,
2000.
9. See: Mayer, Robert.
Thoughts on women’s
contributions to the
modern consumer
movement. University of
Utah, and Friedman, M.
American consumers
boycotts in response to
rising food prices:
Housewives’ protests at
the grassroots level.
Journal of Consumer
Affairs .
Major national consumer boycotts against high prices have taken
place in the United States for over a century, with supermarket chains
and major food producers as targets. These havegiven impetus to
international boycotts seeking social change. The predominance of
women as leaders and participants in consumer boycotts has led
some observers to suggest that the name of these campaigns to
stop buying goods for economic or political reasons be changed to
“girlcotts.” 9
The consumer movement was greatly strengthened in 1962, when US President John
F. Kennedy formulated four fundamental consumer rights —safety, information, choice
and representation— in speech to the US Congress. Over the years, these rights have
been expanded to include satisfaction of basic needs, redress, consumer education
and the right to a healthy environment.
Is there an active consumer movement in your country? What has it achieved? How
does it work to guarantee that consumer rights are respected?
32
Rights in the public
and private spheres
The consumer rights system
Read and reflect
In 1985, the UN General Assembly adopted the UN Guidelines for Consumer
Protection. This is a set of recommendations for governments to create the
conditions necessary for consumers to enjoy an adequate level of protection to
satisfy their needs.
Based on these Guidelines and the experiences of the consumer movement,
Consumers International and its members organise their work around the
protection of eight basic consumer rights.
■
The right to the satisfaction of basic needs
■
The right to safety
■
The right to information
■
The right to choose
■
The right to representation
■
The right to compensation
■
The right to consumer education
■
The right to a healthy environment
33
Group Discussion
Which of these rights are respected in your community?
Do you know your rights as a consumer?
How can you make your consumer rights respected?
Is a strong consumer movement necessary for having these rights respected? Do citizens
need to organise?
A system for safeguarding consumer rights
The eight rights established by Consumers International and recognised by the
international community establish a framework for safeguarding consumer interests.
Consumer rights can be grouped around two key concepts: the right to
satisfy basic needs in an adequate and dignified manner —that is, the
right to consume the basic necessities for life— and the right to choose
freely from a variety of goods and services that best meet the consumers’
interests, preferences and objectives.
34
Satisfaction of basic needs
Read and reflect
The following comments are an illustration of what it means to live in poverty.
Don’t ask me what poverty is because you have met it outside my house. Look at
the house and count the number of holes. Look at the utensils and the clothes I
am wearing. Look at everything and write what you see. What you see is
poverty.
—Poor man, Kenya
Certainly our farming is little; all the products, things bought from stores, are
expensive; it is hard to live, we work and earn little money, buy few things or
products; products are scarce, there is no money and we feel poor. If there were
money . . .
—From a discussion group of poor men and women, Ecuador
We face a calamity when my husband falls ill. Our life comes to a halt until he
recovers and goes back to work.
—Poor woman, Zawyet Sultan, Egypt
Poverty is humiliation, the sense of being dependent, and of being forced to
accept rudeness, insults, and indifference when we seek help.
—Poor woman, Latvia
At first I was afraid of everyone and everything: my husband, the village
sarpanch, the police. Today I fear no one. I have my own bank account, I am the
leader of my village savings group . . . I tell my sisters about our movement.
And we have a 40,000-strong union in the district.
—From a discussion group of poor men and women, India
35
From: Attacking
Poverty, World
Development Report
2000/2001.
See: http://
www.worldbank.org/
poverty/wdrpoverty/
report/overview.pdf
Group Discussion
How is poverty visible in your community? What needs are most affected by poverty?
In your view, what is the relationship between poverty and consumption?
Do people experience poverty differently because of their gender? Can you give
examples from your own community?
What is the difference between saying that someone is “poor” vs. that someone “lives
in poverty” ?
Satisfaction of basic needs and poverty
The right to the satisfaction of basic needs consists of:
Access to essential goods and services, including food, water, clothing, housing,
health and education.
The satisfaction of needs is directly determined by the economic and social conditions
in which people live.
Consumption has increased phenomenally in the 20th century, but its spread has been
so badly skewed that it has worsened inequality.
On a world scale, 20 percent of the population from high-income countries account for
86 percent of all consumer spending, while the poorest 20 percent account for a meagre
1.3 percent of consumer spending.
This difference among countries internationally is reproduced proportionally within
countries.
36
Poverty and gender discrimination
The United Nations estimates that 70 percent of the 1.3 billion poor in the world
are women. Women-headed families are poorer than families headed by men.
This contrasts with the advance of education among women, but can be
explained in part by the discrimination and social exclusion women suffer.
An example of this social exclusion can be seen in the political participation of women
in Latin America, where only 10 percent of all elected positions are held by women.
Discrimination affects women’s poverty in the form of unequal access to power and
resources.
The “feminisation of poverty” is a concept that illustrates the inequitable distribution of
socio-economic benefits between men and women.
The “gender order” and women’s poverty
The sexual division of labour is the foundation of the gender order. This can be seen not
only in the specific division of labour —productive and reproductive— between men
and women, but also through shared ideas of what is feminine and what is masculine.
It concerns gender identity; the patterns of behaviour, values and expectations made
by society of people according to their sex. The division of labour is a factor in women’s
poverty because it limits their access to economic resources and limit their access to
the decision-makers and policies that nonetheless affect their role in society.
The responsibility for housework and family care that most women bear generally tends
to limit their time and earning power, and thus restricts their access to economic, cultural,
social and political resources.
At the same time, women’s reproductive work is given little economic value in our
society —it is not a market transaction, so it is much less valued than men’s economic
roles, which tend to be more measurable and more visible.
Women dedicate a great number of hours a day to unpaid domestic activities (house
work chores, childcare, caring for the infirm and elderly, etc.). For broad sectors of
society, this limits women’s participation under equal conditions in the public sphere
and generates economic dependence of women on men.
Women also enjoy more limited access to resources: ownership of homes and
businesses, capital, loans. Educational and training systems tend to reproduce traditional
patterns of gender relations and identity which assign women’s work a lesser value.
37
See:
www.cintefor.org.uy/
mujer/doc/cinter/
equidad/cap1/wi /
index.htm
Poor women especially face difficulties in obtaining paid work, due to the obstacles of
domestic responsibilities, lack of training and cultural barriers against education.
Women’s restricted access to political power can be seen in the absence of women’s
specific interests from the political, economic and labour agendas. Poverty is often
perceived as “neutral” in terms of gender. When this occurs, these policies tend to
reproduce gender inequalities.
Scenes from the life of Ana
Ana is at a meeting at her son’s high school. All the parents there are women, except for one father.
Ana: How nice that you attend these meetings. Not all fathers do.
Father: Yes, I try to help out.
Ana: So, what do you think we should do to keep our children from bringing to school all this junk food
that they see on TV?
Father: Well, I don’t know, my wife takes care of lunch and food shopping.
Legal rights are not always applied in practice. Nor are they applied equally to all.
■
Do women face more difficulties than men in having their consumer
rights respected?
■
Are there other sectors in society who encounter similar difficulties?
■
Does the degree of difficulty vary according to social level and wealth?
The economic and market rules that frame a person’s possibilities to access products
and services are conditioned by decisions made in spheres of influence in which
consumers –men and women– have little input, participation or say.
38
Scenes from the life of Doris
Doris had to take her computer in for repair. A male friend offered to drive her to the repair shop.
Doris: Here’s the computer I called about.
Technician: Yes, let’s see. (Addressing Doris’s friend): This computer is in bad shape. I can repair it, but
you’ll have to treat it more carefully.
Friend: Hey, this computer isn’t mine. It’s hers.
Technician: Yes, it’s just that...
The decision-making power of poor people to satisfy basic needs is limited. Poverty
reduces the scope for autonomy, and low-income sectors look to public policies to
ameliorate market forces and provide minimum guarantees for consumer and other
social, economic and civic rights.
Scenes from the life of Consuelo
Consuelo participates in a neighbourhood meeting to stop the dangerous and illegal sale of fireworks
for New Year’s Eve. The neighbours decide to speak to the owner of the local business that sells fireworks
and delegation of five women visits the store.
Women: We’re here on behalf of the community.
Store Owner: Come back another day; I don’t have time now.
Women: But we need to speak to you about a serious problem...
Store Owner: I don’t have time now, I said.
Women: But we need an explanation.
Store Owner: I don’t have to give explanations to anyone... (He leaves).
(The group of women returns with a man, who speaks to the owner).
Man: Good afternoon. These women tell me you don’t want to listen to them.
Store Owner: What’s it about?
Man: It’s about the sale of fireworks. You know they’re illegal because they’re dangerous...
Store Owner: Uff, but they didn’t tell me. If only they’d said what they wanted to talk about.
39
Exercises
Conduct a survey in your community asking the following
questions, then discuss your findings. What do your neighbours
understand about the right to satisfy basic needs and the reasons
for the unequal distribution of wealth and gender discrimination?
■
Do low-income consumers have sufficient access to food? What about
access to safe water, electricity, gas and other basic household utilities?
■
Are basic household utilities subsidised for low-income groups? Is this
an adequate method of protecting consumer rights? If not, what can
be done?
■
Are there loans or housing programmes for low-income residents?
■
Is pre-school education accessible to all?
■
Do women face restrictions in access to education or health care,
(including reproductive health services)?
Consumption within families
Consumption is an important issue within the family and the root of many tensions.
Consumption can be a means of expressing feelings and happiness, but it can also be
the cause of conflicts and disagreement.
Each family member tries to satisfy some (or many) of his or her needs through goods
and services offered in the market. The family group as a unit does the same.
40
Secondary poverty
For many women, secondary poverty is as problematic as poverty itself.
Some households are not considered poor in terms of income. But within
these homes, women and children may live in conditions of poverty because
the resources available to them are far lower than total household income.
This is termed secondary poverty.
Studies show that men typically spend an average of 50 to 70 percent of their
income on family upkeep. Women, on the other hand, use all or almost all of
their income to satisfy household needs and support their children.10
Many interesting experiences have been developed around the world to overcome
obstacles to the satisfaction of basic needs in situations of social crisis or economic
emergency. Women are often leaders of initiatives, —like soup kitchens, barter fairs
and buying co-ops— that promote solidarity, mutual support and co-operation through
consumption.
■
Do you know of experiences of this type in your community or country?
■
What are the main characteristics of these experiences?
41
10. Bradshaw, Sara.
“Análisis de género en
la evaluación de los
efectos
socioeconómicos de
los desastres naturales”. 2000.
Exercises
Using the following questionnaire, interview men and women separately.
Who sets the rules that govern consumption patterns in the private sphere?
How do family members interact to organise activities related to consumption?
Who chooses what?
Who makes the decisions?
What kinds of decisions are made by men and what kinds of decision are made by
women?
Who does what?
How are medium and long-range family objectives established?
How are conflicts resolved?
How are priorities set?
Organise the answers and discuss the results in a group.
42
Autonomy to choose
Read and reflect
How Households Work
One model that explains the ways that households function is the
“co-operation/conflict” model, based on the concept of negotiation.
Family members seek to improve their own individual situation as well as
collective family welfare, thus establishing different and sometimes conflicting
priorities. Resolving these differences depends on the negotiating skills of each
family member.
Factors that influence individual negotiating capabilities or positions include each
member’s view of his or her self-esteem and self-worth, and each person’s
perception of how they are valued by other family members. Both perceptions
depend upon how the individual’s contribution to family well-being is valued. This
is often expressed in the amount of resources –for example (but not exclusively),
the income that each family member can contribute.
Women are often in a weaker negotiating position than men are because their
contribution to family income may be less visible, unacknowledged or viewed as
less valuable. This also may affect how the unappreciated woman values herself.
Apart from economic contributions, other factors also influence the negotiating
potential of family members.
Over time, individual family members develop different kinds of leverage in the
decision-making process and different positions of power over decisions
concerning resource use.
43
Household members may co-operate with one another for the benefit of the group,
but some will usually benefit more and others less. Co-operation occurs as long
as everyone wins, but conflicts can occur when differing negotiating positions
mean that some gain more than others. Women are often raised to accommodate
others and sacrifice their self-interests in these kinds of situations.
11. Bradshaw. op. cit.
Events outside the home, like participation in social organisations, influence the
negotiating positions within families. Members who lack opportunities for selfdevelopment outside the home will tolerate more inequality in the access of
resources than will others.” 11
Group Discussion
■
Within the family, what role do women play in making plans for the future?
Which family members are likely to assume responsibility for what
activities?
■
How is free time distributed within the family? Do women enjoy the
same amount of free time as men?
■
What do the women you know think about this situation?
The elements of choice
The possibility of selecting the goods and services that best suit individual interests,
tastes and purposes is a clear indicator of the degree of autonomy that an individual
can exercise.
Certain requirements must be met in order to fully guarantee the right to choose.
44
Requirements to exercise choice
■
A supply of diverse goods and services at competitive prices, with
guarantee of satisfactory quality
■
Control of abusive and restrictive business practices
■
Suitable products that comply with adequate conditions of safety,
durability, usefulness and reliability, backed by guarantees
■
Availability of reliable post-sale services.
While the rights and mechanisms to enforce these conditions must be legally established,
they do not guarantee the exercise of choice. Market and power relations play a decisive
role.
Conditions for choice
Rules of conduct are more explicit in the public sphere than in the private sphere. But
the application of these rules is far from guaranteed.
The right to choose is a feature of consumer legislation, and this right is applicable to
men and women. But in practice, we find many situations in which exercising the right
to choice is difficult, if not impossible.
Information and education
To be able to choose, people need to be familiar with the different options available to
them. This is possible only through access to full, accurate and timely information.
■
Who is responsible for providing this information?
■
Do producers provide all the information we need to make informed
decisions?
45
Information is sometimes false or misleading. Or consumers may not possess the criteria
necessary to make good use of information provided. Education is necessary to process
this information. Consumers have a right to this kind of orientation.
It is the consumer’s responsibility to demand ways to acquire the knowledge that he or
she needs to act. This is important not only for choosing the goods or services most
suitable for our specific needs, but to be able to select goods that meet certain criteria,
such as environmental safety or respectful of workers’ rights.
Consumers must be provided with the information they need to use their buying power
to reward or punish companies that respect, or fail to respect, environmental, social
and labour criteria. Many cosmetic products, for example, carry labels declaring that
they have been produced without experimenting on animals. Where are the clothing
labels that guarantee that a garment has been produced by workers in decent conditions
at a fair wage?
■
Do consumers receive all the information they need to make informed
choices?
■
Do they have sufficient knowledge to make use of this information?
■
Who is responsible for providing information and offering education?
■
When do men and women have special requirements for information?
Advertising is not information
Surely the most frequent messages we receive come from advertising. But often as
not, ads don’t inform us about the products or services they publicise. Instead, they
sell an image or a lifestyle projected by the people who use these products, and the
promise of how happy we would be buying the same things and becoming like
them.
Advertising appeals to emotions, and not always the noblest emotions. Ads can
appeal to stereotypes, prejudices and beliefs of the target public. Advertising is
notorious for depicting women as sexual objects or as submissive and subordinated,
their lives revolving around household chores and similar messages that reinforce
gender inequality.
46
Discrimination and self-imposed limitations
Discrimination works against women’s right to make autonomous choices.
■
When a couple enters a store, who does the salesperson usually
address?
■
Who is expected to order the menu at a restaurant?
■
Who do technical repair employees pay more attention to when a couple
complains about a faulty product?
Many women lack the assertiveness necessary to stand up for their rights.
This is an issue of utmost importance in consumer education activities, because
respect for consumer rights hinges largely on how people exercise and demand
these rights in their daily lives. Learning to practice consumer rights is a basic
aim of consumer education.
Representation and the exercise of civic rights
Choice among alternatives is not limited to shopping but extends to the public arena.
Consumers must play a role in determining the policies that create the frameworks for
consumption patterns, options and opportunities.
Our role as consumers can be viewed as a civic responsibility. This occurs in two ways.
The first is when consumers make informed choices to select goods and services,
produced in accordance with respect for environmental and labour rights. The second
is when consumers exercise a voice in the political decisions that affect them, through
participation in social organisations.
47
Group Discussion
Discuss the following issues and suggest ways to address them through organising
and action.
■
Are certain types of demands particularly relevant to women as
consumers?
■
Does your organisation represent the specific interests of women
consumers in its advocacy of consumer rights in the public arena? In
the business sector?
■
How many women hold leadership positions in your organisation?
■
In what ways do the demands and tensions of the market — through
advertising, conspicuous consumption, keeping up with the Joneses,
creating stereotypes, etc. — invade our lives and our families? How
does this affect women?
■
How do women cope with these pressures as individuals? How do they
cope as members of a family group?
■
What measures can consumers and/or women’s organisations take to
build a culture of respect and equality in gender relations? in consumer
relations?
48
Pro-equality strategies
Gender equity in consumer relations requires a two-track approach that involves the
elimination of barriers in the public sphere and changes in behaviours and attitudes in
the private sphere.
In the public sphere, efforts can focus on obtaining or increasing advocacy for policies
to address women’s particular needs before the relevant government institutions and
agencies. In Latin America, consumer representation in public policy is already limited,
making the need to incorporate gender perspectives to address the distinct situations
faced by women and men (and youths, and the elderly and other minority and/or
vulnerable sectors) as consumers even greater.
To achieve this, gender analysis and specific consideration of women’s needs must
become part of the consumer movement agenda. This approach does not contradict
other work being conducted by consumer organisations, nor does it lessen the
development of parallel strategies aimed at the general population. On the contrary, a
gendered approach to consumer protection can strengthen all aspects of consumer
advocacy for men and for women, by deepening understanding of the situations faced
by both.
49
Workshops
These workshops can be used as guides for activities or preparing material. They are
designed to provide participants with the opportunity to create, through exercises, the
respectful interaction on equal terms that this manual aims to promote in the spheres of
gender and consumer relations.
As in all training exercises, contents should reflect the experiences of participants and
build upon the elements that participants deem significant, using language they are
familiar with.
We start from the premise that gender and consumer relations are part of everyone’s
daily lives, and that everyone has experiences to share and something to say. The aim
of group discussions is to share and systematise individual opinions within a set of
common values and objectives.
Workshop # 1
Human rights through a gender lens
Objectives
■
Identify the human rights acknowledged internationally.
■
Identify differences in the ways that men and women perceive respect
for and compliance with these rights.
■
Design strategies to obtain respect for the human rights for all people
Duration
First part: 45 minutes
Second part: 45 minutes
Participants
A monitor and two teams. For the first part of the exercise, one team should have only
men and the other team only women.
Activities
The monitor introduces the topic with a brief overview of human rights (see page 15)
and gives instructions.
50
First part
Men and women break into groups.
The topic is: How are these rights respected in our lives?
■
Each team receives a set of 14 cards. (See page 53). Each card lists one
right and a box to note answers.
One participant selects a card at random and reads the right. Group
discussion follows and an answer decided upon (“Always”, “Sometimes”
or “Never”) and noted on the answer sheet. (See page 54). The group
should come up with three reasons or examples to justify each answer.
A second participant takes a new card, and the procedure is repeated.
Another possibility is for each group to select the rights they consider
most relevant, and work on those.
■
Each group presents the results of its discussion to the others. Use a
large sheet of paper taped to the wall to note the answers.
The monitor states: “To measure compliance with these rights, we are
going to assign points to each answer: ‘Always’ receives 3 points;
‘Sometimes’ receives 2 points and ‘Never’ receives 1 point.” Once all
answers have been recorded, add up the points.
The monitor solicits commentary with the following questions: “What
do you think of these rankings?” “Do you see significant differences in
compliance for different rights?” “What reasons might explain these
differences?”
After brief discussion, the monitor summarises findings and explains
that the second part of this exercise will discuss ways to eliminate these
differences and raise the total score.
Second part
This time, divide into mixed groups (men and women)
The sheets with answers to the first part of the exercise should remain taped to the
wall.
The topic is: Suggest ways to improve the score for compliance of rights.
51
Groups should work on the rights that received the lowest score.
The list of reasons noted in the first part should be used as a guide.
■
What must be done to raise scores, so that the reasons listed change
for the better?
■
What should governments do to promote these changes?
■
Should different measures be taken for men and for women?
■
What can our organisation do?
■
What can I do as an individual?
■
Are certain measures capable of obtaining improvements to compliance
with more than one right ?
Groups should prepare and post their answers on the wall.
The monitor invites participants to summarise measures discussed and responsibilities
identified.
Responsibilities
Measures
Organisations
Governments
Shared
Women only
Men only
Evaluation
Each group lists 10 answers to the question: What have we learned?
Read answers aloud.
The monitor thanks the participants.
52
Individuals
1
8
The right to life
The right to choose a job
9
2
The right to reasonable working
hours
The right to freedom
3
10
The right to personal safety free from
threats, violence or aggression
The right to equal pay for equal
work.
4
11
The right to equality before the law
The right to periodic paid vacations
5
12
The right to protection against
discrimination
The right to free primary education
6
13
The right to freely marry and form a
family
The right to fully develop one’s
personality
7
14
The right to own and make
use of goods
The right to participate in public life
53
ANSWER SHEET (A = Always; S = Sometimes; N = Never)
Right
A
S
N
Reasons and examples
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
54
Workshop # 2
Women’s world, men’s world
Objectives
■
Examine the different tasks assigned by society to men and to women.
■
Identify differing perceptions of society by men and women.
■
Identify certain limitations faced by women in the roles assigned to them
by society.
■
Discuss ways to correct gender inequality.
Activity 1: Men’s business, women’s business
Duration: 45 minutes
Participants are grouped into teams of women only and men only.
Each group will comment on what its members consider “pertaining to” the opposite sex.
A. Ask the men’s group to answer the following questions:
“What activities and attitudes do you consider normal and/or correct for
women (women’s work)?”
“What activities and attitudes do you consider inappropriate and/or
incorrect for women (women don’t do that)?”
Not appropriate for women
For women
55
B. Ask the women’s group to answer the following questions:
“What activities and attitudes do you consider normal and/or correct for
men (men’s work)?”
“What activities and attitudes do you consider inappropriate and/or
incorrect for men (men don’t do that)?”
Not appropriate for men
For men
Each group presents its findings. The monitor asks the women to comment on the
men’s answers, and vice versa.
The monitor asks the following question:
■
What tasks or activities do women perform that men are physically unable
to do?
■
What tasks or activities do men perform that women are physically unable
to do?
Conduct a brief discussion of gender roles determined by society and those determined
by biology. Pinpoint differences and discuss the ways in which these may be used as a
pretext for discrimination against women.
Conclude this activity by asking participants to imagine how the world would be if men
and women took shared responsibility for the tasks listed. The monitor may want to
read these tasks one by one, saying: “If men and women...”
56
Activity 2: Basic needs
Duration: 45 minutes
Participants are grouped into teams of women only and men only.
Each group makes a list of 10 basic needs, in order of importance. After the list is
completed, write alongside each one the material goods or conditions required to
satisfy it.
How can these be met?
Requirements for a dignified life
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Each group presents its list of priorities.
The monitor asks the following questions:
■
Which of these basic needs are life-threatening if not met?
■
Which of these needs can be satisfied by material goods? Which of
these needs can be satisfied by services? Which of these needs can be
satisfied through relationships, feelings and other intangibles?
■
Do differences exist between the priorities set by the women and men’s
groups?
■
Which needs do the men’s group identify as most important? Which
needs do the women’s group identify as most important?
■
Can we see links between the priorities identified in this exercise and
the roles discussed in Activity 1?
57
Activity 3: Negotiating a fair agreement
Duration: 45 minutes
Divide participants into two mixed groups.
Provide both groups with the lists of women’s and men’s priorities discussed in Activity 3.
The topic is: Draw up a list of priorities that all members of a family can agree to.
Each group constitutes a family with a household budget equivalent to an average
salary. Group members must define monthly income and family composition before
discussing the list.
Each item in the column of “How satisfied?” should be assigned a price.
Need
How satisfied?
Price
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Each group presents its list to the others for discussion.
■
Do these lists differ from the previous lists? How are they similar and
how are they different?
■
Did members within each group have different priorities? How did
members resolve these differences?
■
Was the process of deciding within groups similar or different from the
process used in your family to organise the household budget?
Evaluation: Break into mixed groups and take five minutes to evaluate this exercise.
Can these exercises provide ideas to help women and men build balanced relationships
in the course of identifying and satisfying basic needs?
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Workshop # 3
A day in the life of a consumer
This exercise is designed to illustrate how expectations and tasks based on gender
roles often result in a longer working day for women than for men.
Participants are asked to draw up a list of all their activities in a typical working day. A
second list should be drawn up for a typical day on a weekend.
Distinctions should be made between women who work outside the home, women
who do some sort of paid work at home and women who do unpaid housework.
A similar list should be drawn up for men.
Discuss the lists in order to determine how much time women spend at their paid jobs,
in shopping/bill paying, in housework, on themselves, etc.
Workshop # 4
Complaining is good
Objectives
■
Identify women’s rights as consumers
■
Appreciate the value of assertive attitudes in consumer relations
■
Practise exercising consumer rights
Duration: 45 minutes
The monitor introduces the topic, highlighting the fact that consumption is more than
simply purchasing goods, and discussing the links between exercising one’s consumer
rights and one’s civic rights. The monitor can also ask the group to consider the links
previously discussed between women’s rights and consumer rights.
The monitor asks participants to describe situations in their daily lives where they are
put into the role of consumer or service user, and to write these down. Once participants
have come up with a variety of situations, a summary of the different kinds of activities
is prepared. The monitor then asks if participants have experienced problems as
consumers, and how individual participants have attempted to resolve these problems.
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Group activity
Based on the experiences shared by the group, invent a hypothetical situation in which
a producer violates consumer rights.
Then imagine two scenarios for consumer response: one involving a woman, the other
a man. Ask participants to prepare a role-play of both alternatives, explaining the
consumer right(s) involved and how they have been ignored.
Ask the group to discuss if women have more difficulties than men in the effort to have
their consumer rights respected, including the right to redress. Discuss strategies to
help women become more effective in voicing their consumer complaints and demanding
their rights.
Evaluation
Ask participants to come up with a slogan on the best way to have consumer rights
respected. Share these with the group.
Workshop # 5
Consumer rights for women
Objectives
■
Identify obstacles that women face in exercising their rights as consumers
■
Recognise the importance of exercising those rights
■
Identify actions to motivate women to exercise consumer rights
Activities
The monitor presents an overview of consumer rights and explains their scope.
Participants divide into groups of men only and women only and ask the following
question: “What obstacles do women encounter in exercising their consumer rights?
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Rights
Obstacles
Activity*
Satisfy basic needs
Safe goods
Information
Choice
Representation
Redress
Consumer education
Safe environment
*Activities conducted on a regular basis that involve the exercise of the corresponding right.
Each group presents its list.
Do men and women encounter the same kinds of obstacles?
Discuss the different types of obstacles encountered by men and women and classify
these into two categories:
■
obstacles that arise from interaction with people
■
obstacles rooted in laws, norms, bureaucratic structures and other
external circumstances
Ask groups to discuss these two categories and suggest ways to overcome the obstacles
identified, indicating the individuals and/or institutions that could implement these
measures.
What can consumer organisations do to promote the changes identified above?
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Workshop # 6
Women and advertising
Objectives
■
Identify the cultural and sexist stereotypes prevalent in advertising
■
Assess the various roles assigned to women and men in advertising
messages
■
Analyse advertising critically
Activity 1
Divide into mixed groups.
Ask each group to list five memorable ads or commercials.
Product advertised
Men’s activity
Women’s activity
In the first column, participants write the type of product (not the brand) advertised.
In the second column, participants discuss and identify the activities carried out by any
men appearing in the ad. Repeat the exercise by identifying the activities conducted by
women in the same advertisement.
In this ad, who does what? Are stereotypes are used to portray women? Are stereotypes
are used to portray men?
What does the ad tell us about the product?
Does the ad provide important information about the product itself?
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Activity 2
The same groups select one of the products presented in any of the ads analysed
previously.
Create an ad or commercial that gives useful information about the product and is
free from sexist images or gender stereotypes.
Participants present these new ads to the other groups.
Ask participants to compare the original and proposed versions of the ads. Discuss
whether shoppers might be more inclined to buy products advertised in ways that
present specific information about the products vs. ads that promote certain lifestyles
or imagery. How might sexist stereotypes promote, or damage, product sales?
Ask participants to play the role of advertising executives and repeat the above
exercise and discussion.
Evaluation
Ask each group to develop five guidelines for critical analysis of advertising,
commercials and other types of publicity.
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Workshop # 7
Consumer representation in public utilities
Objectives
■
Become familiar with the problems that consumers face in the provision
of public utilities.
■
Identify any differences in the experiences and perceptions of these
problems by women and by men.
■
Discuss possible actions to respond to these problems
Participants divide into groups by sex
Activity
Choose a household utility — water, electricity or telephone – for this exercise.
Discuss problems (cost, quality, access) faced by consumers of the service
Propose solutions to these problems.
The monitor should ask the following questions:
■
Do women and men consumers face different types of problems in
provision of certain utilities? Does lack of access to a particular service
(e.g. water) have a different impact on women than on men?
■
Would resolution of the problems discussed above differ if only men (or
only women) sat on the regulatory agencies that monitor public utility
providers?
■
Would resolution of the problems discussed above differ if consumer
representatives were aware of the different perspectives than women
and men consumers have on service provision (or lack of it)?
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