RIGHTS-CHILE: Consuming Female Generosity

By Daniela Estrada Reprint | | Print |

Daniela Estrada

SANTIAGO, May 23 2006 (IPS) - Consumer habits and time use are particularly apt indicators of society’s gender inequities, according to Chilean experts who also criticised public and private-enterprise policies for undermining the status of women.

“Consumer patterns reflect several inequalities. Men and women do not have the same access to goods, and have different uses and reasons in mind when they make purchases,” anthropologist Paula Alcaíno told IPS. Alcaíno is co-author of “Santas o Mundanas. Paradojas y coerciones en el consumo de las mujeres” (Saints or Materialists: Paradoxes and Coercions in Female Consumption Patterns), the first work of its kind in Chile.

Applying a gender lens to consumption reveals that many situations considered “normal” by society actually prevent women from realising their full potential, say Alcaíno and sociologist Paulina Gutiérrez in their study, published by Chile’s Women’s Institute Foundation.

The authors describe female consumer patterns as an “economy of generosity”, characterised by altruism that benefits the family.

“Women – particularly those at a certain level of income, whether their own or their husbands’ – make purchases for family members first, neglecting their own personal needs,” explained Alcaíno.

In other words, women do not always use what they buy for themselves, becoming a kind of “dual consumer” – their purchases are often destined for husbands, children or other relatives.

“For example, women spend time taking their children to the doctor. This isn’t to say that men do not, but studies show they do it much less often,” added the anthropologist.

In fact, domestic work is still seen as a female domain. “Even when women enter the paid workforce, time-use studies show an unequal division of labour. They sometimes turn to domestic help or their mothers for assistance, but it’s always women that must ensure that domestic duties are taken care of.”

“A third element of the ‘economy of generosity’ is that society has instilled in women the concept of self-sacrifice, putting others first and setting aside their own needs. Many women feel guilty as soon as they step outside this prescribed behaviour; they feel like ‘bad’ mothers or ‘bad’ wives. They face recrimination from society and even blame themselves,” explained Alcaíno.

Irma Arraigada, of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean’s (ECLAC) Social Affairs Division, agrees with the Saints or Materialists authors, who state that “society holds women responsible for the family.”

“Women are working in the paid labour market and in the house, which has exponentially increased their labour hours. Men need to be convinced to help around the house,” she told IPS.

The book, published in April, also criticises politicians. It says that some state officials, in their search for ostensibly neutral ground, have ignored the status of women, particularly in regards to the sexual division of labour. Such stances have perpetuated a reality in which women are responsible for the lion’s share of housework, childcare and support for other family members (the ill or elderly).

Chilean health reform is one concrete example. Measures to cut supply and human resources costs by encouraging outpatient surgeries do not take into account the fact that a woman will likely have to provide the patient follow-up homecare.

Public policy, ad campaigns and banking strategies “assume and view as desirable that women will manage their resources, savings and consumption patterns with the people under their care and protection in mind.”

“Buying habits have turned women into a major marketing and advertising target, yet social protection or state benefits are not designed with women in mind,” or taking into account the support work they perform, Lezak Shallat, of the non-governmental organisation Consumers International, told IPS.

Although the purchasing habits of young, professional and independent women lean more towards personal satisfaction than altruism, once they start a family they inevitably enter the “economy of generosity,” said Alcaíno.

Shallat, a journalist by profession, also underscored the time pressures women currently face, citing Brazilian author Rosiska Darcy de Oliveira, whose 2003 book “Reingeniería del Tiempo” (Time Reengineering), defined the title concept as “an attempt to rethink the day-to-day lives of men and women.”

“She (Darcy de Oliveira) notes that time reengineering would have the same impact on society as the abolition of slavery did,” explained Shallat.

The Brazilian researcher’s proposal includes practical measures such as changing the hours of public services and schools, establishing flexible schedules in companies, facilitating the ability to work from home, in addition to the required cultural shift.

According to Alcaíno, “studies show that men and women have the same amount of free time, but they use it very differently; women limit themselves to the home, TV and radio, which restricts their social life, participation in political organisations and access to power.”

Likewise, most enterprises do not offer the conditions necessary for women to fully realise their potential in the various aspects of their lives.

The Women’s Institute publication cites temporary and informal employment, overrepresentation at the bottom of corporate hierarchies, longer work days and low pay as perpetuating traditional gender roles and increasing inequality in time use.

Exacerbating this situation is the fact that women’s economic-activity rates in Chile are among the lowest in Latin America. Seventy percent of males over 15 have paid employment, as opposed to 35 percent of women û a proportion that drops even further in poor and rural sectors.

Because they receive lower pay, women have more difficulty getting bank loans, which limits their purchasing power, particularly in terms of high-ticket items such as houses or vehicles.

Furthermore, the cumulative effects of a double workday that includes paid work, housework and childcare; limited economic autonomy; and scant time for rest, leisure and participation in public life can take a serious physical and mental toll.

Health Ministry studies show that Chilean women have a higher incidence of obesity, depression symptoms and prescription drug use, abuse and addiction – including benzodiazepines (tranquilisers), sedatives and analgesics û although they are not more likely to use illegal drugs.

“Today, social integration is achieved through consumerism – a realm that has the power to include, exclude and generate identities. The purpose of our work was to examine how women can change the situation in which they find themselves and exercise a new kind of citizenship,” said Alcaíno.

In their next project, the authors are setting out to “relate the consumer movement with the women’s movement, and prove that they are not two separate areas, but rather that they intersect and have common demands.”