Beyond the Pink Tax: Gender-Based Pricing and Differentiation of Personal Care ProductsGuittar, Stephanie Gonzalez; Grauerholz, Liz; Kidder, Erin N.; Daye, Shameika D.; McLaughlin, Megan
doi: 10.1007/s12147-021-09280-9pmid: N/A
Previous research has established a pricing disparity of consumer goods and services by gender such that women pay more for the same products and services than men, the so-called pink tax. This study expands this research by examining whether these price disparities persist across a wider range of personal care products including lotions, deodorants, shaving gels/creams, razors, razor cartridges, body sprays, bar soaps, liquid soaps, and shampoos. Using the largest sample of these products to date, we examined over 3000 products to test gendered pricing across these products. Our findings suggest that gender-pricing is not pervasive across products or consistently punitive toward women. Women pay more for deodorants/antiperspirants and lotions than men, while men tend to pay more for shaving creams/gels than women. Our analysis reveals another, perhaps more insidious, process at work however: the proliferation of gender differentiation for products that makes price-comparisons for the average consumer difficult. Both gender differentiation and the pink tax are founded on essentialist thinking about gender, and further reify gender structures and inequality in society.
Boys’ Gymnastics Experience and Hegemonic Masculinity from Parents’ Perspectives in TurkeyKavasoğlu, İrem; Alakurt, Tuğçe
doi: 10.1007/s12147-021-09274-7pmid: N/A
The study aimed to explore how parents, who play an important role in the construction of masculinity, construct hegemonic masculinity through their sons’ gymnastics experiences. Ten parents (five mothers and five fathers) from Adana, in Turkey, were interviewed about the gendered social context and hegemonic masculinity of their son’s gymnastics experiences. Data were analyzed according to the thematic analysis method. Parents see gymnastics as a sport that helps prepare their son's body for masculinity and for the future in the main sports they will be interested in. Both mothers and fathers want the sports branch their sons play at later ages to be compatible with hegemonic masculinity. Parents' perceptions and Turkish patriarchal society regulates the boys' bodies according to hegemonic masculinity values. However, the boys exhibition of their gymnastics skills gives them privileged status among their peers at school. As a result, boys' gymnastic experiences form an important role model for other boys.
Gender Struggle Within Complex Religious Realities: Druze Women in Israel as a Case StudyBarakat, Ebtesam
doi: 10.1007/s12147-021-09275-6pmid: N/A
Druze society in Israel is culturally close to the general Arab society, particularly in terms of language and social norms, such as the importance of family honor. Druze society is relatively more conservative, due to its geographic isolation in a rural environment; the limited access to religious scriptures, which are only allowed to be read by religious people; and the lack of new formal interpretation of these scriptures. These unique religious characteristics burden Druze women and limit their sphere of action in their struggle against oppression. The current manuscript argues that while there is no formal structure that allows women to fight patriarchy in Druze society, many Druze women wage daily struggles for their basic rights. These struggles lead to a change in the social norms, and thus to a transformation of rural social behaviors. This manuscript focuses on two main fields in which these struggles take place: the struggle to realize women’s personal choices in issues like choosing their friends and realizing their sexuality, and the struggle for a greater mobility. The findings reveal two key strategies employed by these women: istighāba—realizing sexual desires in a hidden domain to avoid sanction, and bargaining with their family to expand their mobility.
Lesbian and Bisexual Women’s Experience of Emergency ManagementParkinson, D.; Duncan, Alyssa; Leonard, William; Archer, Frank
doi: 10.1007/s12147-021-09276-5pmid: N/A
As climate change exacerbates exposure to disasters, a growing body of scholarship provides evidence that some groups experience significant barriers in accessing and participating in emergency services. This article reports on the findings of an exploratory, qualitative study involving in-depth interviews with four lesbian or bisexual women in Australia. The aim of the study is to better understand the degree to which emergency services’ policies, programs and procedures accommodate diversity and the needs of lesbian and bisexual women as ‘clients’ and paid staff or volunteers. Results are organised under five key categories: language; discrimination; sector acknowledgment; the role of faith-based organisations; and ways forward. The data is presented through the women’s voices and documents their lived experiences of discrimination. The study provides an opportunity to consider how discrimination against sexual and gender identity diverse minorities (LGBT people) intersects with, as it draws on, discrimination against women, increasing lesbian and bisexual women’s experiences of marginalisation as emergency sector clients, employees and volunteers. It also provides an opportunity to address the effects of systemic discrimination in the organisation and delivery of emergency services, promoting a more diverse and inclusive emergency sector.
Adolescent Exposure to Domestic Violence in a South African City: Implications for Prevention and InterventionRasool, Shahana
doi: 10.1007/s12147-021-09279-2pmid: N/A
A cross-sectional survey conducted with adolescents in their first year of high school in Johannesburg (a South African City) indicates that adolescents have witnessed up to 2.8 incidents of domestic violence. Adolescents were more likely to witness physical and sexual violence among family members than adult intimate partners. However, they reported higher levels of emotional abuse among adult intimate partners than among family members. In addition, the results suggest differential exposure by gender, with boys being more likely than girls to have reported witnessing sexual domestic violence. Girls were however more likely than boys to report witnessing physical and emotional domestic violence. The impact of the high levels of violence that adolescents are exposed to needs to be addressed, since this could result in the perpetuation of domestic violence across generations. Critically, efforts need to be made to prevent domestic violence, to increase the safety of children in the home and to assist those with the trauma associated from witnessing violence. Moreover, there is a need to address the underlying gender attitudes, norms, and stereotypes that perpetuate violence through intervention and prevention programmes in various spheres, especially schools, if we are to prevent the inter-generational cycle of violence.