Gender Justice and the Market: A Transformative Consumer Research Perspective

• Published in: Journal of public policy & marketing Vol. 35; no. 2; pp. 223 - 236
• Main Authors: Hein, Wendy, Steinfield, Laurel, Ourahmoune, Nacima, Coleman, Catherine A., Zayer, Linda Tuncay, Littlefield, Jon
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA American Marketing Association 01.09.2016; SAGE Publications; SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
• Subjects: Comprehension; Distributive justice; Equality; Gender; Gender equity; Gender studies; Intellectuals; Marketing; Markets; Participation; Policy making; Social justice; Tourism; recognition; capabilities; social justice; transformative consumer research; gender justice
• DOI: 10.1509/jppm.15.146
• ISSN: 0743-9156

Despite growing awareness of the importance of gender equality in the advancement of global economies, the involvement of marketing and policy in (re)producing and resolving gender injustices remains understudied. This article proposes a transformative consumer research approach to studying gender-related issues. It develops the "transformative gender justice framework" (TGJF), which identifies perspectives from three enfranchisement theories: social and distributive justice, capabilities approach, and recognition theory. By applying a multiparadigmatic analysis, the authors encourage a dialogic and recursive approach so that scholars and policy makers can assess the interactions between structural, agentic, and sociocultural forces that underlie gender injustices. They argue the TGJF is necessary for full comprehension of the complex, systemic, glocalized, institutionalized, and embodied nature of gender injustices, as well as how policy, markets and marketing can both perpetuate and resolve gender injustices. To demonstrate the TGJF's analytical power, the authors apply the framework to one site of gender injustice (i.e., the sex tourism industry), propose applications across additional sites, and discuss questions it raises for future research.