Making Up the Difference : : Women, Beauty, and Direct Selling in Ecuador / / Erynn Masi de Casanova.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter University of Texas Press eBook-Package Backlist 2000-2013
• VerfasserIn: Casanova, Erynn Masi de,
• Place / Publishing House: Austin : : University of Texas Press, , [2021]; ©2011
• Year of Publication: 2021
• Language: English
• Series: Louann Atkins Temple Women & Culture Series
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (261 p.)

Globalization and economic restructuring have decimated formal jobs in developing countries, pushing many women into informal employment such as direct selling of cosmetics, perfume, and other personal care products as a way to "make up the difference" between household income and expenses. In Ecuador, with its persistent economic crisis and few opportunities for financially and personally rewarding work, women increasingly choose direct selling as a way to earn income by activating their social networks. While few women earn the cars and trips that are iconic prizes in the direct selling organization, many use direct selling as part of a set of household survival strategies. In this first in-depth study of a cosmetics direct selling organization in Latin America, Erynn Masi de Casanova explores women's identities as workers, including their juggling of paid work and domestic responsibilities, their ideas about professional appearance, and their strategies for collecting money from customers. Focusing on women who work for the country's leading direct selling organization, she offers fascinating portraits of the everyday lives of women selling personal care products in Ecuador's largest city, Guayaquil. Addressing gender relations (including a look at men's direct and indirect involvement), the importance of image, and the social and economic context of direct selling, Casanova challenges assumptions that this kind of flexible employment resolves women's work/home conflicts and offers an important new perspective on women's work in developing countries.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction: Avon Ladies in the Amazon? -- PART I. Gender Relations: Women, Men, and Work -- Chapter 1. Multiplying Themselves: Women Direct Sellers Managing Productive and Reproductive Work -- Chapter 2. Men Make a Difference: Opposers, Supporters, and Drivers -- PART II. The Look: Images of Beauty, Professionalism, and Success -- Chapter 3. How Products Sell Themselves: Picturing Gender, Race, and Class in Yanbal’s Catalogs -- Chapter 4. Embodying Professionalism: Constructing the Yanbalista Image -- Chapter 5. The Picture of Success: Prizes and Status in the Direct Sales Organization -- PART III. Direct Selling in Context: Careers and Consumption -- Chapter 6. What Would They Be Doing If They Weren’t Selling Beauty Products?: Women’s Work Experiences in Context -- Chapter 7. Buying Beauty: Flexible Payment and Expanding Consumption -- Conclusion -- Appendix: A Few Words About Research Methods -- References -- Index