Why More Women? Issues of Gender and Political Consumerism

Attitudinal studies on political consumerism show that women more than men are involved in political consumerist activities. This chapter reviews examples of women's involvement in a variety of historical political consumerist settings—from revolutions and struggles for social justice, fair trade, and civil rights, to international politics. Women also played a key role in market-based action for social justice, as shown in the food boycotts of the early 1900s. The chapter shows that political consumerist involvement is characterized by local sites of action, horizontal networks, flexibility, individualized and serial participation, intense communication among the participants, crisscrossing of the private and public spheres, and transnational institution-building. It discusses the proposed explanations of the gender gap and considers "the productivity, creativity, autonomy, rebelliousness and even the 'authority' of the consumer". The chapter also shows how political consumerism gives tangibility to politics.