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Informationen zum Autor By Erynn Masi de Casanova Klappentext 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. Zusammenfassung This first in-depth study of a cosmetics direct selling organization in Latin America considers how women’s experiences in the informal employment sector can illuminate our understandings of work and gender in Ecuador and other developing countries. Inhaltsverzeichnis PrefaceAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: Avon Ladies in the Amazon?Part I. Gender Relations: Women, Men, and Work Chapter 1. Multiplying Themselves: Women Direct Sellers Managing Productive and Reproductive WorkChapter 2. Men Make a Difference: Opposers, Supporters, and DriversPart II. The Look: Images of Beauty, Professionalism, and Success Chapter 3. How Products Sell Themselves: Picturing Gender, Race, and Class in Yanbal's CatalogsChapter 4. Embodying Professionalism: Constructing the Yanbalista ImageChapter 5. The Picture of Success: Prizes and Status in the Direct Sales OrganizationPart 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 ContextChapter 7. Buying Beauty: Flexible Payment and Expanding ConsumptionConclusionAppendix: MethodologyReferencesIndex...
