Multiplying Themselves: Women Cosmetics Sellers in Ecuador

Erynn Masi de Casanova

Feminist Economics, 2011, vol. 17, issue 2, 1-29

Abstract: With the “feminization of labor,” more women in developing countries are working for pay, but that work is precarious and often exists in the informal economy. This paper examines the situation of Ecuadorian women selling cosmetics through a multilevel direct sales organization in which earnings are dependent on the amount of product sold and the number of sellers recruited. This relatively new type of gendered, paid employment promises to help women achieve balance between paid work and family responsibilities. Using ethnographic methods to explore direct-selling mothers' identities, strategies, and struggles, this study finds that such a balance remains elusive for these women sellers, despite the purported flexibility of direct sales work. It discusses the finding that women think about their paid work and family roles as connected and examines the myth prevalent among direct sellers that successfully balancing paid work and family comes from “organizing yourself.”

Keywords: Women and work; family responsibilities; informal economy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13545701.2011.568419 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:femeco:v:17:y:2011:i:2:p:1-29

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/RFEC20

DOI: 10.1080/13545701.2011.568419

Access Statistics for this article

Feminist Economics is currently edited by Diana Strassmann

More articles in Feminist Economics from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().