Международный научно-образовательный электронный журнал

Название публикации:
«GENDER ASPECTS OF REPRESENTATION OF 
BINARY 
OPPOSITION 
MAN 
AND 
WOMAN 
IN 
LINGUISTIC 
CONSCIOUSNESS» 
Annotation: 
The last two decades have seen exponential growth and 
development of research on gender issues in marketing and consumer research. This 
special edition of Marketing Theory, along with the ongoing biennial Association for 
Consumer Research Gender, Marketing and Consumer Research conference series, 
now approaching its tenth edition, demonstrates the continued interest in gender issues 
in our disciplines. Gender in consumer and market research is progressing. 
Key words: 
Consumer research, Critical marketing, Feminism, Gender 
conferences, Gender theory 
Introduction
The last two decades have seen exponential growth and development of research 
on gender issues in marketing and consumer research. This special edition of 
Marketing Theory, along with the ongoing biennial Association for Consumer 
Research Gender, Marketing and Consumer Research conference series, now 
approaching its tenth edition, demonstrates the continued interest in gender issues in 
our disciplines. Gender in consumer and market research is progressing. However, 
there are still significant aporias, absences, and areas for future development that are 
evident in the field. For example, early concerns about disciplinary change (Bristor and 
Fischer, 1993; Hirschman, 1993) have all but disappeared from the canon of gender 
studies, and feminism in particular seems to have fallen by the wayside (Bettany and 

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Woodruffe-Burton, 2009; Catterall et al., 2005). There are still many areas within 
marketing and consumer research where gender and feminist research could offer new 
insights, theories and approaches.
Method
It is clear that much has been achieved in Western societies to improve the 
inequalities between men and women that prompted the early pioneers of gender and 
feminist studies to make their voices heard. However, significant inequalities based on 
gender lines still remain a ubiquitous part of developed Western societies and are even 
more pressing in developing countries. Despite the fact that in the UK girls outperform 
boys in almost all characteristics in secondary education and account for almost half of 
the labor force in the workplace (Walby et al., 2008), the UK Labor Force Survey 
(2006) shows a persistent score of 21 .7% difference in gross hourly wages for men 
and women. Sex and Power (EHRC, 2008), the UK's annual review of women in 
positions of influence and authority, finds that the glass ceiling is still very much intact. 
Except for a few characteristics, progress towards gender equality at the highest level 
is actually in a backward motion or virtual standstill. At the current rate of progress, it 
is calculated that it will take an additional 75 years (up from 65 years last year) to reach 
an equal number of women directors from FTSE 100 organizations and approximately 
200 more years to achieve an equal number to be reached by MPs in the UK Parliament. 
Women currently hold only 11% of the FTSE 100 directorships (executive and non-
executive) and the same percentage hold higher ranks within the police force. That 
number drops to 0.4% of higher ranks in the armed forces. Only 9% of senior judges 
in the UK are women and 14% of university vice-chancellors. The UK (19.3%) and the 
US (16.8%) currently rank 70th and 83rd respectively for women's representation in 
Parliament, surpassed by Rwanda (48.8%), Afghanistan (27, 7%) and Iraq (25.5%). 
(Interparliamentary Union, 2008). As described by Gregory (2009), despite decades of 
equality legislation, women are often confronted with male homosociality when trying 
to break into senior positions in organizations and public life. This takes the form of 
old (and new) boy networks, male bonding, banter and sexist humor, and off-work 

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activities that create a higher-level culture characterized by hegemonic masculinity and 
correspondingly hostility toward female participants (see also Connell, 2005; Nixon, 
2003).