Abstract
The tenth chapter discusses a number of issues concerning gendered preferences. These include the embedded consumption characteristics of males and females arising from the roles they play in social and family contexts. This chapter also examines the rise of one-person households. To minimise the effects of embedded gender roles on consumption preferences, the chapter examines allocative and progressive preferences of male and female one-person households in two countries: United States and Australia. It reviews male and female allocations for different commodity groups in these two countries, and ownership of big-ticket items (housing and motor vehicles) in the United States. It highlights differences in the allocation for the consumption of major types of generic commodities between the two sexes and also in their progression as their income and expenditure levels rise. In view of the differential mortality between males and females in the two countries, the analysis also looks at commodity preferences over the life-cycle of males and females. It identifies generic product preferences of the two sexes during different phases of the life cycle. Finally, it identifies common traits of gendered consumer behaviour.
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Notes
- 1.
A review of perspectives on sex differentiation is contained in Chapter 2.
- 2.
In general, male headed households have on average higher incomes (USCB, 2000).
- 3.
The term basic in this context refers to commodities on which household expenditures rise less than proportionally as household income increases.
- 4.
Chapter 2 discusses different perspectives on consumer and gendered behaviour.
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Martins, J.M., Yusuf, F., Swanson, D.A. (2011). Gendered Preferences and One-Person Households. In: Consumer Demographics and Behaviour. The Springer Series on Demographic Methods and Population Analysis, vol 30. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-1855-5_10
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