Johanna Lessinger “Inside, Outside, Selling…”

ThemesGender  Regional Differences? (So. Vs. No. India)  Class Differences?  W/C Gender Norms?  Family  At work  Inside/Outside  Why are women pulled into market work? Negotiating Gender  How does the inside/outside norm shape how women experience the public sphere of work?  How do women negotiate the tension between traditional gender norms & work?  Does this challenge the system of gender?

Norms: women, inside/ men, outside (public sphere) Middle & upper class = less traditional Working class & poor = traditional Male breadwinner role important Male breadwinner role important Family status linked to stay-at-home women Family status linked to stay-at-home women Women in public exposed to male gaze/sexual objectification Women in public exposed to male gaze/sexual objectificationWork  Outside Experience of Work  Women marginalized No credit in wholesale market No credit in wholesale market Wholesale market threat to reputation Wholesale market threat to reputation Least profitable stalls, lower quality goods Least profitable stalls, lower quality goods Women with male partner do better Women with male partner do better

Negotiating Gender Two strategies: Self sacrificing mothers Public chaperonage Other strategies Using kinship terms in interaction w/ male vendors.