Economics Of Gender

The purpose of this research paper is to investigate the social pressures of shopping amongst married households and determine if gender plays a role in this chore and if so, what are the implications? We will look at the roles of male/female shopping behaviors' and the economic intuition behind it. Is the chore of shopping conforming to societal changes? In this paper we will focus on the traditional and conventional way of shopping that is in shopping malls and supermarkets rather than in catalogues, internet or info-commercials. In our research paper we will focus on the key variable, sex (female vs. male), which would be a curial determinant of going shopping along with the utility that it brings.

Researchers' have found gender gap to be profoundly evident in marriages. However, this pattern can soon be altering as more women are entering the paid work force, it will eventually eliminate this gender gap in shopping as more and more households share shopping responsibilities.

As we investigate the changing housework and the roles of males and females.

There are motives that drive the need to shop which include groceries, clothing or gifts. On a general basis, the chore of shopping for groceries is considered a boring chore as Ruby Roy Dholakia explains it. Hence, it can be seen as a household task which is dominated more so by females, because routine shopping can be viewed as a household chore rather than free time. While shopping for clothing on the other hand is more of a joy as it engages in self-expression; men and women claim primary responsibility for this task. However, some 14% of males still hand over this duty to their wives. (View Appendix for empirical evidence). However, some men disagree that grocery shopping is a female household chore, as they enjoy it themselves, this can perhaps be explained by the utilitarian satisfaction it brings to the male; if he is a chef for example, this may possibly bring satisfaction to him because he enjoys shopping for ingredients in the supermarket.

Shopping responsibility can be influenced by cultural reinforcements and sex. The following quote illustrates this point:

"Fischer and Arnold (1994) have defined gender role attitude as beliefs about appropriate roles for men and women. Cultural and social conditions determine the construct of gender role attitude and it is this construct

that is under pressure. In this research, gender role attitude has been measured in terms of agreement with the statement: "shopping is primarily a woman's responsibility"."

The interaction of sex and shopping are important in determining shopping motives. It is mentioned in Dholakia's paper that men associate shopping with satisfaction, therefore, they will engage in shopping activities if it brings pleasure to them. That is if shopping increases their personal utility, they will prefer to shop otherwise, if utility is not maximized, they will find another activity or product that will.

On