What a can of worms we're going to open today... The title of this post alone has had me thinking for a while about which words to choose. I'm the first one who would change it, but it's just a question. Maybe it's even rhetorical. This question and the post as a whole are intended to invite reflection , and not so much to reach any concrete conclusion.
We do not have categorical answers when it comes to gender and sustainability . The mere fact of talking about gender can already raise suspicions. We are not going to enter into debates related to the abolition of gender or identity issues, but we understand that dealing with an issue like this is already crossed by that prism. From now on, we recognize the complexity of these issues, we show our utmost respect towards dissident identities and we apologize if our language or way of presenting the subject is not the most inclusive that can be found on the Internet. We also ask for understanding that this is a blog post, not a treatise, nor a thorough study. We do not pretend to be a reference for anything. We only want to reflect out loud and invite you to do so with us.
WHY WE ASK OURSELVES THIS QUESTION
We often wonder if sustainability is a women's issue because we work in a sector where women are overwhelmingly the most important . Almost all the shops in the sector that we know are run by women, including the supplier companies. Of course there are men, but in a much smaller percentage. This leads us to the fact that the people with whom we have collaborated or worked directly are, if my memory serves me correctly, women in all cases. Something to think about... On the one hand, it is absolutely logical that we collaborate with women as they are the majority in the sector . On the other hand, it is also good to consider whether we need to make a greater effort so that men have more space in our community and thus "set an example".
Oh! Digging a little deeper into my memory, I recall two proposals for collaboration with men that did not end up working. With this I do not mean that we have not ended up working with them alone. But I do want to put on the table that we have not closed ourselves off to doing things with them . That we do take them into account, and, furthermore, not from their condition of male gender, but as professionals, nothing more.
And we realize something else. Looking back at the men we have wanted to collaborate with, those who work in the sector and our suppliers, we find another pattern… Most of them do not present what we could call “traits of hegemonic masculinity” . What things! It makes us think…
We show you the gender breakdown of the people who follow us:
Are you surprised? We are. I looked up the data on the global gender distribution on Instagram and, in the most recent reference, they say that there are 51% women and 49% men. A few years ago the difference was much greater, many more women used this social network. In other words, the gender distribution of the people who follow us is not justified by the fact that they are the ones who use this app the most.
We add that almost all the people who register in our store have a woman's name.
And then the question arises: Is sustainability a woman's thing? And so the next question arises: sustainability is closely related to caring for the planet. There it is! The word CARE . Another question appears: Is care a woman's thing? Oh! The question is beginning to become clearer for me, but I prefer not to go into it any further so that everyone can reflect on it from their own perspective.
ARE WE ADDRESSING MEN?
I'm going to keep thinking about this. Are we addressing ourselves exclusively to women? Are our products aimed at them? Could there be a perceived bias in our discourse? We'll be paying attention, but, a priori, it seems not.
We try to use inclusive language , although the truth is that it is something that is often overlooked. Other times, we decide to just let it go, either for economy of language or even to avoid possible controversy. You wouldn't believe how the social networks are...
When we talk about sustainable menstruation , for example, we use the feminine gender, yes. I can only think of this example in which our message is intentionally directed at them. Although, on occasion, we have also used the term people who menstruate , to include other realities.
As far as I remember, whenever we have talked about cosmetics or makeup , for example, we have not addressed any gender.
In fact, it is the other way around. Sometimes we direct our speech or products exclusively to them . For example, now that Father's Day is approaching, you can see that we have special gifts for them . As well as some products specially formulated for them, such as this cream or this shampoo . And it was not easy to decide whether to include them or not, much less to call them "for men."
Do we have products for men or women? No. We've been saying it on our social networks for a long time. In the case of these products, in addition to a question of formulation for the most common skin type in men (if this can be made entirely clear), there is also an issue regarding the smell of the product. They have smells that we generally associate with masculinity. We keep them and we do so with the names that their manufacturers have given them because we know that there are people who look for them like that. And yet, we reflect on all this and constantly ask ourselves if there are changes to be made.
And moving further into this… What if we have to stop trying to include them? What if it is their responsibility to take further steps? We definitely don’t have the answers to this.
