Preserving Domesticity: Reading Tupperware in Women's Changing Domestic, Social and Economic Roles*

Abstract

L'image représentée par Tupperware est essentiellement féminine. Cet article analyse la littérature entourant Tupperware pour y retrouver cette image de la fémininité de classe moyenne, euronord‐américaine et domestique. L'analyse de cette littérature se fait en tenant compte des changements et continuités, au cours des 50 dernières années, des rôles domestiques, économiques et sociaux des femmes nord‐américaines. Ces rôles domestiques et économiques se sont entrelacés, ce qui a permis à L'entreprise de mieux les exploiter. La réussite de Tupperware en s'associant à cette image très précise peut servir comme baromètre pour révéler comment les femmes négocient les pressions combinées de la maison et du travail. Tupperware projects a quintessentially gendered image. This article explores writings by and about Tupperware to discover its representation of middle‐class white domestic femininity. This image is read against changes and continuities in North American women's domestic, economic and social roles over the past fifty years. There has been an ongoing intertwining of women's domestic and paid work roles that Tupperware has been able to exploit. The enduring success of Tupperware as a company associated with a specific image is thus a useful barometer indicating how women are contending with the combined pressures of home and work.

From Tupperware to Scentsy: The gendered culture of women and direct sales

“…Crowley () evaluates this choice as part of the contemporary discourse on “Mommy Wars”—the battle between working mothers and those who stay at home and the competition that ensues between the two as to who is more deficient in mothering. For American women, this choice is often a privilege determined by social class and race.Lamoreaux (), Clarke (), and Vincent () found the imaging of direct sales, it's messaging, and recruitment strategies targeted White, middle‐class women with breadwinning husbands that do not necessarily need to work.…”

“…For American women, this choice is often a privilege determined by social class and race. Lamoreaux (2013), Clarke (1999), and Vincent (2003) found the imaging of direct sales, it's messaging, and recruitment strategies targeted White, middle-class women with breadwinning husbands that do not necessarily need to work.…”

Gender, Artifacts, and Ritual Encounters: The Case ofTomboy ToolsSales Parties

“…Clarke () explores the evolution from the door‐to‐door salesman to the home party, showing how important it was to hire female representatives and provide safe, female‐exclusive settings for maximizing sales and profitability. Further, holding sales events in the comfort of home parties makes them more familiar to women and is hence less intimidating (Vincent ). As a site of ceremonial gift‐giving, these events build on and allow for social bonding among networks of women, which create obligations for women to buy the products whether they are interested in them or not (Gainer and Fischer ).…”

“…Throughout the study, we are careful to attend to the multiple viewpoints of the actors on the ground, exploring how they perceive these new gendered artifacts, view the lifestyle that is promoted, and act toward these constructs in meaningful ways. While there have been studies on home‐sales parties in the past (Clarke ; Gainer and Fischer ; Prus and Frisby ; Vincent ; Williams and Bemiller ), none have considered the practices of selling products that challenge, and try to break through, traditional gendered domains. Further, none have utilized Collins’ () ritual theory to explore how emotional energy is important for challenging and reinforcing gender norms, and for building up enough shared emotional energy to promote and sell the products effectively.…”

Multiplying Themselves: Women Cosmetics Sellers in Ecuador

“…1 Defined as the distribution of branded products through person-to-person sales rather than fixed retail locations, direct selling is associated with multinational corporations including Avon and Tupperware, referred to in the academic literature as direct selling organizations (DSOs). Though the direct sales model was born in the United States (see Nicole Woolsey Biggart [1989] for a thorough history), its global expansion in the last few decades has been impressive (Ara Wilson 1999;Susan Vincent 2003;Peter S. Cahn 2006). For example, Avon, one of the most well-known cosmetics DSOs, has operations in sixty-nine countries (Avon 2010).…”