Understanding changing gender mindsets
Understanding changing gender mindsets is fundamental to understanding changing attitudes to brand choice, buying behaviour and communication.
As part of our attempt to achieve a more realistic view of the marketplace, the UCT Unilever Institute developed a Gender Mindsets Model. The model demonstrates that not all men are macho men and not all women are progressive feminists: attitudes are a result of gender mindsets rather than simply of sex.
Gender explores the changing concepts of masculinity and femininity in South Africa, especially in the light of the rapid changes that have occurred since 1995, and relates this to how purchasing decisions are made. Its findings were presented in nationwide seminars in November 2004 and again at the Insight series in June 2005.
The UCT Unilever Institute’s initial investigations corroborate other research findings which highlight an important shift in the role and power of women. We believe that this will have a profound impact on our society and on the commercial world. It affects the types of products that are bought and the way marketers speak, ensuring that they are doing so to the right people in the right way.
Gender validates the need to move beyond ‘Average Man’ and ‘Average Woman’ to an understanding that how people think is more important than stereotypes.