Transformative Topics

This month, in celebration of International Women's Day (March 8th) we focus on gender and transformative approaches advancing work in this area. This week we are featuring GENMAC (Gender, Markets, and Consumers) – www.genmac.co.

The GENMAC advisory board describes what GENMAC entails and the impact it has had:

 

One of the primary goals of GENMAC is to support gender scholarship in the field of marketing. This includes research drawing on feminist and queer theoretical perspectives, exploring the social construction of gender in the marketplace, examining sexuality and consumption, understanding systemic gender inequities and implications for policymakers, and more. From this perspective, we aim to build a network of scholars who can flourish in developing, reviewing and publishing such research. Many of our members sit on editorial boards, serve as associate editors at leading journals, and have edited special issues and books in an effort to help gender scholarship and gender scholars thrive. We also aim to bring these concepts into the classroom by sharing teaching resources, into wider academic networks, and into industry through utilizing various forms of dissemination (news sites, podcasts).

 

GENMAC’s mission also aims to foster a more supportive environment for women, queer, trans, and non-binary people in the marketing academy. In 2021, we published a commentary in Marketing Letters, putting forth recommendations on how to bring increased awareness and action in combatting discrimination, harassment, and assault in the marketing academy. Putting words into actions, we are developing an array of initiatives to address the problematic culture that persists in the marketing academy. We also advocate for gender equity in society at large, offering insights and collaborating with various public policy and industry alliances such as SeeHer and shEqual.

 

GENMAC is a space to make connections, particularly for emerging scholars who may not have immediate access to mentors or collaborators with expertise in gender research. The biennial GENMAC Conference remains a cornerstone of the organization (the next one will be in 2024!); however, in a growing effort to make the GENMAC community accessible and active year-round, we have hosted Zoom writing workshops across multiple time zones, have organized online speaker events, and have stay connected through our active Facebook group. We have made our membership truly accessible, offering the only pay-what-you-can pricing model. Everyone is welcome, encouraged, and able to become part of our community.

To find out more about what GENMAC resources, initiatives and membership, check out their website: https://genmac.co and listen to the recent ACR podcast featuring GENMAC’s president, Susan Dobscha, and board member, Laurel Steinfield.

To read more about the roots of GENMAC, its impetus and impact, read the article co-written by members of its advisory board: “Feminist academic organizations: Challenging sexism through collective mobilizing across research, support, and advocacy,” Gender, Work & Organization: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/gwao.12912 or see details on the paper here.