amna

1

EXPERIENCES AND PROBLEMS OF WORKING WOMEN AS SALES GIRLS

AMNA IRAM KHAN

Centre of Excellence in Gender Studies

Quaid-e-Azam University

Islamabad, Pakistan

2

EXPERIENCES AND PROBLEMS OF WORKING WOMEN AS SALES GIRLS

AMNA IRAM KHAN

Centre of Excellence in Gender Studies

Quaid-e-Azam University

Islamabad, Pakistan

Email: [email protected]

Thesis submitted for the partial fulfillment of Degree of Masters in Gender studies

Quaid-e-Azam University, Islamabad

Pakistan

3

TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements

Acronyms

Abstract

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ................................................................................. 1-5 Statement of the Problem ..............................................................................................2 Objectives .......................................................................................................................2 Significance of the Study ...............................................................................................2 Limitations of the Study ................................................................................................2 Conceptual or Operational Definitions .......................................................................3

Salesgirls ...................................................................................................................3 Experiences ..............................................................................................................3 Attitude ....................................................................................................................3

Problems ..................................................................................................................3 Perceptions ..............................................................................................................4 Locale ..............................................................................................................................4 Problems Faced During Field Work ............................................................................4 Overview of the Research .............................................................................................5

CHAPTER 2: LITERRATURE REVIEW ............................................................... 6-16 CHAPTER: 3 METHODS/ METHODOLOGY ..................................................... 17-21

Over View of Research Design....................................................................................17

Research Approaches ...................................................................................................... 17 Qualitative Research .............................................................................................17

Quantitative Research ...........................................................................................17

Research Methods .......................................................................................................18

In-Depth Interview...................................................................................................... 18

Observation ................................................................................................................. 18 Research Tools/Instruments ......................................................................................18 Open-Ended Questionnaire ....................................................................................18

4

Close-Ended Questionnaire ...................................................................................19

Research Techniques ..................................................................................................19

Rapport Building ....................................................................................................19

Gatekeeper .............................................................................................................20

Key Informant ........................................................................................................20

Recording ..............................................................................................................20

Snowballing ......................................................................................................... 20

Research Ethics .........................................................................................................21

Sampling ......................................................................................................................... 21

Data Analysis .............................................................................................................21

CHAPTER: 4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS ..................................................... 22-55

Customers’ Attitude..................................................................................................22

Types of Customer .................................................................................................22

Customers’ Behavior towards Sales Girls .............................................................23

Differences in Attitude ...........................................................................................24

This profession is acceptable for women in customers’ eye..................................28

Customer’s attitude during conversation ...............................................................30

Customers’ Perception ................................................................................................32

Perception of Customers about Women in Sales Profession .................................32

Perception of Customers about Women as Sales Managers and Woman’s Selling (Skills) ................................................................................................................................35

Perception of Customers about Women Job Hierarchies ......................................40

The customers’ related experiences and problems of sales

girls………………………………………………………………………………………42

Over All Experiences ...........................................................................................42

5

Customers oriented Experiences and dealing strategies .......................................42

Strategies and Tactics of dealing ...........................................................................43

Problems .......................................................................................................................46

Most difficult part of the job ..................................................................................46

Issues faced ............................................................................................................47

Challenges faced ....................................................................................................48

Difference between women’s and men’s working .................................................49

Women prefer this job because of: ........................................................................51

Women assigned on salesgirls’ positions because of: ..........................................53

Discussion......................................................................................................................55

CHAPTER: 5 KEY FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS ........................................... 58- Key Findings .................................................................................................................58 Attitude .................................................................................................................58 Perceptions .............................................................................................................58 Customers oriented experiences ............................................................................59 Problems ................................................................................................................60 Recommendations ........................................................................................................60

Way forward .................................................................................................................61

REFERENCES ....................................................................................................................

ANNEXURE ........................................................................................................................

6

LIST OF TABLES TABLE 1 This (sales) profession is suitable for women (men’s and women’s perception) TABLE 2 Women should come in this (sales) profession (men’s and women’s perception) TABLE 3 This (sales) profession is respectable according to our societal norms (men’s and women’s perception) TABLE 4 There is a clear difference between women’s and men’s selling (men’s and women’s perception) TABLE 5 Preference in interaction with salesgirls rather than salesmen (men’s and women’s perception) TABLE 6 Women are well received by both men and women as sales girls (men’s and women’s perception) TABLE 7 Women are more hard working compare to men (men’s and women’s perception) TABLE 8 Women have better selling skills (men’s and women’s perception) TABLE 9 Salesmen dominate or have upper hand over sales girls (men’s and women’s perception) TABLE 10 Women work mostly in low scales jobs (men’s and women’s perception)

7

LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE 1 This (sales) profession is suitable for women (men’s and women’s perception) FIGURE 2 Should women come in this (sales) profession? (men’s and women’s perception) FIGURE 3 Is sales profession respectable according to our societal norms? (men’s and women’s perception) FIGURE 4 There is a clear difference between women’s and men’s selling (men’s and women’s perception) FIGURE 5 Customer prefer to interact with salesgirls rather than salesmen (men’s and women’s perception) FIGURE 6 Women (as sales girls) are well received by both men and women (men’s and women’s perception) FIGURE 7 Women are more hard working as compare to men (men’s and women’s perception) FIGURE 8 Women have better selling skills (men’s and women’s perception) FIGURE 9 Salesmen dominate or have upper hand over sales girls (men’s and women’s perception) FIGURE 10 Women work in low scales jobs (men’s and women’s perception)

8

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First and foremost I am grateful to all my participants and I appreciate the time they spent

with me from their busy schedule, without their cooperation this would not have been

possible.

I hold the deepest respect for my Center and university for giving me a chance to conduct

this research study. My cordial appreciation goes to my supervisor Ms Kiran Nazir

Ahmed for the valuable contribution of her time. I am pleased to thank Rizwan Ahmad

Khan for his continuous help and guidance throughout my research work.

My special and most humble thanks go to my parents for their love, prayers and support

as well as my elder brother Shafique. I am also thankful to all my friends who granted me

moral support. I am grateful to every person who prayed for my success especially Anam

and Mehreen.

Amna Iram Khan.

9

ACRONYMS

HR Human Resource

FM Floor Manager

DM Department Manager

ADM Assistant Department Manager

10

ABSTRACT

This study explores the customers’ related experiences and problems of sales girls along

with the customers’ attitude and the perceptions about them. In-depth interviews were

conducted with ten sales girls working in METRO cash and carry in Islamabad and

questionnaires were filled-up by thirty customers. Different attitude of customers towards

salesgirls were found during this study. Another interesting finding was that with a

change in customers’ age and gender there is a change in their attitude too. Men and

women both show harsh attitude but men ask irrelevant questions and usually stare at

salesgirls. Women customers’ related experiences were found to be different in nature;

the working quality of sales girls is affected by sexual harassment and rude attitudes of

customers. Problems which salesgirls had to face at work are low appreciation of their

hard work and they are being made to perform jobs beyond their capacity.

11

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

The aim of this paper is to highlight the relatively neglected voices and problems

of salesgirls in Pakistan. I would therefore like to begin with a direct quote from a

respondent:

“Once I was fixing the stall with the help of my colleague, a man (costumer) came near us and pretended as he is talking on mobile phone. He discussed our faces and body figures and his words were too insulting, actually he wanted to make us hear that all foolishness. ”1.

In Pakistan only 2.5 percent of the sales workers are women2 (Mirza, 2002: 85-

89). Sale industry is a quite new profession for women and it is easily available with

good packages. Higher education is also not essential for this job so it is highly accessible

for women. However, still women’s participation in this profession is not enormous. First

reason behind this fact can be that it is a new profession and people do not like sale

industry and marketing as profession for women. They often do not consider it a

respectful profession for women and they seem to suspect such women as “weak

characters” because of their interaction with men, while women feel stigmatized for

working along side men (Mirza, 2002: 26).

Secondly, women of this profession are not taken seriously. The all important

factor is women objectification. Consequently common perception is that women are not

hired because of their skills but just because of their gender. Third problem, which is

usually common for all working women, is sexual harassment. According to Mirza

(2002: 26) “As soon as a woman leaves her house and walk down the street the men raise

their heads to stare at her”. Due to these reasons women do not prefer to work outside

their houses. “Most women feel more secure working at home , working out side the

home offers better wages and more self-confidence but women would have to face a

negative attitude from ‘people’ in the streets and at the job.”

1 Statement by a respondent during the interview conducted for this research 2 ( Labor force survey, 1993-94, Government of Pakistan1995a)

12

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

What are the experiences and problems of women working in sales industry of

Pakistan?

OBJECTIVES

• To explore customer related experiences and problems of sales girls

• To explore customers’ attitude and perceptions about sales girls

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The topic “customer related experiences of sales girls” has been selected because

this profession can improve the available opportunities for women and they can

participate in workforce through this profession. But on the other hand, it is not considered

a good profession for women so it is not easy for a woman to join it. A woman has to face

different problems in working environment of sales industry, so this study can provide help

to understand the nature and mechanism of these problems.

The current research study will be useful for further academic research on problems

of working women in sales profession. It will be useful to open new aspects for future

researchers to apprehend research on sales girls. This research highlights diverse problems,

experiences of sales girls and attitudes and perceptions of customers. This research study

can provide some kind of awareness to readers about the issue.

LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

Due to time constraints, the study was restricted and focused on the experiences

and problems of girls in one shopping zone only, and the problems identified in this study

may not necessarily apply to other regions. However, some of the cross cutting issues

reported in this study, may apply to other regions.

13

OPERATIONAL DEFINITIONS

Salesgirls

Main concept in objectives and research is salesgirl. The salesgirl is a young

woman whose job is to help customers and sell things in a store and ‘a woman who is

employed to sell merchandise in a store or in a designated territory’ (American Heritage

Dictionary of the English Language, 2009). In the research interviews were taken from

those girls who were sales girls and who face the customers.

Experiences

Experiences are the ‘Direct personal participation or observation; actual

knowledge or contact’ (Collins English Dictionary, 2003).

Attitude

Attitude is the way a person views something or tends to behave towards it

(Collins English Dictionary , 2003) and in the research the attitude is taken as the

behaviour of the customers including their way of talking, their body posture, their way

of looking and different styles or any thing which effect positively or negatively on sales

girls work.

Problems

In the research problems are taken as ‘a state of difficulty that needs to be

resolved’ (Farlex clipart collection, 2008) and ‘any thing, matter, person, etc., that is

difficult to deal with, solve, or overcome’ (Collins English Dictionary, 2003). This study

also focuses on the problems of sales girls which they face in the firm.

14

Perceptions

Perception is “the act of perceiving or the ability to perceive mental grasp of

objects, qualities, etc. by means of the senses; awareness; comprehension” (Webster's

New World College Dictionary, 2010).

LOCALE

This study has been conducted at ‘Metro Cash and Carry’ in Islamabad. Metro has

opened its franchise in Islamabad in 2008. It is the international leader in self-service

wholesale, and opened its first outlet in Islamabad in Sector I-11/4, near the Railway

Carriage Factory.

It features more than 10,000 square meters of selling space and offers a

comprehensive product range of more than 20,000 food and non-food articles. Around 80

percent of the goods on display originate from Pakistani producers and distributors. Each

METRO Cash & Carry wholesale center employs 300 people from the local community3.

( 2008)

PROBLEMS FACED DURING FIELD WORK

During fieldwork in ‘Metro Cash and Carry’ Islamabad researcher faced various

other problems during her field work in locale. The first and the toughest task was to get

permission from HR4 management of the firm. They had some confusion about the purpose

and the sample selection criterion, so first management unit was clarified about the primary

objective, nature and the methodology of the research. Then the next barrier was to

convince Firm’s sale girls to participate in the research process. For this the role of key

informant was very important. Through key informant the trust of sale girls was built and

through friendly behavior the full and healthy participation of firm’s sale girls was made

possible.

3 (METRO Cash & Carry Pakistan opens first wholesale center in Islamabad, 2008) 4 (Human Resource)

15

OVERVIEW OF THE RESEARCH

After an introduction and understanding the nature of the problems which sales

girls have to face in their working environment, next chapter is desk review of the

previous research studies and relevant data on the problems and potential areas for

women in sales industry. In this chapter the focus is on the issues like working women’s

rights, roles, value of their economic contribution and women in sales industry in

different developing and developed countries. Methods and techniques are discussed in

chapter three. Fourth chapter focuses on the results and discussions while chapter five

focuses key findings and conclusion.

16

CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

The present literature review locates the women’s roles, rights, and their

participation in economic activities. It also focuses on women, marketing and sales

industry under the patriarchal system. The next aspect discussed is the sales industry in

the developed countries and under developed countries including the problems related to

job such as harassment, job hierarchy, sexual division of labor and people’s negative

attitude towards working women.

R.N. Mathur (1989) has worked regarding the economic role of women and

emphasized on the need for equality of right and opportunities of economic contribution.

He presents three basic arguments:

• Women economic subjugation or dependent position is the result of a rigid

distinction in men’s and women’s role in society and this leads to

exploitation;

• The full benefit of development can only be realized with peoples’

participation i.e effective use of human resources and the economic role of

women which cannot be isolated from the total framework of

development;

• Socio-economic and political change creates a need to extend spheres of

knowledge and activity of all members of a society. Modern trends in

demographic and social change justify a redefinition overall of women’s

role today.

The society is familiarly linked with its economic position which depends on

rights, roles and opportunities in contribution of economic activities. The economic

position of women is acknowledged as a sign that the society is progressing. However,

this does not necessarily mean that all developments direct to improving women’s

economic position.

17

Anonymous (n.d) 5 found strong agreement among marketers of both genders that

women are experiencing success in marketing. In the survey results of this study, 80%

believe women are experiencing a greater degree of success in marketing departments

than in the past, 66% said their success in marketing is greater than in other departments.

According to respondents (both men and women) of this survey, there are two

main reasons that why are women good at marketing First, Women “listen” to

consumers better (because they are better listeners, generally). Fifty two percent of the

men and 57% of the women cited this as a reason in the survey and almost 45% of the

respondents asserted that women understand the importance of “emotional connections to

brands.”

Secondly, Women favor a “collaborative” approach, and longing to “influence,”

but not command their colleagues, which is the best way to produce a successful

marketing program. These reasons are mentioned by about 40% of the men respondents

and over 50% of the women.

Avila, R (n. d) Stated women may be better suited to handle sales positions than

their men counterparts; in sales industry it is necessary to be really people oriented, and

to have better listening skills and understand the client's wants and needs and women are

generally better at this. Women have more potential to become salespeople and can

therefore get a marvelous opportunity because of high pay and rapid advancement.

Recent studies have found that some women have better selling skills and

stronger listening skills as women are more nurturing and empathize better than men

(Ransford, 1998). This study presents a comprehensive picture about the working of sales

girls and their positions and it also clarifies that why men counterparts and customers

harass women at the work place. It also explains that what type of attitude of customers

is there and why men ask irrelevant questions, Simple answer is that just because they

don’t like this profession for women.

In the context of women in sales industry under the patriarchal system, in this

study the feminist labor market analysts claim that patriarchy is responsible for

5 Women In Marketing: Succeeding...Naturally: A Study of the Decision Making Styles of Marketing Executives: www.copernicusmarketing.com/.../women_success_in_marketing.pdf

18

occupational sex segregation (Hartmann, 1981, 1976; Mitchell, 1974, 1971). The

patriarchal system demotes women to low-paying, women-dominated jobs and if a new

profession offers more benefits, only men move into it.

However, according to Strober (1984), employers are also concerned with

upholding men’s benefits because they themselves are typically men and when women

are hired into predominately men’s jobs, gender stereotypes may obvious themselves in

workplace cultures that exclude and isolate women (Antilla, 1995; Catalyst, 1995; Kanter

and Stein, 1979). Hiring women into traditionally men jobs may threaten men workers'

sense of masculinity, diminish their status, and raise fears that their earnings will decline

(Williams, 1989).

Now in the consequence of above discussed phenomenon, men workers may

respond by harassing women colleagues, or by creating antagonistic and alienating work

environments. Customers may also prefer sales workers of one sex or the other,

particularly when the position requires technical knowledge or expertise about the

products. According to Karene and Anderson (1967) “some men do not like to discuss

financial affairs with women, they have a feeling that no woman can know as much as a

man might" (Karene and Anderson, 1967:5; reported in Thomas, 1990:189).

Lawson (1993), in her study of car saleswomen, found that some customers

responded to women salespersons by simply refusing to deal with them ("Get me a real

salesman! What the hell are you doing here?"), or by asking saleswomen questions that

they would not ask a salesman (e. g, "How much does the engine weigh?"). Customers

may prefer saleswomen in certain contexts, assuming for example that women are more

knowledgeable than men about clothing or house wares (Game and Pringle, 1983).

Although these markets are expanding, however, these markets are inclined to be

linked with lower earnings than others (Thomas, 1990) in some instances; there is a clear

involvement between the sex of the salesperson, the gendered nature of products, and the

sex composition of customers (Berheide, 1988; Bradley, 1989; Game and Pringle, Bellas

and Coventry 1983, in Marcia L. Bellas and Barbara Thomas, 2001)

19

Now moving towards some hidden ethical issues in sales profession, a research

conducted by Ken, Tim, & Gene (2001) states that the sales profession suffer from a

public perception that it has low standard of ethical behavior (Chonko, Tanner, and

Weeks 1996; Dubiwky. Jalson, Michels, Kotabe, and Lim 1992; Singhapakdi; and Vite!!

1992) but Gender socialization theory suggests that women are trained to reason

differently about ethical issues (Gilligan 1982; Mason and Mudrack 1996). Research

among marketers has also shown that women rely more on ethical norms when making

decisions (Hunt and Vasquez- Parraga 1993; Vitell and Singhapakdi 1993 in Ken, Tim, &

Gene, 2001). According to Gilligan (1982) women seem to exhibit a greater ethic of

caring than men and are more responsive moral issues (Chonko and Hunt 1985; Harris

and Sutton 1995). As a result they react “more ethically” to marketing problems (Dawson

1992, 1997; Ferrel and Skinner 1988; Vital et al. 1993 in Ken, Tim, & Gene, 2001).

Now we will move towards the matter of woman’s capability and suitability for

different type of occupations. In this regard a survey was conducted to know about the

stereotypical observation that women’s special characteristics qualify and disqualify them

for specific occupations and tasks. In this survey, one of the respondents the boss of a

sales representative in an advertising firm asserted “Women in this business do a hell of a

lot better than guys do …. Pretty women do better. It’s selling the package. If it’s a nice

package you buy it.” (Pratt & Hanson, 1995)

Above discussed issue opens a new discussion about the objectification of women

at workplace. To answer this question Jennifer Argo6 has proved that a product becomes

more desirable if an attractive member of the opposite sex is selling it. In the study,

researchers found that clothing was rated more desirable if it had been touched or worn

by an attractive member of the opposite sex. And some people said they would pay more

for the item, even if it hadn't been washed. Jennifer Argo found that if the customer was

of average attractiveness, the participant evaluated the shirt negatively. But if a shirt was

touched by someone who was highly attractive and of the opposite gender, the customers

evaluated the products higher and they were eager to drop more money on it and

according to him “The results show that it’s worth having highly attractive people work

6 A business professor and researcher of University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada

20

there. Or if you can’t, at least have the staff dress well and be well-groomed and

maximize their potential” (Joshi, 2007).

Now he question arises that with in any working profession, what kind of internal

environment usually can be found. In this regard a research conducted by Martin (2006)

focused on employment, maintenance, training, promotion, compensation, and internal

and external work environments. In this study basically authors asked sales professionals

how work in out-of-the-office settings affects women's careers. This study present a

mixed picture, with some showing gains for women (Morgan 1998; Petersen and Saporta

2004) and others showing women continuing to lag behind similar men (Morgan and

Arthur, 2005; Noonan, Corcoran, and Courant forthcoming).

An evaluation criterion for these jobs is highly efficient and formalized. Most

companies assess performance for individuals in these jobs based on some measure of

sales volume, whether or not the individual is compensated through commission or

partial commission payments. Thus, women's performance evaluations to be less biased

because the evaluation criteria are "objective" (Reskin, 2000).

On the other hand, this is an occupation in which establishing and maintaining

personal relationships with customers are of central importance. Sale is a field where

women should not face many of the usual barriers to advancement, since performance

can be measured objectively (Catalyst, 1995). But women often face problem of sexual

harassment because on job women are force to maintain personal relationship with

customers because informal socializing in out-of-the-office settings is seen as crucial to

the success of any sales representative. Professional salespersons spoke at length about

the importance of "cultivating" relationships with customers and using "entertainment" to

do this. Informal socializing is goal oriented and instrumental for the sales representatives

and the companies for which they work. The sales representatives in this study described

working or "entertaining" in a number of out-of-the-office settings. Now here comes the

real problem for women with in sales industry because out-of-the-office settings never

suites them within our society.

21

Now discussing the nature of harassment, the study differentiates between "hetero

social" settings and “homo social” settings. The difficulties in hetero social settings

present for women professionals range from simple gossip to harassment. Gossip is an

especially common concern among saleswomen if they conduct lunches or dinners with

colleagues.

While some women sales professionals are sexually harassed in this hetero social,

out-of-the-office work settings (Giuffre and Williams, 1994) Women professionals face

particular obstacles to career advancement. In this case, these settings produce

heterosexual relationships, where customers or colleagues view the saleswomen as

potential sexual partners.

As a result, women who work in these settings confront problems ranging from

gossip to sexual harassment and have to do additional work to avoid this. In this study,

women participants describe it as problematic, disgusting, and career inhibiting unwanted

sexual advances or propositions, especially from customers and women in industrial and

consumer goods were forced to engage in sexual banter, and women in a variety of

industries reported that customers harassed them as a "test" (Catalyst, 1995).

Now here comes an aspect that what are the experiences of women in sales

industry in Asia and how those experiences vary with the variation in the nature of

progress of countries. This study explores the women in sales industry in Asia. Comer

(2001) focuses on China and explores three questions. First do salesmen and saleswomen

in China hold gender stereotypes about women in sales management. Second do

salesmen and saleswomen in China perceive women sales managers to show traits that

are generally associated with good managers? Third, do salesmen and saleswomen in

China accept women as sales managers? The objective of this study is to determine the

cultural readiness of salespeople in China to accept women into sales management

positions.

Comer states in his research that traditionally selling positions have been held by

men because such jobs have long been regarded as being inherently masculine and

women are seen as having no place in the masculine working world but now this shift has

22

been noticeable in the industrial sales forces where women have proved themselves to be

very capable salespeople. Piercy, Cravens, and Lane (1999, 2000) observed that women

are well received by both men and women as sales managers and women sales managers

utilize alternative control strategies that lead to improved job-related outcomes for their

sales workforce (Comer and Jolson 1985, 1991).

In oratory it is said that there is no difference between men and women, and

revolutionary principle dictated that men and women managers would be equally

accepted but the actual practice belies reality.

Now in this review we turn to the issue of women and their working conditions in

the Third World countries. The study is conducted by Humphrey and according to him no

analysis of labor market or labor process could proceed without an explicit analysis of

sexual division of labor.

The problems women face in the labour market at the initial time must stop for

integration into the market for labour power. Women are concentrated in unskilled jobs,

while skilled jobs are monopolized by men. The sexes are widely segregated and

management also viewed men and women workers in quite different terms, they appeared

to modify their employment strategies to the sex of the workers, not the job performance

(Ransford, 1998). Women workers may be less secure in their jobs, or might be less

trainable or have less experience, or they might be easier to fire (Barron and Norris

1976). Above all women are excluded from the better jobs in order to increase men

superiority.

In her study Mirza (2002) states:

A strong sexualization of gender relations in Pakistan is manifested, first of all, in the public sphere where women, particularly younger ones, are constantly stared at. As soon as a woman leaves her house and walks down the street the men raise their heads to stare at her, even turn around when she has already passed by, and jog to their to make them aware to her presence. Under these conditions women feel uncomfortable in public, and generally very few women are seen in public life.

The public space is traditionally supposed to be a man’s space in which a woman

has no legitimacy to enter and the societal attitude was very negative towards these

23

women because people would think that they are not good women. It was considered that

these women have a bad moral character but within only four years so much changes has

been taken place in the culture of Pakistan, during the last decade, a new trend has

emerged in urban Pakistan that lower-middle-class women have increasingly entered the

office sector and have started to work in middle level jobs that were regarded as

exclusively men occupation.

According to official figure, the women participation rate in the labor force in

Pakistan is one of the lowest worldwide. Although in the latest labor force survey 1996-

1997, informal sector activities have been included for the first time, the basic labor force

participation rate for women in urban areas is only 5.9 percent, with 55.3 percent of the

urban women workforce or 3 percent of all urban women engaged in informal activities7.

35% of the working women are belonged to the different category of the professions such

as technicians, associate professionals, service workers and shop and market sales

workers, craft and related trade workers, while according to labor force survey, 1993-94,

about only 2.5 percent of the sales workers are women8.

This survey focuses on the current employment level of women in apparel

industry at different level of the firm. Its findings are that women employees are mostly

signed up at low levels of hierarchy in the organizations. this might be because of low

level of skill and education amongst women on account of cultural and opportunity

barriers also in addition to company policies and facilities, company culture and attitude

also play a key role in facilitating a higher women participation in the work force and

women should have equal opportunity of being hired and promotion in the company and

the current job satisfaction levels of women employees as the gender equality, wage

satisfaction, be short of incidence of harassments, appreciation and good environment,

preference of a woman supervisor etc (Haq, 2009).

This research also outlines the barriers and restrictions and general social, cultural

attitude and the work environment which is not appropriate. It explicates women’s

participation in workforce as cultural attitude that unless they should work there are

7 (Labour force survey 1998b) 8 (Labour force survey 1995a)

24

extenuating circumstances for women to go out of the house, otherwise women should

focus on house hold chores because often their men do not allow women to work in

factory or any other workplace and consider it better to starve than to live on a woman’s

income. Men usually get very upset if a woman of their house wants to work. Work

environment is also not conducive as women face the cat calls, stares sexual harassment

and use of foul and abusive language is very common in factories etc (Haq, 2009).

This study is linked to my research work to understand the reasons of lack of

participation of women at workforce and the problems which they face during their job. It

is also linked with my objectives of the study of exploring the experiences and problems

of working women as sales girls. This study also gives a clear picture to know about the

factors that creates these problems.

In Pakistan women’s mobility is restricted. Connection Action, 2006 conducted a

study on the bus hostesses of Daewoo bus services. Its findings were that although

working outside the home offers better wages and more self- confidence but women feel

more secure to work at home rather than working alongside men. This is because women

face a negative attitude from the people on the street and at the job.

A small study was conducted on the hostesses of Daewoo bus services in Punjab

and NWFP, and their reasons for joining this workforce were investigated. According to

this research women preferred this job because they feel, it is secure job, 45% of

hostesses said they started this job because they have pick and drop service while 25%

stated because of safe working environment Most of the women said they work because

of their financial needs and the 65% of the hostess told that the income and benefits are

the main reasons for joining while only 15 % said they like this profession. According to

a management officer women prefer this job because this work is more respectable than

others ordinary offices job and mostly their work is not consider as respectable and

people don’t treat girls well and they also flirt with them. This profession is not without

problems, according to hostess due to hierarchical relation few hostess progress to

management position while boys who join it, rapidly progress to administration and

management. There are no women in high levels so that women face some problems

25

because if passengers misbehave, usually male officers do not take due action and ask

irrelevant questions.

About the customers’ behaviors different types of opinions were prevalent. one

third of the women felt that travelers behaved well while most hostesses expressed that

customers mistreated them. Some respondents said that customers’ behavior varies with

the variation in the culture. About the issue of acceptability almost the same number

declared those customers’ behaviors has improved over time. According to some, women

themselves are the agents behind this change and some said that people have accepted

them. While 25% felt that it had worsened.

Now moving into future discussion about customers behaviour current study

denotes, one hostess put it “our training teaches us we must be nice to everyone, it is

another thing that no one is nice to us”. Mostly angry men, choosy aged and ‘high

society’ women are identified as those people who create a problem for hostess. The

hostess deal with all these problems with silence because of their professionalism but

they have adopt a hard attitude for youngsters because they routinely give them trouble.

50% of the women felt that customers express appreciation for their work while many

hostesses expressed they have different responses for women’s and men’s behaviors as

some men have a high level of appreciation for their work. They said that they would also

allow their family members to do this job and women passengers said that they felt safer

travelling alone and they can also share easily their problems with them.

Lulla (2009) writes a woman’s (working in Bangalore petrol pump) comment:

In the beginning, many customers would pass comments. They don’t do that now because women are more efficient in clearing vehicles than men, especially two-wheelers. Customers also listen to us and don’t dare cut the line. Maybe because it’s shameful to be ticked off by a woman in public. I have to deal with all kinds of people. Some try to strike up a conversation, while others are too shy to even clearly state how many liters they want. Students on two-wheelers bother us the most by trying to lean close or brushing against us. Some older men are also like that. They try to flatter us by saying pretty women should not work at petrol pumps. The dangerous hours are after sunset. Not a day goes by without a driver soliciting us. We take things in our stride and try to ignore them. But there are days when I have asked lecherous customers if they don’t have wives or sisters. That shuts them up. (Lulla, 2009)

26

A petrol station in India is run entirely by women. In a sector of the job market that,

conventionally, has been virtually solely dominated by men. The women are employed in

all aspects of the petrol station's workings, from management to washing cars, filling the

tanks and checking the oil and the tire pressures. At the entrance, a huge billboard

displays women smiling in their uniforms. In all, around 30 young women work there and

in doing so are challenging tradition. As one of the attendants said, “When I first started

working here, people used to ridicule me because I was doing a man's job," Another said

that some male customers think that "because we are women, they can take advantage of

us, or be rude to us, Some get really angry and shout abuse at us. But we have learned to

deal with them" (Anonymous, 2005)9.

Even some of the women customers are not entirely comfortable about being

served by a woman as some women feel this job is not for women and they feel that a

woman’s place is in the kitchen. As another attendant expresses that" I used to get

nervous and wonder whether I could do the job. I also used to be terrified of working late

nights. But I no longer feel like that." This review provides help to understand the

customers’ behavior and the difference between men and women behaviors and also

elucidates the reasons that why men are so rude towards sales girls and also about

customers’ thinking mechanism about sale girls.

9 Sales soar at all_ women garage: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/433238, accessed on march 5,2010

27

CHAPTER THREE

METHODS/ METHODOLOGY

OVER VIEW OF RESEARCH DESIGN

In this research study both qualitative and quantitative research methods were

used to gather data. It explored the experiences and problems of sales girls and

customers’ attitude and perception about sales girls. The quantitatively data was gathered

through close-ended questionnaire while in-depth interviews and in-depth observation

were also used.

RESEARCH APPROACHES

Both qualitative and quantitative approaches were used.

Qualitative Research Approach

The qualitative approach was used to gather data from the sales girls because

qualitative approach was more appropriate to get detailed data about experiences and

problems of sales girls. As qualitative methods are typically flexible, ask mostly “open-

ended” questions, participants are free to respond in detail and the relationship between

the researcher and the participant is often less formal10 so it provided great deal of help in

gathering precised data from the field.

Quantitative Research Approach

The quantitative approach was used to get the data from the customers because

quantitative methods are fairly inflexible, surveys and questionnaires are used,

10 (Qualitative Research Methods: A Data Collector’s Field Guide, Module 1)

28

researchers ask all identical questions in the same order11. The customers do not want to

spend much time on in-depth interviews so it was useful method to collect required data.

RESEARCH METHODS

In-depth Interview

Ten in-depth interviews were conducted with the sales girls to explore their

working experiences in that firm and also to know about the problems usually they face

during their job, as Siegle said: “In-depth interviewing is an interest in understanding the

experience of other people and the meaning they make of that experience (Siegle n. d)."

Observation

This method was used to know about the overall environment of that firm as Neill

(2006) believes that: “In observation, we are generally interested in individual behavior,

social behavior, and the material environment” so following this definition this method

was used because through this method it was easy to get to get more authentic data and it

also provided a clear picture of customers’ behavior.

RESEARCH TOOLS/INSTRUMENTS

Open-Ended Questionnaire

The open-ended questionnaire was used to conduct interviews with the sales girls

it included series of fifteen questions, ten questions were included to know about the

experiences and problems of the sales girls, while five questions were to explore the

customers attitude and customers perception about sales girls. These questionnaires are

characterized by the condition that respondents are free to reply in their own words rather

than being limited for choosing from among a set of alternatives12.

11 (Qualitative Research Methods: A Data Collector’s Field Guide, Module 1) 12 According to Superior DataWorks, LLC (1992)

29

Close-Ended Questionnaire

The close-ended questionnaire was used to know the perception of customers

about sales girls because close-ended questionnaire is characterized by the condition that

responses are limited to a set of given options or ranges13. The questionnaire was a series

of ten questions which were asked to thirty customers of ‘Metro’. It was divided among

fifteen women customers and fifteen men customers.

RESEARCH TECHNIQUES

Rapport Building

This technique was used because “rapport” establishment is the vital component of

the interviewing process for obtaining true and corrects information. It helps to develop

mutual confidence and friendly atmosphere between the interviewer and the respondent in

which the later opens up the inner-self before the former (Howard, 1994: 200).

Through this process it was explained to people about purpose of research and the

purpose of interviewing which made the respondents believe that the information gained,

will be kept confidential and will not be excerpted everywhere. Participants trusted

researcher and shared their views about the customers’ attitude, their working

experiences as sales girls and also shared the problems usually they face during their job.

The first day of field (almost seven hour) was spent with the participant in that

firm for the sake of introduction. First of all the nature and purpose of the research was

explained to HR (Human Resource) management of that firm and after their permission it

was explained to informants, assuring subject that their confidentiality would be

conserved. At first salesgirls were hesitant to express their thoughts and personal feelings

because of their job insecurity but later they became familiar and provided proper

information.

13 According to Superior DataWorks, LLC (1992)

30

Gatekeeper

With the support of gatekeeper it was easy to get permission of the Human

Recourse management team, for this gatekeeper was needed, as Siegle describes: “The

gate keeper is the person who helps you gain access to the people you wishes to study”.14

Gatekeeper was also one of the members of the HR management, so it was convenient to

conduct research in that firm.

Key Informant

With the cooperation of the key informants it was easy to know about the field, to

search out the sample and introduced researcher in front of subjects. As Neuman, W.L said:

“An informant or key actor in the field research is a member with whom a field researcher

develops a relationship and who tells about, or informs on, the field” (Neuman, W.L, 1991:

361). There were two basic key informants first was one of the members of HR

management and the second was a sales girl. Both of them introduced the researcher to

participants and also guided about the locale. As Siegle believes that: “The key informant

knows the inside scoop and can point you to other people who have valuable information

(Siegle n.d)15”.

Recording

This methodology is part of the audible arts. It helped to demonstrate work in more

genuine mode. In current research study the tool of recording was applied to record the in-

depth interviews

Snowballing

Snowball sampling is often used to find and recruit “hidden populations16. First

four participants were met by the help of gate keeper and key informant who was from

14 http://www.gifted.uconn.edu/siegle/research/Qualitative/qualitativeInstructorNotes.html 15 (ibid) 16 (Qualitative Research Methods: A Data Collector’s Field Guide, Module 1)

31

the HR management team but after this, remaining six participant were met with the help

of snow balling technique.

RESEARCH ETHICS

Research ethics were followed, and anonymity and confidentiality of the

participants were respected and accurately recorded.

SAMPLING

In the present study a simple random sampling was used as Hogan (2005: 7) said

“A simple random sample is free from sampling bias”. Through simple random sampling

ten sales girls and thirty customers (age 20-40) were selected.

DATA ANALYSIS

Analysis was divided in two parts according to research objectives:

• To explore customers’ related experiences and problems of sales girls

• To explore customer’s attitude and perceptions about sales girls

For this analysis, data was gathered, through in-depth questionnaire. In this

questionnaire ten questions were asked from sales girls about their experiences and

problems at workplace and attitude and perception of customers were asked by using a

close- ended questionnaire (asked from thirty customers) and five in depth questions

(asked from ten sales girls).

32

CHAPTER FOUR

RESULTS

This analysis is divided in two parts according to research objectives.

1. To explore the customers’ attitude and perceptions about sales girls.

2. To explore the customer related experiences and problems of sales girls.

In the first part, analysis is based on five open ended questions asked from ten

sales girls and ten close ended questions from thirty customers to explore their perception

about sales girls.

In the second part I analyzed customer related experiences and problems of sales

girls.

CUSTOMER’S ATTITUDE AND PERCEPTION ABOUT SALES GIRLS

According to sales girls there are different types of customers with various

behaviors. This part is divided into two sections. In the first section the customers’

attitudes toward sales girls is discussed while the second section discusses the customers’

perception about sales girls. This is presented by using graphs and visual presentations.

• CUSTOMERS’ ATTITUDE

Types of Customer

According to salesgirls, two types of customer visit this firm; first are regular

(purchaser) and the second are market people (sellers). Among these customers, some are

literate, some illiterate, some are rude some are cool minded, some pass comments and

talk about woman’s body gestures, some show ignorance while others are loafers. As

according to a contributor: “to handle some of them and to tell them about things is a big

task”.

33

Customers’ Behavior towards Sales Girls

Mostly three types of customers’ behaviors are found, first normal and friendly,

second rude and harsh and the third type is ill-mannered.

• Normal and Friendly

According to participants some customers are good and normal and some are very

nice and friendly, as a participant said “behavior is good and friendly” whereas some talk

very politely.

• Rude and Harsh

According to five participants some customers quickly get angry, as in the view of a

participant ‘sometimes they are very nice, sometimes very rude, but most of them are very

rude, they shout at us” and according to another participant: ‘Sometimes its friendly and

sometimes its harsh, they don’t want to concentrate, and show harsh attitude’.

Another aspect is that in the peak hours of business, most of the customers don’t

wait even for a second, if sales girls are busy they get angry and start shouting at them. A

girl said: “some customers have very bad attitude, even if we are busy they don’t wait for

one second they shout on us”.

• Offensive or Loafers

Three sales girls were of the view point that when male customer stare at them they often

get confused. As one of contributor said: ‘they don’t want to purchase anything they just

come to stare at us, even some of them demand our cell numbers’ another participant said

‘some ask us to entertain them and some demand our company for nothing’.

34

Differences in Attitude

Gender wise Difference in attitudes

This section is divided in to three sub-sections because of diversity and variety in

opinions. First men’s and women’s positive attitude and second negative attitude while

third the opinion of those who think that there is no difference in attitude.

• Women’s Positive Attitude

o Women talk politely

Some contributors have the opinion that women usually talk politely because they

are themselves women so they can understand the problems of women, as a participant

said: “Women talk nicely and politely because as women they can understand our

problems so they know why we are here”.

o Women talk to the point

Some argued that women do not ask irrelevant questions as men used to ask, they

demand to the point about their required things as a participant said: “Usually women ask

to the point about the product”.

• Women’s Negative Attitude

o Women are mostly in hurry

Most of the salesgirls said women don’t listen much and mostly pretend to be in a

hurry. They don’t want to understand anything and have no patience, as a respondent

said: “Women are mostly in a hurry they buy the things and leave immediately; they have

no patience and usually they don’t pay attention”.

35

o Women misbehave

Many salesgirls were of the view that mostly women don’t treat them well, they

usually call them rudely. Six sales girls argued that they call us as if we were their servant

or personal employees, as a participant said: “Women call us very rudely and behave

badly” another participant said: “Women are mostly moody, if they are in good mood

then they talk smoothly otherwise they don’t”.

• Men’s Positive Attitude

o Men are polite

Women said that men are mostly polite and talk calmly as compared to women.

One of the contributors said: “Men are mostly polite, they talk smoothly”.

o Men have time

Participants were of the view that men usually don’t pretend that they are in

hurry, they pay attention and understand the things, as a respondent said: “Men have

enough time; they hear us out and make an effort to understand the things”

o Men give respect

Salesgirls said that men talk respectfully with them, as a respondent said:

“because of our gender some men talk to us respectfully”.

• Men’s Negative Attitude

o Men ask irrelevant questions

36

Salesgirls also said that male customers ask irrelevant questions about

things/products as what is this? Why it is like this? Why you are here? A respondent said:

“Men ask irrelevant questions, and they ask about our personal life”

Sales girls were of the view that many male customers talk very harshly and

rudely, most of the male customers are even abusive if they don’t like their product,

many show very harsh attitude if salesgirls tried to brief them about their product and

most of them even quarrel with them, as a sales girl said: “There are many males who

start quarrelling with us if we tell them anything”.

o Men do stare

Sales girls expressed that mostly men continuously stare them and just because of

this attitude sales girls often get conscious about their dresses and especially for their

stoles (dupatta) as a result they can not do their work properly, as my respondent said:

“First men stare us up to down (head to foot) and then they talk to us”.

• No Difference

For some salesgirls there were no differences in men’s and women’s attitude, as

according to my participant: “There is no difference in males’ and females’ attitude, it’s my third working year, I have no such experience that a male does something wrong with me, may be the difference exits in some girls self attitude so that the males misbehave with them”.

According to another participant: “No, there is not a big difference” another also said:

“It’s almost same; there is not too much difference in attitude”.

Age wise Difference in Attitudes

After conducting the interviews it seems that there is a big difference in attitude

with the age of the people or customers because a large number of the women expressed

that youngsters are mostly rude, while middle-aged people are mostly flirtatious, ill-

mannered or loafers, and the old people are polite but also very difficult to handle.

37

• Old Age

o Difficult To Handle

A large number of girls argued that mostly old age people are always very

difficult to handle, because they can’t understand, and they don’t get satisfied easily, as

my respondent said: “Aged people continuously repeat same word and they can’t

understand easily”, another said: “Old aged mentally disturb us, they ask repeatedly and

they have not enough sense to understand.

o Mostly Polite

Another thing was noted that although aged were very difficult to handle but they

were mostly very polite and talked very smoothly, as respondent said: “Aged call us very

politely; their behavior is too good because of their age”, another said: “Aged are very

smooth to us”.

o Sometime Rude

Five out of ten participants were of the view that sometimes old people are also

rude and show bad attitude if sales girl intercepts them, as a participant said: “Sometimes

aged shows harsh attitude they mind the things if we intercept them”.

• Middle age

o Mostly Misbehaving

It was very surprising that a large number of sales girls believes that most of the

middle age people (especially aged 30- 40) are mostly flirtatious and loafers. They stare

at these sales girls and they disturb and confuse them with their strange gazes and also

waste their time, as a respondent said: “Mostly uncle type people show very mean attitude

(chachora pan), they have no realization, they come and start gossiping”, another said:

“They act very ill-mannerly, they walk around us and try to force us to talk”.

o Mostly Rude

38

According to some salesgirls middle aged people are rude and talk roughly, and

they scold them, as a respondent said: “Middle aged people are mostly rude, they roughly

talk to us”, another said: “Middle-age people call us badly and roughly”.

o Sometime Polite

A very few respondents argued that middle age are polite, as according to a

respondent: “Middle aged customers are mostly polite and helpful”.

• Youngsters

o Mostly Rude

A large number of the sales girls said that: “Youngsters are mostly harsh” and

they show attitudes as a respondent said: “Youngsters show attitude”.

o Mostly Misbehaving

Four out of ten people said: “Youngsters show stupidity” and “Youngsters take it

(this profession for women) as fun and they enjoy it”.

o Sometime Polite

Two respondents argued that some youngsters are very nice and they usually talk

very nicely.

This profession is acceptable for women in customer’s eye?

When it was asked from the sales girls that is this profession acceptable in the

customers' eye or not? The different types of responses were found. Some said it is not

acceptable, some said it depends on mental level of customer and some argued that

people accept it but do not pay much respect. While some said it is somewhat acceptable.

Overall, sales girls’ view point can be divided into five sections.

39

• Acceptable but not respectable

people accept this profession for women but they don’t give as much respect to

the sales if we compare it to sales boys, most of the girls said that if a boy works outside

the four walls of home, people give him respect while if a girl works outside, people

don’t give her any respect and they think that these girls are of bad moral character, as

one of my respondent said:

“No’ they don’t pay as much respect, may be in simple wording they think that we are clever, (chaalo larkian) bad and wrong girls but they don’t think that if we are wrong girls so why do we struggle? Then we don’t stand there for a long time, simply we take two or three hours and get money, but we know about the right and wrong”.

• Depends on mental level

Many sales girls argue that it depends on a person’s mental level if he has

thinking approach, there will be no difference in men and women working and if he is

narrow minded, there will be a difference for him in men and women working, as my

participant said:

“It’s all dependent on mental level, means if a person is literate so for him there will be no difference in men and women working and if a person is illiterate and have a narrow mind, there must be a difference for him”.

• Acceptable

Seven out of ten said that it is acceptable and they also argued initially people

didn’t consider it as a respectable profession, but now they take it as good profession, a

participant said: “Yes, I think it is acceptable and it depends on a person. In the start

people took it wrong but gradually they accepted it”.

• Somewhat acceptable

An overall viewpoint of participants which was found during this study was that,

this profession is somewhat acceptable for ordinary people. but they think that this should

be accepted because according to their views this profession is better than other jobs, as

40

one of the respondent said: “This profession is not consider as good as many others, but

it should be good because I think this profession is well more than banking and other

official jobs” another participant said: “He has to accept, and it should be accepted, there

are different thinking people, some consider it good while some not, and market people

are usually less accepting”.

• Not acceptable

Six out of ten sales girls were of the view that sales job is not acceptable.

Customers talk to them very harshly and behave very rudely and often people consider

them lose-character women, as one of the participant stated:

“It’s not good, we do this because we need it, customers look with very harsh gaze, many come only for dealing while others only for flirt, this profession is not acceptable in society even zero percent, customers think we belong bad families, we come here because of our financial problems”.

Another participant said: “it is not my own experience but I have heard that

about the girls who are in marketing, people usually do not consider them good girls”.

Peoples also pass comments on them, as my respondent said: “Many customers visit and

say ‘don’t know where they come from, they know about themselves or not”.

Customer’s attitude during conversation

• Customers Who Come only for time pass

Most customers come only for window shopping and they chat with these sales

girls and just pass their time as my participant said:” Some peoples come only for

chatting, they are just actors”

• Customers ask about personals

Customers ask irrelevant questions especially for their personals they don’t take them

seriously as respondent said: “They ask personal questions such as, why you do this job? They

want explanations”.

41

• Husbands’ attitude if they visit with their wives

If customers come with their wives they talk in sober mode and usually show

good attitude, otherwise they talk in very romantic undertones as my respondent said:

“They show normal attitude If they are with their wives otherwise they talk in poetic tone

(shairana andaz)”

• They do complain

It was observed that in big firms usually fresh stock comes, that is why there

occurs an increase in prices, according to sales girls if a customer comes and if he/she

only knows about the old market price, he/she starts quarreling with saleswomen on the

matter of prices. Secondly customers usually complain about this issue to officers, DM,

ADM or FM that the sales girls disturb them, as one of the participant said: “Sometimes

customers complain to our boss that we tease them”.

42

CUSTOMERS’ PERCEPTION

Perception of Customers about Women in Sales Profession

This profession is suitable for women

According to my survey people have positive views towards this profession, on

this account over all 70% people/customers were agreed that women should come in this

profession.

o Perception of (men and women) customers

Women customers were more optimistic than to men. 11 out of 15 women and 10

men said that this profession is suitable for women.

TABLE 1

This (sales) profession is suitable for women?

Yes No Don’t know

Answer Percentages Answers Percentages Answers Percentages

21 70% 7 23.33% 2 6.67%

FIGURE 1

This (sales) profession is suitable for women?

43

Women should come in this profession?

Overall 66.77% people said that women should come in this job, 13.34% people

thought otherwise and 40% gave no response.

o Perception of males and female customers

8 out of 15 women said that women should come in this profession while 12 out

of 15 men agreed that women should come in this profession.

TABLE 2


Yes No Don’t know

Answers Percentages Answers Percentages Answers Percentages

20 66.67% 4 13.33% 6 20%

FIGURE 2


44

This profession is respectable according to our societal norms

33.34% people viewed this profession as respectable profession for women

according to our societal norms while 56.67% said it is not respectable and 10% had no

idea.


In this account five out of fifteen men and women equally agreed that this is

respectful profession according to our societal norms.

TABLE 3

This profession is respectable according to our societal norms?

Yes No Don’t know


10 33.33% 17 56.67% 3 10%

FIGURE 3

This profession is respectable according to our societal norms?

45

Perception of Customers about Women as Sales Managers and Woman’s Selling

(Skills)

There is a clear difference in a woman’s selling and a man’s selling

In the answer of this question it is inspected that in general 63.33%

people/customers accepted that there is a clear difference between a woman’s selling and

a man’s selling.

o Perception of (men and women) customers

12 out of 15 women customers felt that there is a clear difference between a

woman’s selling and a man’s selling. And 9 out of 15 men were also agreed.

TABLE 4

There is a clear difference a woman’s selling and a man’s selling?

Yes No Don’t know


21 70% 7 23.33% 2 6.67%

FIGURE 4

There is a clear difference a woman’s selling and a man’s selling?

46

Prefer to interact with sales girl rather than sales boys

In the response of this question it was scrutinized that in most cases

people/customers ticked yes and they were 43.33% while 36.67% answered ‘No’ and

only 20% ticked on the option of ‘Don’t Know’.


In the opinion of male and female customers it is measured that 7 out of 15

women customers preferred interaction with sales girl. 6 out of 15 men were agreed that

they want to interact with sales girl rather than sales boys.

TABLE 5


Yes No Don’t know


13 43.33% 11 36.67% 6 20%

FIGURE 5


47

Women are well received by both men and women as sales managers

50% peoples/customers approved that women are well received by both men and

women as sales managers.


In the outcome of this analysis it is tinted that men customers were more positive

than women customers. 10 out of 15 men said that women as sales person usually are

good for both men and women while 5 out of 15 women answered it ‘Yes’.

TABLE 6


Yes No Don’t know


15 50% 12 40% 3 10%

FIGURE 6


48

Women are more hard working

In general 60% people accepted it that women are hard workers opposite to 20%

peoples who marked ‘No’ and also 20% who ticked ‘Don’t Know’.

o Perception of male and female customers

In the conclusion of this question it is highlighted that 11 out of 15 women

customers and 11 out of 15 men customers admitted that women are harder working in

the other side 1 out of 15 women and 5 out of 15 men were disagreed, and the 3 out of 15

men and women have no argument on it.

TABLE 7


Yes No Don’t know


18 60% 6 20% 6 20%

FIGURE 7


49

Females have better selling skills

As a whole 50% people agreed to the point that females have better selling skills,

comparatively 30% peoples disagreed and 20% peoples were clueless.


9 out of 15 women customers and 6 out of 15 men customers agreed and 5 out of

15 women and 4 out of 15 men pointed on ‘No’ and the 1 out of 15 women and 5 out of

15 men marked on ‘Don’t Know’.

TABLE 8


Yes No Don’t know


15 50% 9 30% 6 20%

FIGURE 8


50

Perception of Customers about Women Job Hierarchies

Salesmen have upper hand over salesgirls

56.67% customer considered that salesmen have upper hand over sales girls and

are dominating while 26.67% answered ‘No’ and 66.67% showed no response.


9 out of 15 women customers and 8 out of 15 men customers responded that

salesmen are dominating or have upper hand over sales girls in additional 5 out of 15

women and 3 out of 15 men opposed it and the 4 out of 15 men and 1 out of 15 women

have no idea.

TABLE 9


Yes No Don’t know


17 56.67% 8 26.67% 5 16.67%

FIGURE 9


51

Women mostly work on low scales jobs

Overall 70% purchasers believed that women do mostly low scales jobs whereas

16.67% replied ‘No’ and 13.33% had no response.


10 women customers and 11 out of 15 men customers felt that women usually do

low scale jobs further 3 women and 2 out of 15 men rejected it and the 2 out of 15 men

and women ticked on ‘Don’t Know’.

TABLE 10


Yes No Don’t know


21 70% 5 16.67% 4 13.33%

Figure 10


52

THE CUSTOMERS’ RELATED EXPERIENCES AND PROBLEMS OF SALES

GIRLS

This part is divided into two sub-sections, the first section discusses customers’

related experiences of sales girls’ and the second section has ‘problems faced by sales

girls.

• OVER ALL EXPERIENCES

When salesgirls were asked about their working experiences, four respondents

said it was very good. One other respondent said “It was excellent and still it’s excellent”

while two respondents said its good and normal, 1 respondent said its bad and also 10%

said it is very bad as one of respondent said “My working experience is very bad because

we face a lot of bad things”.

Customers’ related Experiences and dealing strategies

In this part the customers related experiences of some sales girls which they face

by harsh and undignified customers is included.

• Harsh and rude Customers

Some sales girls shared their customers’ related working experiences

Dialogue box 1

A participant said: “once I faced that type of customer who was very rude, actually

the product which I sell, is a doctor suggested brand, once a doctor come to me and

I was explaining him that this brand is doctor suggested, and its good for diabetics

patience and over weighted/health conscious people etc, he started shouting that

53

‘how can I say this all without written approval’ than I showed him it is approved

from FDSA but he continuously shouted at me”.

Another said: “Once a customer came and said to me,’ I have taken your parathas

(oily-bread), I don’t like these. Then I asked, ‘what was wrong with them why you

didn’t like them’ then he shouted at me that I will not take it again etc, now

whenever I see him, I feel bad”

• Undignified customers

Dialogue box 2

one of my participant shared her experience . “Once I was fixing the stall with the help of my

colleague, a man (costumer) came near us and pretended as he is talking on mobile phone. He

discussed our faces and body figures and his words were too insulting, actually he wanted to make

us hear that all foolishness”.

• Strategies and Tactics of dealing

There are some certain situations in which some customers lose their patience.

Most telling example is unavailability of product, according to respondent: “Sometime

several products are available, and then customers start shouting that why this product is not

available”. In case a customer doesn’t like the product most of the sales girls first talk to

them smoothly and softly to cool them and don’t show anger and if they don’t still agree

then they tell to FM, DM, or ADM. But if there are specific customer whom they can

deal as regular customers but if market people or whole sellers come then mostly sales

girls do not handle them and let the boys handle them because these customers are tough

to handle. While in regular selles mostly old age customers are very difficult to handle

because they don’t understand the things then they are handled respectfully and if a

young customer comes who wants to tease them then we usually show no response and

ignore him.

54

Here some sales girls shared their dealing strategies to handle the

customers:

Dialogue box 3

Harsh and rude Customers

Handle leniently

According to a participant:” A few days ago a customer came and

said, ‘why there is no place for sitting, I want to sit’, and then I

provided him a chair. If that type of customers come then we handle

leniently and don’t lose the temper”

Another participant said: “If customers shout at us, we don’t show

any anger because customers have much importance for us, If they

get angry then usually we say, ‘ok sir, you are right etc”.

Another said: “We try to make them calm and cool by talking

leniently”.

One more said: “We handle with care, very softly, very leniently, very

smoothly, we say, its fine sir! As you wish, next time”.

Take the help of management

A participant said: “We usually tell the FM or DM”.

Another said: “First we try to deal with them in our own style; if they

don’t agree then we take the help of DM or ADM and floor

manager”.

Whole sellers mostly deal by sales boys

A participant expressed: “If whole sellers come than we mostly take

55

the help of sales men because sales boys can easily brief them about

product”.

Dealing with aged customers if something they don’t understand

Another said: “We brief them very politely, softly, and respectfully”.

Dealing with middle age customers if they get anger because of

unavailability of product

A girl said: “We say to them, sir! Please, you don’t get angry, we will

inform you on phone when this product will be available”.

Undignified customers

No response

A girl expressed: “Obviously, no response, if further he wants to

obtain the information about any product then right, other wise it

feels this person only wants to get frank then we ignore him”.

Dealing with young customers if they are loafers

Another said: “We neglect and ignore them because we are standing

at that place where it is essential to ignore them”.

56

• PROBLEMS

Most difficult part of the job

• receiving the stock

Difficult part of the job is the receiving the stock from the outside. People take a

lot of time and waste the time because there is a very strict security so going outside and

then coming back is very tough job there, this wastes their time, as a participant said:

“There is much strict security so because of that we can’t come inside and go outside easily”.

• Picking the heavy carton and fixing the stock

Picking up heavy cartons is a very difficult job because mostly the stocks are very

heavy. So usually Salesgirls want the help of their male counterparts. Sometime they do

help but most of the time they refuse, as a participant said: “Difficult is to fixed the stock,

and pick the carton up because they are too much heavy and this is men’s duty but we do

it”, and secondly most often when girls fix the stock many customers pass the comments

on their body figure

• No Appreciation

Many sales girls said that they work equal to men but there is no appreciation for

them as a respondent said: “It is difficult to bear if anyone shouts at us and says women

don’t work properly while we work properly and come on time”, another said: “If we

perform our duty well and still we have to listen the comments like ‘you are not doing

well’ then it becomes very difficult to handle”. Appreciation mostly goes to men and if

there happens some thing wrong then usually it is supposed that it must be done by the sales

girls, as a girl said: “We don’t get as much appreciation and respect as other staff gets and we

are always degraded”, another said: “Men do not work properly, and they also forget to tag

the products,, we do most of work and moreover we face the anger too”.

57

Issues Faced

• People of the vicinity pass comments

The street people pass the comments on them or harass them and also raise

objections or stare them with strange gazes as they consider them wrong girls, as a

participant said:

“When we step out from our houses in the morning and return to home at evening we face thousands of people, when I come out to home, the people of my vicinity pass the comments so I cover my face with veil, neighbors ask, ‘where your daughter goes daily’ on a daily basis a new issue is created”.

Another said: “We do eight hours job and come late to our homes; neighbors

(muhale wale) look at us very strangely”.

• Traffic

Pick and drop is the biggest problem and issue for Sales girls “We face the

challenges related to traffic; mostly the traffic blocks because of busy roads, and then

boss often rebukes ”, mostly they don’t get vehicle and if they get it so there will be no

place for their sitting as a participant said:

“Pick and drop is not given so on this account the problem faces that some time conveyance is not available and usually there is no place of women sitting in vans and the boss also continuously call us that’ why you are not here yet and when will you come”.

Second problem is the high fare of vans, taxis and buses, most of girls can’t

afford daily rent as a girl said: “Obviously we can’t afford two hundred rupees daily

fare” and the drivers and the peoples also don’t treat well, another girl said: “We have

no pick and drop and secondly drivers etc look us with strange gazes”.

58

• Unavailability of food or expensive rates of lunch

Another thing which they face is unavailability of their lunch, because of high

lunch rates as a participant said: “We face lunch problems because we can’t afford one

hundred and eighty rupees per head in term of food daily”

• Physical

Few sales girls said that they work whole day in standing positions, while men do

not work properly, as a respondent said: “We face physical issues, we continuously work

whole day in standing position”

• Society doesn’t accept it

Many sales girls said that society doesn’t accept women in this profession, so they

face the issues as the customers pass the comments on them and especially ogle at them.

A participant said: “Our society doesn’t accept it as much that a girl work as boldly in

market so according to this, we face issues that people ogle at but we ignore it”.

Challenges faced

• Customers

Most of the sales girls said that to face the customer, to handle the customers and

to convince the customers about their product is the biggest challenge.

As according to some salesgirls’ views:

Dialogue box 4

“To face the customer is the biggest challenge for me.”

“To deal with customers and to brief them about product is a big issue”.

“Challenges we face are mostly related to customers, some customers mistreat us, and

the youngsters especially come there for this”.

59

“To deal with customers, brief them about product, and if a customer gets angry, to cool

them is a challenge”

• To complete the target

According to salesgirls a necessity for them is to complete the target within specific time

and it is the big challenge for them, according to a participant: “To complete our products targets

in time is a big challenge for us”.

• Relate to sales (unstable job)

A few number expressed that the challenges they face are related to their sales, because

there is no stability of their job they can be easily fired, as a participant explained it:

“Mostly these are (challenges) related to sales, it is said to us that your job is permanent but in reality it is not, because whenever they want they can fire us, e.g. if I give them enough sales but if any other girl give them high sales they will hire her in place of me”.

Difference between women’s and men’s working

Most of the women said there is no difference between women’s and men’s

working, they perform same as men but there are some external factors which affect

women’s working and according to some sales girls women work more than men.

• Men gain the respect

Some women said that if a man works outside home, people pay respect to him

and his work while if a woman work outside she is considered a wrong woman, as a girl

said: “If a man works so people pay him respect while if a woman works people taunt her

that because she works outside she will be a bad girl”.

• Society gives preference to men

60

According to a participant: “I don’t think there is any difference between women’s

and men’s work, we do our duty equal to men but society gives preference to men”

according to this statement society creates the norms in which men always get benefits,

on the other hand these norms are totally unfriendly towards women.

• Women face harassment

According to many girls women face harassment everywhere in street, on the way

to home, in buses vans and at workplace and it affects women’s working ability and

quality , as a woman said: “There is difference between men’s and women’s working

because no girl stares at a man or he doesn’t face that type of gazes, but if a girl works

she faces many people’s stares and comments” another said: “Mostly problems are faced

by women because men work easily in open place while we have the tension of ourselves,

our Stoll (dupatta), and surroundings.”

• Women work with responsibility

Most of the women argued that women work more than men, as a respondent

said: “It is always observed that women do more work than men”, women execute their

duties properly and with responsibility while men do not work properly, as a girl said:

“Men accomplish duty but not entirely, women do work with heart and men even forget

to tag up the products” another said: “Women work more than men; men just march all

over the place”.

• Men are sharp

A few number of women said that there is difference. Men are mostly sharp so

that is why they handle the customers easily, a respondent argued: “Usually customers

make the salesgirls confused, but boys (salesmen) are clever they handle easily”.

• Men try to suppress women

61

Many salesgirls said that if men and women work in same firm so it often

happened that mostly men suppressed the women, as a girl said: “Men pretend that they

are more efficient “and women feel that they are working under the male supervision, no

matter they are on the same positions” as another girl said “We feel they are trying to

drag pressure on us”

Women prefer this job because

• Safe work environment

Mostly women prefer this job because of safe and comfortable job environment. It

shows that if environment is good for women, it will be easy for her to work and their

work force participation will also increase.

According to participants:

Dialogue box 5

”it’s my fourth year and I am still working there I feel comfortable myself here and

secondly you should be good at yourself and one should not be given chance to do

wrong”.

“Environment of this firm is not as worse, it is quite better if we compare it to others

stores”.

“The job environment is good and also adequate for women”.

o Depends on Women

A girl said: “For a woman it depends on herself”, another argued:

“It depends on a woman and environment does carry herself, mostly it happens that if you

talk to boys with smile so they take it wrong, everyone has their own vision, if you create

an environment to take her in self-control so it will be good for a woman”.

62

While some said that it depends on confidence level of a woman. If she is

confident, she can work, otherwise it will be difficult to handle, as a girl suggested: “If a

girl is confidant so she can come out”

o Cameras

A few number of women said that there are cameras fixed everywhere so that they

feel themselves very secure because they have the feelings that no one can harm them, as

a participant said: “We are standing here in an open place and feel safe here more than

offices jobs, here cameras are fixed everywhere, no one can do anything wrong”.

o Security

Most of the women said that they work there because there is good security

system so that they feel themselves comfortable and secure, as a girl said: “the thing

which is very good is the security, if customers misbehave, we tell the securities, and then

they handle the situation”

• Economic condition

Many said that they are working here because of their economic condition

because there is no other earner in their home, as a girl said: “We come here because of

ours financial problems as there is no any other earner in our homes”.

Many women said that they don’t like the women working out side of the home

but they need this job so that they do this as respondent expressed: “I personally don’t

like to work. I think women are suitable for home. I need this job because of my bitter

economic condition; there is no earner in our home” another said:

“No, it’s not so easy, It’s our need which forces us to come out of our homes so I’m here and if financial condition of my home is stable or I have my own business or own a house so than may be I will never come out of my home, I prefer to start any kind of micro/ small business within the four walls of home, which give me a bit profit, because earning is too difficult when it comes to work outside home”.

63

• Qualification is not necessary for this job

Another big reason to join this job was that the education is not necessary for this

job so it can be got easily, as a participant said: “Qualification is not as much important

for this job so we get this job easily as compared to other banking and offices jobs”.

• Good package

Most of the women mentioned that they get a very good package as compared to

other jobs such as teaching and one other thing is that other jobs demand high education

level, as a girl said:

“The main point is that the girls who come in marketing, their salary is mostly very good, as you see I’m earning ten thousand rupees while if I do a job in any school etc, I can’t earn more than three thousand rupees, sales promoters’ salary is good so because of this reason women come this field willingly”.

Another said: “Marketing salary is very good so that is why, women come”.

Women assign on salesgirls’ positions because of

• Showoff and Attraction

When asked why companies mostly assign the women for salesgirls’ position?

The most frequent answer was to showoff and to attract others, so that the customer

comes to a salesgirl and buy her product.

As some respondent expressed:

Dialogue box 6

“May be through this, customers attraction can be achieved”.

“It is for that to see the girls’ men feel attraction, they will come more and if there will be

a boy so a big range of customers will not come as happily as for a girl”.

64

“It’s natural that men mostly get attracted towards women rather than men so maybe

they hire women because of attraction”.

“Salesgirls are hired for showoff and used as a decoration piece for attraction”.

“Marketing’s first rule is that employer prefers to hire the women because first look

always impresses the people so due to this reason he/she hires good looking girls”.

o Focus on Dressing

According to some salesgirls, women are mostly assigned for attraction so that

some companies focus on sales girls’ dressing, as a girl said “Companies focus on

dressing so that people get attracted” Companied force them to wear good dresses which

they can’t carry easily and they don’t feel good, as one of my respondent said: “some

companies force to wear pant shirt which we can’t wear freely in our society”. A girl

shared her experience:

“I covered my head with scarf but my boss said to me, ‘you have not come to perform Hajj or Umrah, on that day I went to washroom and took out it and wept a lot”.

• Ladies customers can easily ask about their necessities

Many salesgirls have a positive attitude towards this profession and they

expressed another aspect that women are hired so that female customers can demand

easily their required products, as a girl said: “If there is a salesgirl, the ladies also can

demand easily that products which they can’t express straightforwardly in front of a sale

boy” and secondly a sales girl can easily interact with female compared to a salesman

because most of female feel it bad as according to a participant: “If there is a girl with

her family she can’t intercept with a salesboy freely, she must be get confused in front of

him while if there will be a girl she can ask easily”.

65

• Women have patience

A few salesgirls raised another thing that women have more patience than men.

They can listen easily so that they are assigned for this job, as a respondent said: “Women

can deal very well; women have God gifted patience, and they tolerate all bad

behaviors”.

DISCUSSION

Sales is a profession which does not need a high level of education or time

intensive training however, women are reluctant to join this profession because sales is

one of those professions that are socially stigmatized for women and considered less

respectable.

According to my survey most of the women said that if a man works outside of

the home people pay respect to him and his work, while if a woman works outside she is

considered morally bad, loose character women. Almost 56.67% customers said ‘It is not

a respectable profession according to our societal norms’, analysis shows that this is all

because of our societal gender division of labor which focuses that women should come

in women ‘s specific fields such as teaching and nursing etc, if a woman joins other

profession, then she faces very negative attitude from men side. As salesgirls said that

many male customers talks very harshly and rudely to them. Karene and Anderson (1967)

gave the example of women in insurance companies “some men do not like to discuss

financial affairs with women they have a feeling that no woman can know as much as a

man might” (Marcia L. Bellas and Barbara Thomas, 2001 in Karene and Anderson, 1967:

5 reported in Thomas, 1990: 189).

Lawson, in her study of car saleswomen, (1993: 11) found that some customers

responded to women salespersons by simply refusing to deal with them ("Get me a real

salesman! What the hell are you doing here?"). By looking at this statement it is obvious

66

that men do not like to see women in this profession so that is why they show harsh

attitude. Secondly, many salesgirls said that the most frequent problem which they faced

during their job is ‘Men’s’ staring’ and this act affected their working quality. As my

respondent said: “First men mostly stare us up to down (head to foot) and than they talk

with us”. Mirza (2002: 26) also states:

In the public sphere where women are particularly younger ones, are constantly stared at. As soon as a woman leaves her house and walks down the street the men raise their heads to stare at her, even turn around when she has already passed by, and jog to their to make them aware to her presence. Under these conditions women feel uncomfortable in public, and generally very few women are seen in public life.

According to my view point, staring is a part of the visual sexual harassment and

it is immensely disturbing for a woman’s mental health. This strategy is used by men to

keep women out of the public sector. As stated previously, Haq (2009: 35) asserts that

work environment is not conducive as women face the cat calls, stares and they are also

harassed in the streets and within the office women frequently face sexual harassment

and use of foul and abusive language is very common at work places.

Another issue is that if women come outside they face negative attitude from men.

It was found during the analysis that many salesgirls said that if men and women work in

same firm then mostly men (sales boys) try to suppress women. A girl said: “Men show

themselves to be more efficient”. Even if they are working at the same position, men feel

that they know more and can boss around their women colleague. Another girl said “We

feel that they try to put pressure on us”.

Related to this Comer in his research states that traditionally selling positions

have been held by men because such jobs have long been regarded as being inherently

masculine (Comer and Jolson 1985, 1991). Another reason of harassment can be that

hiring women into traditionally male jobs may threaten male workers' sense of

masculinity, diminish their status, and raise fears that their earnings will decline

(Williams, 1989).

Many sales girls said that they worked as hard as men’s work but there was no

appreciation for them, only men get appreciation on the other if something goes wrong it

is always assumed that it must be the mistake of the salesgirls. Ransford (1998: 1-2)

67

points out that the sexes are widely segregated and management also viewed male and

female workers in quite different terms, they appeared to modify their employment

strategies to the sex of the workers, not the job performance.

Secondly, most of the women said ‘to pick the heavy cartons is a very difficult

job’, because mostly the stocks are very heavy then usually they need help of their male

counterparts, some time they help but most of the time they refuse to help them. A

participant said: “It is very difficult to fix the stock, and take up the carton because they

are too heavy and this is men’s duty but we do it”. On the other hand mostly when

women fix the stock many customers pass comments on their body figure. This is the

basic point that although women are never granted the equal opportunities as compare to

men in the job sector but when it comes to jobs like lifting the cartons, the notion of

equality raise dramatically.

68

CHAPTER FIVE

KEY FINDINGS AND CONCLUSION

KEY FINDINGS

Attitude

• According to the objective “customers’ attitude” I found three types of

customers’ behavior first friendly second rude and harsh and third

flirtatious.

• Secondly, there is a difference in gender and age wise attitude. It is

explored that usually men and women both show harsh attitude but men

mostly irritate the sales girls because they stare at them and also pass

comments. Middle age people (especially age 30-40) can be very

flirtatious in nature they try to harass the sales girls, and the young

customers are very rude in nature while old age people are very polite but

also very difficult to handle because they can not easily understand the

things.

• Customers accept this profession for women but they do not pay the due

respect to these working women because they considered them weak

characters.

• Usually male customers pass comments on salesgirls’ body (figure) and

some men often ask about their personal life.

Perception

• 70% customers said this profession is suitable for women.

• 66.67% customers said women should come in this profession.

69

• 56.67% customers said that this profession is not respectable in their

societal norms.

• 63.33% customers said that there is a clear difference between men’s and

women’s selling.

• 43.33% prefer to interact with sales girl rather than sales men.

• 50% customers said that women are well received by both men and

women as sales girls.

• 60% said women are more hard working.

• 50% customers said girls have better selling skills.

• 56.67% customers said that salesmen have upper hand and they dominate

sales girls.

• 70% customers said women work mostly in low scale jobs.

Customers related Experiences

• According to their experiences some customers rebuke and shout at sales

girls while others directly and indirectly harass them.

• The working quality of sales girls is massively affected by sexual

harassment and rude attitudes of customers.

• Salesgirls are not in a position to show any harsh attitude if customers

misbehave.

• Some sales girls prefer to do this job because of safe work environment

and some because higher education is not a requirement for this job. While

others join because of good packages and relatively high earnings.

Problems

70

• Women have to pick heavy carton and work equal to men but men gain

the respect while there is no appreciation for women.

• Sales girls face verbal, physical and gestural harassment.

RECOMMENDATIONS

• Women should be hired at large number on the management level so that

they can understand the problems of salesgirls. It seems that very few

women are hired in management, mostly there is only one woman in the

masculine culture of management, so management does not give much

importance to her single voice and decisions, she feels alienated and can

not take the decisions on her own for the betterment of sales girls

• Sexual Harassment Act has been passed in Pakistan; however its

implementation and use as a tool for the protection of salesgirls leave

much to be desired.

• Some required on-job facilities such as pick and drop services and lunches

should be provided.

• In Pakistan, there is lack of appropriate platform to understand and address

the problems of sales women. This topic should be taken for future

research so that the conditions and problems can come forth.

• Women should come in this profession at large, so that the societal

stigmas attached to this profession can be diminished. For this public and

private, both sectors should play a role to aware the people.

71

WAY FORWARD

Due to time constraint this study is limited to a broader overview of customers’

related experiences and problems of sales girls. There are many specific fields or issue

can be taken up for further research such as:

• What is the attitude of the working woman’s own family towards her job?

• Secondly, what kind of problems women are facing regarding their men

counterpart?

• What is the management’s attitude towards sales girls?

• What is the nature of differences in the level of public appreciations

towards sales boys and sales girls?

72

BIBLIOGRAPHY

American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. (4th ed). (2009). Houghton Mifflin Company.

Arnst, C. (2010, 02 02). Are working women too Nice? Retrieved 03 10, 2010, from http://www.businessweek.com/careers/workingparents/blog/archives/2010/02/are_working_wom.html

Collins English Dictionary. (1st ed) . (2003). Harper Collins Publishers.

Creswell, J. W. (2007). Five qualitative approaches to inquary. In qualitative inquary and research design choosing among five approaches (53-84). Sage Publication.

Dawson, L. M. (1997). Ethical Differences between Men and Women in the Sales Profession. Journal of Business Ethics , Vol. 16 ( No. 11), 1143-1152.

Emerging trends in women's mobility, economic participation and empowerment in Pakistan: A case study of hostesses in Daewoo bus services. (2006). Connective Action.

Farlex clipart collection. (2008). Princeton University, Farlex Inc.

Haq, E. U. (2009). Current Status and Prospects of Female Employment in the Apparel Industry in Pakistan. SINDH: GEN-PROM project of UNDP.

Hogan, M. (2005). Academics dictionary of Sociology.

Howard, M. B. (1994). Social Sciences Research. Prentice Hall and INC.

Joshi, M. (2007, December Sunday). Sexy salesgirls do actually boost sales. (Journal of Consumer Research). Retrieved 05 12, 2010, from http://www.topnews.in/sexy-salesgirls-do-actually-boost-sales-29681.

Ken, B., Tim, B., & Gene, B. (2001). The Moral Philosophy of Sales Managers and its Influnce on Ethical Decision Making. Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management , 1- 17.

Lulla. A. (2009, 11 31). Confession of a women petrol pump attendant. Retrieved 04 28, 2010, from http://www.openthemagazine.com/article/confessions/confessions-of-a-woman-petrol-pump-attendant.

Marcia, L. Bellas & Barbara, T. (2001, 03). Saleswomen, or Sales Workers? Determinants of the Sex Composition of Sales Occupations. Retrieved 05 06, 2010, from jstor: http://wwwjstor.org/stable/685030

Martin, L. A. (2006). Taking Women Professionals out of the Office: The Case of Women in Sales. Gender and Society , 20, 108-128.

73

Mathur, R. (1989). Quality of Working Life of Women Construction Workers. New Dehli: Commonwealth Publishers.

METRO Cash & Carry Pakistan opens first wholesale center in Islamabad. ( 2008, 04 tuesday).Retrieved0604,2010,from:http://www.metro.pk/servlet/PB/menu/1086570_l2/index.html

Neill, J. ( 2006,07 05 ). Analysis of Professional Literature: Qualitative Research (Observations & Comparison of 2 Qual. Methods in 2 Studies). Retrieved 06 05, 2010, fromQualitativeResearchMethods:http://wilderdom.com/OEcourses/PROFLIT/Class7Qualitative2.htm

Neuman, W. L. (1991). Quantitative and Qualitative Approaches. In Social Research Methods (pp. 99-171). Boston and London: Allyn and Bacon.

Oxford English Dictionary. (2008). (11th ed). Oxford University Press.

Pratt, G., & Hanson, S. (1995). Employer Practices, Local Labor Markets, and Occupational Segregation. In Gender Work and Space (pp. 157-184). London and New York: Routledge.

Qualitative Research Methods: A Data Collector’s Field Guide, Module 1. (n.d.). (family health international) Retrieved 05 10, 2010, from Qualitative Research Methods Overview:

http://www.fhi.org/NR/rdonlyres/etl7vogszehu5s4stpzb3tyqlpp7rojv4waq37elpbyei3tgmc4ty6dunbccfzxtaj2rvbaubzmz4f/overview1.pdf.

Ransford, M. (1998, 5 14). Women transforming sales into a female-dominated career . (Ball State University) Retrieved 03 24, 2010, from http://www.bsu.edu/news/article/0,1370,-1019-444,00.html

Sales soar at all_ women garage. (2005, 11 Friday). Retrieved 05 04, 2010, from BBC NEWS: http://news.bbc.uk/2/hi/south_asia4332382.stm

Siegle, D. (n.d.). Principels and Methods in Educational Research. Retrieved 05 01, 2010, from Web-Base Course from the University of Connecticut: http://www.gifted.uconn.edu/siegle/research/Qualitative/qualitativeInstructorNotes.html

Superior DataWorks, LLC. (1992). Retrieved 06 18, 2010, from http://www.superiordataworks.com/definitions2.htm

Webster's New World College Dictionary . (2010). Wiley Publishing.

Women In Marketing: Succeeding...Naturally!A Study of the Decision Making Styles of Marketing Executives.(n. d). Copernicus Marketing Consulting and Research; brandweek.

Writing guides: Case studies. (2008). Retrieved 05 02, 2010, from Colorado State University: http://writing.colostate.edu/guides/research/casestudy/index.cfm.

74

GLOSSARY

Chachora Pan Showing a mean nature, ill-mannered nature

Umrah A religious activity

Chalo Larkian Clever girls

Dupatta Stole, shawl, scarf

Hajj A religious activity

Muhale Wale Neighbours, vicinity, surrounding area

Parathas Oily breads

Shairana Andaz Poetic tone, romantic tone

75

Annexure

Demographic Profile:

Sex

1. Age Less than 18

19-30

31-40

Above 40

2. Place of Residence

3. Marital Status Single

Married

Widow

Separated

Divorced

4. Educational Qualification

76

Illiterate

• Knowing writing

• Not knowing writing

• Knowing reading

• Not knowing reading

Primary

Middle

Matriculation

F.A/F.SC

Graduation

M.A/M.SC

Above M.A/M.SC

5. Religion/Sect Muslim

Christian

Hindu

Any other

6. House type 1 Rent

2 Government

3 Personal

4 Other

77

7. Income 5000 to

15,000

16,000 to

30,000

31,000 to

45,000

Above

46,000

8. Family members 1to 5

6 to 10

11 to 15

More than

15

1. Do you feel this profession (sales) is suitable for women?

Yes No Don’t

know

2. Do you feel women are well received by both men and women as sales managers?

Yes No Don’t

know

78

3. Do you feel any difference between women’s selling and men’s selling?

Yes No Don’t

know

4. Do you prefer to interact with sales girls as compare to sales boys?

Yes No Don’t

know

5. Do you feel women should come in this profession?

Yes No Don’t

know

6. Do you think, this profession is respectable according to our societal norms?

Yes No Don’t

know

7. Do you feel sales men have upper hand and dominance when they work with sales

women?

Yes No Don’t

know

8. Do you feel that women are often haired at low level of job in sales profession?

Yes No Don’t

know

79

9. Do you feel women are hard working than men?

Yes No Don’t

know

10. Do you feel women have better skills in selling commodities?

Yes No Don’t

know

DEMOGRAPHIC PROFILE:

1. Sex: __________________ 2. Place of Residence: ___________________

3. Age: __________________ 4. Marital Status: _______________________

5. House type: ______________ 6. Occupational Status____________________

Religion/Sect: ______________ 8. Educational Qualification: ______________

9. Income: ________________ 10. Family members: _____________________

QUESTIONNAIRE:

1. What is customer’s behavior towards you? Is it positive or negative?

2. Mostly what type of customer visit your firm?

3. What is the difference between men’s attitude and women’s attitude when they

negotiate?

4. Do you find harsh customers? How you deal with them?

5. Do you take help of a male counterpart or not?

6. Do you feel women's participation in sales profession is acceptable for customers? If

No, explain why?

7. What kind of issues you mostly face during your job in this firm?

8. Do you think that job environment of this firm is women friendly?

80

9. What type of challenges usually you face?

10. What is your working experience?

11. Do you think that there is any kind of difference in women's and men's working

abilities?

12. Do you feel working pressure under the male’s supervision? Also clarify that why

men are mostly on higher positions?

13. In your view why women are mostly hired on sales girls position?

14. Do you feel any difference in the behavior of different age customers? Or do you find

that people’s behavior varies age vise? Probe=> is there any strategy to deal with them?

15. What is the easiest and most difficult part of your job?

amna

Documents

research methods

research approaches

qualitative research

quantitative research

research toolsinstruments

research techniques

research ethics

view of research design