The Tupperware Effect: Can Direct Sales Help Women Living in Poverty Throughout the World?

While direct sales presents a potential career path for Americans looking for work, most of the growth for companies like Tupperware and Avon is happening abroad—specifically, in emerging markets like Africa and Indonesia. The presence of these companies in poor nations have provided a much-needed chance for women to gain economic independence. It's been a successful partnership on both sides, and the impact of these companies is starting to attract attention. Rick Goings, the CEO of Tupperware, recently returning from the World Economic Forum at Davos, where “more and more people are starting to talk about our kind of business,” he says. “Even in Davos, they’re talking about the Tupperware effect.”

What is the Tupperware effect? It’s when direct-sales companies go into developing markets and, in the course of building their business, build up the opportunities for the women that work with them. “We will provide her microfinancing, we will train her, we will provide her with a coach and a mentor,” he says, noting that these services are free of charge. Tupperware has also developed specific products specifically for women in developing nations. Because many of the women served by these markets don’t have access to electricity, they developed the Quick Chef, a hand-crank operated food processor. (Goings notes that the Quick Chef is now also a popular seller in European markets.)

By giving women the tools they need to get started, as well as a product line friendly to the needs and resources of women in developing nations, Goings predicts a revolution of sorts. “When she tastes success, she gains confidence. And confidence equals influence. All of the sudden, she starts to change, and that influence spreads to her family, to relatives, to the streets she lives on, and the community she’s part of.”

It all sounds too good to be true—and it’s worth noting that in the course of all this positive social development, Tupperware has seen tremendous profits thanks to their expansion into these markets. But there is research that indicates that direct sales can provide real benefits for women living in poverty. Linda Scott, a professor at Oxford, published an article in the July 2009 issue of Gender and Development detailing the economic benefits of Avon in poor communities in South Africa. Through her research, she finds that:

For many women, working for Avon is more than a way to earn an income. It is an instrument for personal and social transformation. The Avon experience allows women to craft a new identity as professionals, refashioning their appearance and deportment, and redefining economic activity as enterprising and entrepreneurial. While the company employs a range of strategies to motivate women as capitalist entrepreneurs, it has also opened up new possibilities for women to become agents of personal and social change; not a small accomplishment in a context where gender inequality, exclusion and disempowerment often frame a woman’s life.

It’s not a perfect model. As Jeff Chu writes in his Fast Company profile of Scott: “There's a natural ceiling on how many Avon ladies one community can have.” He also points out that Scott’s research indicates that the “poorest of the poor” may not benefit from these programs. There’s also larger question about giving women economic freedom by peddling distinctly “feminine” wares—are these companies pushing consumerism and gender roles along with entrepreneurial values?

Scott has found that though these poor women have less discretionary income than women in wealthier nations, they do budget funds for beauty items and personal care, as well as household needs; Goings says that women spend what money they have based on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, which includes food and food prep. But to that point, he also hopes that his products provide more than economic freedom for women in developing countries. “If we can provide her with food-storage products and preparation products, it frees her. Women [in these areas] have been involved mostly in food gathering and preparation.” If his products make that process easier, “she is free to use her brain, to do other things.” During his time in Davos, his work focused on bringing gender equity to many of the nations now served by Tupperware. “We have got to get women involved in things other than transporting things and food gathering,” he says.

Hosting spa parties and cooking demonstrations shouldn't be the only thing women have the chance to do instead. But for now, it's an exciting opportunity in places where opportunities, especially for women, are hard to find.