Extended Project: Gender roles and the position of genders
in advertising.
Abstract
The aim of this research was to investigate gender position and gender roles in advertising in the
present day in order to not only distinguish the role of genders today, but also to compare it with
the findings of other researchers from previous periods, to distinguish if the position of men or
women has changed. The hypothesis was that the position of women in the media would have
moderately improved, with there being a decline in the amount of offensive advertisements since
1980. Men will still however be portrayed as playing a more significant role than women, and
women will dominate advertisements set in the private sphere of the home. The method involved
using content analysis and thematic analysis in order to distinguish which types of adverts males and
females were dominant in, and how each gender is portrayed. The findings were that females
greatly dominate advertisements in an indoor setting and a home and family life setting. They are
also more frequently used as sex symbols than Males. Males largely dominated advertisements in an
outdoor setting, and at work. Men were shown as playing a more significant role than women in 1/3
of the advertisements analysed. The hypothesis was therefore correct, as this was predicted. This
was similar to the findings of Courtney and Lockeretz, who’s research found women were shown as
domestic providers and sex objects. However, my research showed that women are not as strongly
used as sex symbols as they were in the research of Courtney and Lockeretz. A correlation was also
found between Buss’s research into evolutionary gender psychology and my own research, as the
characteristics that the figures in the advertisements that I analysed possessed, were the same as
the characteristics that Buss suggested genders place high importance on. The implications for
these findings are also relevant when considering Eagly and Wood’s Social Roles Theory, as if the
media continues to enforce gender roles in this way then social roles of men and women are being
reinforced.
Introduction
This research was conducted into Gender, more specifically, gender roles and the position of both
genders in advertising today. The term “Gender Roles” simply means the position of males and
females in the advertisements analysed.
Literature Review/Previous Research:
Courtney and Lockeretz conducted one of the most well acclaimed research studies into the topic of
Gender position in advertising in 1971. Their study involved looking at eight American general
interest magazines and analysing the roles of male and females within the advertisements. Their
research concluded that from the general interest magazines they looked at, women are portrayed
as domestic providers who do not make significant decisions, are dependent on men, and are
essentially sex objects (1).
Since their work, many other replications have occurred. Such as Venkatesan and Losco in 1975, and
Wagner and Banos in 1973, who both found that offensive ads had declined, but that woman were
still seen as belonging to the private sphere of the home. Venkatesan and Losco, and Wagner and
Banos were further support for Courtney and Lockeretz’s findings. A similar method was used in this
research, and to gain data representative of the media currently around us, general interest
magazines were also used.
The Biosocial theory, developed by Money and Ehrhardt (1972), states that social labelling and
differential treatment of males and females interact with biological factors (hormones, such as
exposure to testosterone) when a male or female is born. This theory integrates the influences of
nature and nurture, suggesting how the development of a male or females development.
Buss also conducted evolutionary psychology research on human sex differences in mate selection.
He conducted a large cross cultural study, concluding from the findings that men place a high
importance on youth and women desire an older mate with good financial prospects.
Aim:
The aim of this research, is to not only evaluate the position of gender roles in the media today, but
to also recognise whether or not it has changed. This will be done by comparing findings of my study
to that of previous researchers, such as Courtney and Lockeretz.
Hypotheses:
The position of women in the media will have moderately improved to that of the 1970’s and the
1980’s, due to the empowerment of women in the last thirty years. However, women will still
dominate advertisements that are Indoors and in a domestic setting, where as men will dominate
advertisements that our outdoors and to do with work. Both men and women will be used a sex
symbols, but advertisements with women as sex symbols will appear more frequently. Men will be
seen as playing a more significant role than women, much more than women will be seen as the
more dominant gender. By significant I mean that the gender (male or female) expresses a more
important meaning in the advert, or could be perceived as being more relevant or superior to the
other gender.
Method:
I decided that the best method of gathering an accurate representation of the portrayal of both
male and female genders in the media today was to look at Sunday supplements, and Sunday
supplement style magazines. This is because they are considered “gender neutral” in that they don’t
target their reading towards a particular gender. For example, looking at a fashion magazine would
contain advertisements being marketed directly towards women, and therefore would probably
contain a different set of adverts targeted towards one gender, and therefore an uneven
representation of roles in the general media today. Men’s fashion, Car and motoring magazines
would also probably contain advertisements directed towards males. Using Sunday supplement
magazines gives a more representative look at the way men and women are portrayed in the media
today to all genders, not just how one is portrayed to the other.
In aggregate I took 30 advertisements from 10 Sunday supplement magazines. This number of
magazines was large enough to be able to generalise my results to the “media today”, and was
influenced by the fact that many previous researchers in this area of Psychology used a similar
amount of publications in their studies.
The experiment involved both qualitative and quantative research. The first part of the experiment
(Fig 1) involved using content Analysis as a level of measurement. Content Analysis is used to
evaluate media, most commonly books and television, but also magazines. Using content analysis
allowed me to collect quantative data.
As a form of qualitative research, for the second part of the experiment I used thematic analysis and
coding units to categorise the advertisements into pre existing themes (Fig 2). Each of these themes
represented a different idea or angle on gender position. This allowed me to collect qualitative data
despite not having physical participants of any kind.
For each advertisement collected the same procedure was followed. Firstly, it was scored in a table
under various categories (Fig 1). For example, if the advertisement showed a woman walking
through the desert it would be tallied in the female column under “Outdoors”. Next it was tallied in
a table of themes (Fig 2). For example if the advertisement showed a woman serving a man, then a
tally would be scored under the theme “Men seen as playing a more important role than woman”.
There were no ethical considerations to take into account during the research, as I was not using any
participants, and all of the information was taken from the public domain, and therefore no
permission was needed to use it.
Content Analysis:
Figure 1.
Sex Symbol
Home/Family Life
Women
Work
Men
Outdoors
Indoors
0
2
4
6
8
10
Figure 2.
Keyword
Women as sex symbols
Women in a domestic setting
Men seen as playing a more
important role than women
Men as sex symbols
Analysing Characteristics – Key Terms Checklist
16
14
12
10
8
Male
6
Women
4
2
0
Fit / In shape Glowing / Good
Skin
Youthful /
Young
Unfit/
Unhealthy
Appearance
Old/Elderly
Summary of Results:
Figure 1.
10
9
8
7
6
Male
5
Female
4
3
2
1
0
Indoors
Outdoors
Work
Home/FL
Sex Symbol
The results show that females greatly dominate advertisements in an indoor setting, and adverts to
do with home and family life. They are also more frequently used as sex symbols than Males. Males
largely dominated advertisements in an outdoor setting, and at work.
Figure 2.
Men were seen as playing a more important role than women in 1/3 of the advertisements looked at
in this experiment. Women were depicted in a domestic setting in 8/15 advertisements, and women
were portrayed as sex symbols in double the amount of adverts as men.
Figure 3.
Out of all of the 30 advertisements looked at during the experiment, none were found to contain
men or women that were unfit or elderly in appearance. There were more youthful women in the
advertisements than men, and more women were considered in shape as opposed to men.
Discussion:
Review of the Findings:
The results show that the position of both Males and Females in advertising has not significantly
changed since the research of Courtney and Lockeretz in 1971. Women still dominate
advertisements in the private sphere of the home, whilst men dominate work and outdoor
advertisements. One of the most notable findings was that in one third of the 30 advertisements
analysed, men were portrayed as being more significant than women. I defined the keyword of
“significant” as the gender (in this instance male) expressing a more important meaning in the
advert, or could be perceived as being more relevant or superior to the other gender (in this case
female).
The results essentially support Courtney and Lockeretz’s research, and confirm that a similar pattern
of gender roles can be found in the general media advertisements of 2012.
Limitations of the research:
A limitation of the research is that a Pilot study was not carried out. A pilot study would have
highlighted any problems before the research was carried out. For example, were there particular
Sunday supplement magazines that should be avoided due to the fact they are targeted towards a
particular gender, or were the same advertisements being repeated over and over again in different
magazines, meaning that the research was not a representation of a large chunk of the British
Media, but of a few individual companies advertising across several magazines. A modification that
could have also been made would be increasing the amount of magazines
Implications of this research
The implications of this research are very significant when considering the effect that the differences
in the portrayal of men and women in the media will have on our society. Advertising in today’s
media is in effect causing a reinforcement of Gender roles.
The implication of this research is important when considering the biosocial approach to gender
development and biosocial explanation of the division of labour. Gender, is ultimately
characteristics (whether these characteristics are biologically or socially influenced being constantly
argued in Psychology) which are defined as male or female. Women describe themselves in more
rational terms and gravitate towards jobs that reduce inequalities, where as men focus on tasks and
connections with large groups and gravitate towards jobs that enhance inequalities, such as soldiers
and firemen. This has led to a division of labour, where men are seen as the breadwinners and
women are often in the role of homemaker and the one who cares for the children. This research
therefore suggests that our society still, even in 2012, demonstrates gender roles and a division of
labour.
Money and Ehrhardt (1972) developed the following Biosocial Theory:
Social
Labelling.
Biological male or
female is born.
Differential
Treatment.
Interact
with
Biological
Factors
(hormones)
Their biosocial theory emphasises the importance of social labelling and differential treatment. The
implications of my research are therefore crucial, as my research suggests that the media and
advertising today are only adding to the division of gender roles and social labelling (such as women
should stay at home with the children, as my research found that women dominated the
advertisements in the private sphere of the home). I would like to suggest that this may be also be a
causation of differential treatment, as social labelling and media representation of men and women
being heavily stereotyped has encouraged this current generation to raise children in accordance
with these social labels, leading to differential treatment between men and women from a young
age. Girls are positively reinforced to wear pink, and play with dolls, and would be negatively
reinforced to climb trees. Boys are positively reinforced to tackle in football matches and would be
negatively reinforced to play with toy irons (Lytton 1991).
Eagly and Wood (1999) developed the following Social Role Theory, describing Social Constructivism,
which is the theory that sex differences are the product of arbitrary socialization experiences.
Evolved physical
differences between men
and women.
Men are assigned social
role of hunter and
women are assigned
social role of
homemaker.
Psychological
differences then
emerge from
these social role
assignments.
In light of this theory, implications of my research are incredibly significant. My findings of heavily
stereotyped male and female roles in the media, which are representing men as the more important
and dominant gender, and secluding women to the private sphere of the home, are only reinforcing
these social roles than men and women are assigned. Social roles will always continue to develop in
this way if the public domain and the media continue to reinforce them. In order for the position of
women to change not only in the roles of home life, but at work and in all areas of society, these
roles need to stop being reinforced so strongly, and with such strong stereotypes. For a moment let
us take the social constructivism approach (as shown in the social role theory above) where it is
stated that sex differences are the product of socialization. My research suggests that the media
today is still heavily stereotyped and that distinct gender roles can be found in many advertisements
gracing the pages of our public interest magazines. If this is a fair representation of the position of
genders in today’s advertising, which I believe it is, and therefore a representation of genders in
today’s society, then the socialization of our current population, and future generations, is surely
never going to change. Constant reinforcement of these gender roles, is only going to lead to greater
sex differences, and a greater division of labour.
Eagly and Wood also argued that hormonal differences in men and women may be an outcome of
the social roles we are assigned, rather than a cause. For example, testosterone as a result of Men
engaging in more competitive activities. If these social roles continue to be reinforced (and my
research suggests that they are being reinforced in advertising) then these hormonal differences
may also continue, causing the division of labour to continue in the way that is has, with men being
the breadwinners and women being the homemakers.
The implications of my research are also especially important when considering the evolutionary
approach towards explanations of gender roles, and the division of labour. Firstly, by looking at
Buss’s evolutionary psychology research on human sex differences in mate selection. He conducted
a large cross cultural study across 37 cultures, examining 10,047 individuals. His findings were that
Men placed a high importance on youth, suggesting this was because of the fertility cues that youth
gives away. He also found that women desire an older mate with good financial prospects,
hypothesizing that this may because of the social status an older man has achieved, this leading to
greater protection to her and her offspring. Buss’s research greatly supports the evolutionary
approach. Eagly and Wood’s research then followed, and by using a gender empowerment measure
their findings were that when women had a higher status (so that their status is more equal to men),
mating preferences become less pronounced. They therefore concluded that social roles are a
driving force in psychological sex differences. Figure 3 in my results suggests that these predictions
about evolutionary psychology are correct. My research into analysing the characteristics of the
figures in the advertisements essentially supports Buss’s approach to evolutionary psychology, in
that it shows the characteristics described by Buss to be desired by men or women were prominent
in the advertisements, and therefore men or women with these particular characteristics were
chosen to be in the advertisements. Dominant figures in advertisements would be chosen to appeal
to readers, either males or females, and therefore this is an interesting correlation between the
characteristics Buss suggested were desired by the opposite sex and the characteristics the figures in
the advertisements possessed.
Implications of my research stretch further to the world of work, where the consequences for
women are high as a result of gender roles and gender stereotyping, which I would suggest is being
maintained, if not added to, by media reinforcement. The women of today, despite incredible
progress in the past two or three decades, and indeed in the last century for women, are the victims
of a “glass ceiling”, a term used to describe the invisible ceiling stopping women reaching top
positions in companies and firms by many economists.
However, this one experiment only focuses on ten general interest magazines in the UK, and
therefore cannot necessarily be generalised to other cultures. It would be interesting to conduct
further research into the position of genders in advertising and the media in non-western cultures,
where ideologies and gender roles might be different. If this experiment was repeated in collectivist
cultures rather than an individualist culture, it would be important to see if the findings were
different.
It would also be interesting to look at advertisements that were published after periods of
empowerment for women. For example, after the first and second world wars, where the division of
labour temporarily shifted. Woman were called upon to work on the land, something previously
done by men, and for the first time were encouraged, and informed it was socially acceptable not to
stay at home and look after the house and children. Woman took on masculine roles, and labour
previously dominated by men, such as mechanics, engineers, tank drivers, building ships, plumbers
and driving fire engines.
Ideas for further research:
Further research could also be done into other areas of media. It is impossible for me to analyse the
effect of media as a whole on gender roles and the division of labour, as my experiment
concentrated particularly on magazine advertisements. It would be interesting to repeat the same
experiment on other areas of media, such as radio and television.
It would also be interesting to also replicate the experiment on a larger scale, as a limitation of my
research is that it was only using ten magazines in one country. If the amount of materials was
greatly increased, would the results still be the same?
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
INTERNET SOURCES
(1) Scott A. Lukas, The Gender AD’s project.
Available from : http://www.itcconline.net/lukas/gender/pages/roles.htm
(2) Susan De Young and F.G.Crane, Vol 11 1992, Females’ attitudes toward the portrayal of
women in advertising.
Available from : http://www.warc.com/fulltext/ijoa/5225.htm
BOOK SOURCES
(3) Charles Crawford, Dennis Kerbs, The foundations of evolutionary psychology, 2008,
Psychology Press; 2 edition
(4) David Buss, 2005, The Handbook of evolutionary psychology, John Wiley & Sons; First edition
(5) Nelson Thornes AQA Psychology A, 2009
Appendix
Content Analysis -Charts
Figure 1.
Indoors
Male
I
Aggregate
1
Female
IIIIIIIII
Outdoors
IIIIIIII
8
III
3
Work
III
3
I
1
Home/Family Life
IIII
4
IIIIIIII
8
Sex Symbol
II
2
IIII
4
Figure 2.
Keyword
Women as sex symbols
Women in a domestic setting
Men seen as playing a more important role than
women
Men as sex symbols
IIII
IIIIIIII
IIIII
II
Analysing Characteristics – Key Terms Checklist
Characteristic
Fit/In shape
Glowing/good skin
Youthful/Young
Unfit/ Unhealthy appearance
Old/Elderly
Male
IIIIIIIII
IIIII
IIIII
Female
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
IIIIIIIII
IIIIIIIII
Aggregate
9