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Gender and Advertising How Gender Shapes Meaning

The emotional, sexual, and psychological stereotyping of females begins when the doctor says, " It's a girl. " —Shirley Chisholm Men are dogs and women are cats. Women are from Venus and men are from Mars. Writers, filmmakers, psychologists, and advertisers all have used the idea that men and women are different to develop stories, create conflict, and provide persuasive imagery. Not only do advertisers view men and women differently, but men and women also bring different perspectives to advertising. Thus, we can assume that men and women create different meanings from the advertisements they see. Gender roles in our society have changed dramatically since the 1950s, and portrayals of men and women in advertising have been researched since nearly the same time. Researchers have consistently sought to evaluate these roles to examine whether advertising has kept up with societal changes. In this chapter, we examine the different ways men and women view advertising and messages , as well as some of the ways that advertising portrays gender roles today. The last several decades have seen changes in the role of women in society, both as those who earn money and those who spend money. In 1940, women comprised about 20% of the workforce in the United States, while today that percentage reaches 50% (U.S. Department of Labor, 2000). In addition, the family structure in the United States has changed: smaller proportions of two-parent families and larger numbers of single parents were characteristic of the family structure toward the end of the 20th century (U.S. Department of Labor, 2000), and that trend continues today. Internationally, the story is similar. It is estimated that worldwide about 70% of all working-age women now work outside of the home (Witel-Daugenti, 2011). Women make up the majority of professional workers in many countries, even in the Mediterranean, where women have traditionally held more menial jobs. In Spain, for example, the proportion of young women in the labor force has now reached American levels.