Gender Differences In Gender Stereotypes

Theoretical Framework

Theoretically, this study will be using Cultural Studies by Stuart Hall (1970) and Ideology State Apparatus by Louis Althusser (1970).

Gender in advertising has been extensively discussed and studied by many scholars because it plays an important role in marketing products. Gender is a significant factor for products and services because it serves as a basis for product segmentation (Putrevu, 2001). Dwivedy, Patnaik & Suar (2009) emphasized that changes in societies are inevitable, continuous and never ending. Same thing with gender construction, different cultures over periods of time has a gender symbolic construction that changes over time (Wood, 2007 as cited by Dula, 2013). Media is a powerful instrument in constructing

Troland, Frith & Mueller (2010) said that different cultures have their own general beliefs of what establishes masculinity and femininity and it is called gender roles (as cited by Epure et al, 2014). With the diversity of cultures, gender cannot be defined in a single explanation. Rather, it is changing and evolving through time. Individuals have their own perception of what gender is and because of this, society is constantly changing as well as gender constructions. Furthermore, stereotyping in gender roles has become widespread in advertising. Stereotypes are reinforced by advertisers through many ways. It can be in colors and setting of the commercials (Epure et al, 2014). In 1975, McArthur and Resko has studied the portrayals of American television commercials of men and women. In this study, it was found out that men portrays authoritative roles in commercials while women were portrayed as product users (Kumari et al, 2012). Women are always subordinated while men are playing important roles most of the time. They maintain the construction of male very opposite to female and this perpetuates a patriarchal society (Dwivedy et al,

St. Scholastica’s College is a women’s institute. Students are molded to be advocates of oppressed, agents of social change and mediator of women empowerment. Students are also trained to be critically aware and socially involved in issues such as gender inequality. As future media practitioners, the researchers aim to widen the perspective of the advertisers and the audiences at the same time.

Despite of the few efforts conducted by the previous studies about gender role portrayals, advertisers are still unaware of these “damaging ways” (Conley & Ramsey, 2011 par.3) of portraying men and women. This study intends to help the audiences to look at the ideologies using their gender lens. Lastly, it aims to embolden advertisers to portray men and women more responsibly and sensibly and broaden their awareness by knowing how the audiences see and perceive the ideologies that they are conveying either positively or negatively.

Review of Related Literature