Sex discrimination evident in news and ads
(Shanghai Daily)
Updated: 2006-03-07 16:19

Global and Chinese news reports are still largely male-dominated, with sex discrimination evident especially in TV advertisements, according to a survey by the Beijing Association of Female Journalists, Xinhua News Agency reported.

The results of the survey, concerning the status of different genders in the media, showed women only accounted for 19 percent of the stories in news reports. Only 10 percent of government officials, academic experts and critics that appear in news reports are female. However, women appear three times more than men in family role reports.

The survey shows 5 percent of news reports tend to intensify inequality between the sexes while reports that challenge and criticize such inequality only account for 1 percent.

The association also finds, after three months' of monitoring more than 10 TV channels in Beijing, that producers of TV advertisements prefer female actresses. More than 70 percent of the TV advertisements broadcasted in the period featured heroines, in most cases young and attractive, while male roles appeared in only 47.5 percent of the advertisements.

Female roles in the advertisements displayed more close-ups or shots emphasizing their physical appearances. The association noted 573 TV advertisements which "used female appeals as means of marketing."

The association also found that in advertisements using family scenarios, men appear to be more relaxed, while women take on the burden of housework.