Addressing gender stereotyping in Australian advertising

From model mothers to passive little girls, stereotyped depictions of females continue to appear in Australian advertising and many within the industry are reluctant to call these out for fear of negative consequences.

A recent survey of advertising professionals by advertising equality movement shEqual found that while depictions of women that were respectful (93%), realistic (88%) and diverse (89%) were extremely or very important to respondents, almost one in three (30%) were concerned about the repercussions if they spoke out on potentially sexist or stereotyped content. 

Other reasons for not speaking up included feeling it wasn’t their place (30%), they weren’t senior enough (29%) and a lack of experience (27%).

Why it matters

Following up on that survey, shEqual has now launched a new guide, Female Stereotypes in Advertising, to help creatives, strategists, and brands identify and address problematic stereotypes.

“It’s vital for the health and wellbeing of women that ads don’t reinforce harmful expectations and social norms,” says Dianne Hill, CEO of Women’s Health Victoria (the organisation leading the shEqual movement). “A good starting point is removing caricatures of women in advertising and replacing them with more realistic and diverse representations of women.”

Seven stereotypes and some missing women

• The Model Mother: women are shown as the primary caretakers of both home and children.
• The Passive Little Girl: while boys are shown engaging in active play, girls sit passively, often playing with dolls and house appliances – and everything is pink.
• The Observed Woman: the observed woman loses her agency and authority in the male gaze.
• The Sexualised Woman: a woman’s value is hosen as coming only from her sex appeal.
• The Pretty Face: women are shown as secondary and “just a pretty face” without much intelligence or independence.
• The Magical Grandmother: on the rare occasions older women do appear in ads they are often in the kitchen serving food, smiling and supporting younger characters, with few spoken lines.
• The Ticked Box: characters included to check diversity boxes, but commonly limited to the background.
• The missing women: broadly absent from ads are women with disabilities, women with larger bodies, queer women, older women, and women of colour – particularly First Nations women.

Sourced from shEqual, Mumbrella [Image: Getty images]