The Changing Roles Portrayed by Women in Indian Advertisements: A Longitudinal Content Analysis

Abstract

The role of women has been changing over the years in various fields around the world like advertising, academics, politics, etc. Today 30% of employees in the software industry are women. They are also distinguishing themselves as professionals in different walks of life. But has the representation of women advertising changed over a period of time in advertisements? Or does it confirm to some of the traditional notions about women and their role in society? That is the question we wish to deal with in this paper. The first section gives a review of literature on gender role portrayals in advertising. The second section discusses the various hypotheses of the study and the theoretical foundation for the same. The third section discusses the methodology of the study and a detailed analysis of the results. The last section contains general discussion, implications of the study, scope for further research and conclusion.