WUNRN
European
Union Calls for Less Gender Stereotyping in Advertising |
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17
September 2008 On Tuesday, September 3, 2008, Members of the European
Parliament (MEP) voted overwhelmingly in support of a report about the
effects of marketing on gender equality and gender stereotyping. The report,
drafted by Swedish MEP Eva Britt-Svensson and prepared by the EU Women’s
Rights Commission, was approved with 504 votes in favor, 110 against and 22
abstentions.
___________________________________________________________________ 9/03/08 |
Members of the European Parliament voted in favor of a report which calls on advertisers to stop portraying men and women in tradition gender roles.
European
lawmakers are concerned that the way women and men are portrayed in marketing and
advertising is making it more difficult to dispell old-fashioned ideas of
traditional gender roles.
Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) on Wednesday adopted a new report that calls on member states to make a greater effort to monitor how gender is portrayed in advertising. Constant images of women in the kitchen while men clean their cars outside are reinforcing sexist stereotypes, the study argues.
The non-legally binding report, which was drafted by Swedish MEP Eva-Britt Svensson, also calls on EU institutions to monitor the implementation of existing European laws on sex discrimination.
"MEPs call on the EU institutions and member states to develop awareness actions against sexist insults or degrading images of women and men in advertising and marketing," the lawmakers said in a statement after adopting the report by 504 votes in favor, 110 against and 22 abstentions.
The report also called on the media and advertising to set good examples from a gender perspective.
Before the vote, Svensson told the German news agency DPA that people are often not aware of how much they are influenced by advertising. "When women and men are portrayed in a stereotypical way the consequence may be that it becomes difficult in other contexts to see women and men's resources and abilities in areas other than those of the traditional gender roles."
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