Mirror on the Media: Gender and Advertising in Southern Africa

This publication is a study conducted by Gender Links (GL) on gender and advertising in Southern Africa. It forms part of the Mirror on the Media series of monitoring reports on gender and the media coordinated by GL with the support of the Open Society Initiative of Southern Africa (OSISA).

Covering 1,650 radio, television, print, and billboard advertisements in Mauritius, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, the study aims to establish how women and men are represented and portrayed in advertising. As stated in the document, despite women constituting half of all consumers, they are often either ignored, or portrayed in ways that perpetuate both blatant and more subtle forms of stereotypes.

Chapter two - Mauritius

Chapter three - South Africa

Chapter four - Zambia

Chapter five - Zimbabwe

Chapter six - Conclusions and Recommendations