Discussion
How is domestic labour gendered in representations in Chinese television advertisements?
According to the findings, Chinese television advertisements divides domestic labour according to gender. Results indicate that they are advertisements which are considered for women while others are considered for men. For domestic labour, findings suggest that feminism has much influence on advertising various products. The female gender has dominated in the advertisement of house cleaning detergents indicating that cleaning work belongs to the female. Only a small percentage of men are involved in cleaning activities using cleaning detergents, and that’s why they are not featured in the advertisements on house cleaning detergents. The results showed that 737 females are used in the ad of domestic labour related products on CCTV1, against the male gender, which was 453. Feminism is reflected in the findings and portrayed by the fact that advertisements on cleaning detergents involve a large number of women compared to men. In the advertisements on cleaning detergents, a large number of participants were female, demonstrating the detergents’ effectiveness in conducting domestic labour such as cleaning kitchen floors, corridors, and other parts of the house. Although many individuals used in the advertisement for cleaning detergents or females, various instances have demonstrated men, selling the cleaning detergents, or assisting their wives in cleaning house floors using detergents.
Gender has much influence on domestic labour as represented in advertising. Many companies prefer women to advertise fabric washing powder as indicated by the findings, and that’s why there is a high percentage of women featured in advertisements when compared to the number of male genders. In many instances’ women are involved in washing clothes using washing powder, and that’s why TV advertisements favour them. Since cleaning is considered as domestic labour, many TV advertisements will approach women to advertise their products, and this can be confirmed by a large percentage of women we’ve been featured in the advertisement dishwashing liquids and powders. The large number of participants involved in buying cleaning detergent and advertisements were female and even demonstrated how the cleaning detergents are used. This contributed to the high percentage of female representation in the advertisements.
According to the findings, Chinese television advertisements have divided domestic labour in terms of gender as it demonstrates that cooking activities belong to women. Although some advertisements have featured men cooking, they are only featured in the kitchen assisting women in cooking or serving food using the cooking oil that is being advertised. Even in the instances of buying cooking oil in the advertisement, a large number of participants featured are women. Therefore, Chinese television advertisements indicate that women have the duty to cook for their families is indicating that domestic labour that involves cooking belongs to women. Milk powder is a product that is mostly used by the female for domestic labour, such as cooking. The advertisement on milk powder featured a high percentage of women compared to the number of men—kitchen products primarily used by women. Women have been featured buying, carrying, or using the milk powder in cooking. The advertisement featured men drinking tea prepared with milk powder hence leading to gender harmonization in the advertisement.
A refrigerator is a domestic labour appliance used for storing kitchen stuff and has been featured in advertisements in Chinese television. A large number of participants featured in the advertisements of refrigerators are men, but they have only been featured buying the product for their families. When it comes to domestic labour, a large number of participants have been featured using the refrigerators are women since they are the one featured storing foodstuffs. Therefore, according to the research trying to respond to the research question on how domestic labour is gendered in Chinese television advertisements, there are roles played by women and others played by men hence dividing domestic labour with respect to gender.
Femininity has dominated advertisements in Chinese televisions, as demonstrated by findings. There is a large percentage of women who have been featured in the advertisements of various products used at home. Considering the advertisement conducted for Libai dishwashing liquid in which shows women do most of the domestic labour, and men are there to assist. Women play the main role as she washes the dishes after dinner. The advertisements imply that women have a convincing power towards their fellow women on various products used for domestic labour. In the advertisement for cleaning detergents, women are preferred over. The finding shows that advertisement of various products that are used in domestic labour, spokespeople are women indicating that they have the power to convince others to buy the product. The advertisement of fabric washing powders has been assigned to women they are demonstrating femininity.
Femininity has also been demonstrated in the advertisements on dishwashing liquids and powders. Many adverbs conducted on dishwashing liquid and powder, there is a large number of women spokespeople d how to use the product or using the product to clean dishes in their homes. Women have taken control of domestic work such as cleaning dishes, as demonstrated in the advertisements. Although some men have been featured in the advertisements on dishwashing liquids and powder, their role is to assist women in kitchen work but not taking main roles. To some extent, the type of spokespeople is an aspect to represent the stereotype of women at home. The advertising companies tended to invite virtuous female spokespeople to display home-based products seeking to attract more female customers. While trying to compare gender representation on domestic labour related products on CCTV1 advertisements and gender representation on domestic labour associated products advertisements, women are given ‘simple’ domestic labour activities. Therefore, it can be concluded that women do better in domestic labour compared to non-domestic labour according to content analysis on CCTV1 advertisement analysis. For instance, in the advertisements of baby diapers, men are not involved hence showing that their work does not involve taking care of babies, but rather, they spend much time doing jobs outside their houses. Females were portrayed as mothers and wives, which showed that domestic labour should belong to women. In television advertisements, the number of females described as mothers and wives was portrayed by the aspect of cooking and serving their husbands and also taking care of babies.
According to the findings, values of gender roles are changing and representations as demonstrated by Chinese TV advertisements on cleaning products. From the year 2005 to 2012, there is a very low percentage of men featured in the advertisements on fabric washing powders. In the advertisement of the same product from the year 2013 to 2019, the number of men featured in the advertisement increases indicating that there is a significant change in representations on television advertisements. Men are also taking up the responsibility off using fabric washing powders in homes. It also indicates that domestic labour is also changing. Men are being involved in housework such as washing clothes and other fabrics, and that’s why they are being featured in Chinese television advertisements. Agenda rules for domestic labour are changing.
In the first years, according to the findings, a large number of men were not involved in house cleaning. From 2013 to 2019, an increased number of men have been involved in house cleaning activities as demonstrated by their involvement in television advertisements. The number of men who are involved in planning activities as demonstrated will be advertisements when comparing the years between 2005 to 2012 and 2013 to 2019, has doubled. A large number of men have taken the responsibility of assisting women in domestic labour. This could be attributed to the large number of women who are also doing various types of jobs that were earlier classified as ‘work for men’. Representation of female gender on cooking oil advertisements has declined from 3013 to 2019 indicating that men are also taking up the responsibility of women cooking as more men are being featured cooking for their families. Products such as cooking oil recorded higher female representation advertisement is it considered a domestic labour product and specifically a kitchen commodity. Still, the idea has changed in recent years.
Have the status of men and women changed in gendered representation domestic labour in contemporary advertisements between the year 2005/2012 to 2013/2019?
Comparing the years the year 2005 to 2012 and 2013 to 2019, the status for men and women in society has changed as indicated by Chinese television advertisements. Before the year 2013, the frequency of male representation in the advertisement for domestic labour related products on contemporary Chinese television was 89. The low number of male involvements in Chinese television advertisements is due to the idea that men did not involve themselves in domestic labour much as compared to women. Advertising on domestic labour-related products could feature more women than men. Between the year 2013 and 2019, the frequency of male representation in contemporary Chinese television advertisements on a domestic labour related product has increased significantly, indicating that more men have started engaging themselves in domestic labour. The frequency was of male involvement has grown to 176. The frequency of female representation on contemporary Chinese television advertisements has also decreased significantly, as indicated by advertisements on Chinese television. Gender roles have changed recently. Various roles that were done by men only have registered female participation while on the other hand, roles that were done by the female in the past, are being done by men too. From the year 2013 to 2019, the frequency of female representation on contemporary Chinese TV on the advertisements domestic labour-related products was 224, which is a significant drop when compared to the past years. A considerable number of men have been featured cleaning house floor using cleaning detergents, therefore, showing that men also perform various activities which are seen as if women should perform them.
Change in gender roles for domestic labour is also indicated by the idea of advertising kitchenware for men. Various advertisements on contemporary Chinese television have featured a large number of participants to advertise for kitchen wear indicating that men can also cook for themselves or their families. In the past years, were few advertisements involving men on kitchen related products, but the notion has changed. Men and female stereotyping are changing. A man can do what women does in the kitchen, and on the other hand, a woman can do what men do in other fields. From the findings, it is evident that men and women can do some domestic labour. Foster and Stratton (2019) say the gender representation of domestic labour may be influenced by the social regulation about how to divide domestic labour for men and women. The status of men and women in domestic labour as represented in advertising has changed drastically. Men and women are playing a major role in domestic labour, such as cooking, washing, cleaning, and taking care of children.