Portrayal of women in Egyptian TV advertising

The title of this thesis is portrayal of Women in Egyptian TV Advertising. It is presented by Mireille Raouf Ishak, at the American University in Cairo under the supervision of Dr. Kevin L. Keenan. It analyzes the representation of women in Egyptian TV commercials broadcast on Channel 1, the major national TV channel. Since there has been very little research related to this topic published about this part of the world, the literature review relied on similar studies conducted in the United States, Britain, Italy, Kenya, Turkey and other countries. The literature review showed that in all the studied countries men represented most of the voiceovers in ads. Whereas men were either portrayed in an occupational setting or outdoors, women were mostly portrayed at home. Women were also more likely to be associated with domestic products (products used inside the house) than men, who tended to be associated with non-domestic products. While males were more represented as authority for most of the advertised products, females were product users. There was an age gap between men and women represented in TV commercials. Women were generally younger than men. There were some differences between studied countries with respect to the number of men and women represented in the ads. While more men than women were represented in studies conducted in the U.S. and Europe, the percentage of women represented in Turkey and Kenya was greater than that of men. A sample of 508 TV commercials were recorded from Channel 1 of Egyptian television over two separate weeks during prime time. Results of the analysis of the ads showed that Egyptian commercials were in some aspects consistent with ads from the U.S. and Europe and in other aspects consistent with ads from Kenya (as an African developing country like Egypt) and Turkey (as a middle Eastern country like Egypt). More women than men were represented in Egyptian TV commercials. Men represented most of the voiceovers in ads. Women were representatives for domestic products while men were mainly representatives for non-domestic products. Women were shown more at home while men were shown more in an outdoor location. Also, women were portrayed younger than men. Overall, evidence for stereotyping women was found in Egyptian TV commercials