PACE: “Sexist stereotypes are a means of discrimination”…

Resolution 1557 (2007)

Image of women in advertising

The Assembly is angered by the fact that it is nearly always women who are reduced to the role of mere consumer commodities or sex objects in certain advertisements.

Respect for human dignity should, however, be one of the advertisers’ constant aims…

The Assembly accordingly recommends that the Council of Europe member states:

… run press campaigns to make the public aware of sexist or violent advertising and tell them what they can do to curb it;

provide toll-free phone numbers and e-mail and postal addresses which the public can use to complain when advertisements use images of women which violate human dignity;

introduce a prize awarded by advertising professionals, and a prize awarded by the public, for the advertising campaign which breaks most effectively with sexist stereotypes.

Full text in English:

http://www.assembly.coe.int/Mainf.asp?link=/Documents/AdoptedText/ta07/ERES1557.htm

Resolution 1751 (2010)
Combating sexist stereotypes in the media

1. The Parliamentary Assembly notes and deplores the fact that women are the victims of sexist stereotypes in the media. On the one hand, they are under-represented, if not invisible, in the media. On the other hand, the persistence of sexist stereotypes in the media – confining women and men to the roles traditionally assigned by society, that is, women at home, men in the professional and political world, women as victims or as sexual objects, men as competent and powerful leaders or as sexually driven – is a barrier to gender equality.

2. The sexist stereotypes conveyed vary from humour and clichés in the traditional media to incitement to gender-based hatred and violence on the Internet. Sexist stereotypes are too frequently trivialised and tolerated under the banner of freedom of expression. Furthermore, these stereotypes are often subtly conveyed by the media which reproduce the attitudes and opinions seen as the norm in societies where gender equality is far from reality. Accordingly, all too often, court action cannot be taken against sexist stereotypes nor can they be penalised by regulatory or self-regulatory authorities, except in cases of the most serious violations of human dignity.

3. Nonetheless, the impact of sexist stereotypes in the media on the formation of public opinion, especially among young people, is disastrous: these stereotypes perpetuate a simplistic, immutable and caricatured image of women and men, legitimising everyday sexism and discriminatory practices, and they may facilitate or legitimise the use of gender-based violence. As such, sexist stereotypes are a means of discrimination.

The Assembly furthermore calls on national parliaments to:

… encourage members of parliament to adopt non-sexist language and not to resort to sexist stereotypes in the course of their parliamentary activities…

Full text in English:

http://www.assembly.coe.int/Mainf.asp?link=/Documents/AdoptedText/ta10/ERES1751.htm