Activists criticise ads reinforcing stereotypical image of women on Mother's Day

AMMAN — Women's rights activists on Thursday criticised the marketing campaigns ahead of Mother’s Day and some news reports that works to strengthen the stereotypical image of women that confines them to housework and cooking.

Most of the advertisements in newspapers and other media outlets link Mother’s Day with offers on home appliances and cooking utensils.

Several TV and radio talk shows have also addressed Mother’s Day as an occasion for family members to give their mothers home appliances such as vacuum cleaners, food processors, dishwashers and washing machines.

“It is a pity that most advertisements focus on women’s reproductive health and their presence in the kitchen instead of focusing on them as active members in the society and the labour market,” said Jordanian National Commission for Women Secretary General Salma Nims.

“This is really frustrating and unacceptable. We have to work on amending the perception of roles at home for both men and women,” the mother of two told The Jordan Times.

Gender Expert Randa Naffa agreed.  

“The outlook towards women is as if they are invisible and are not part of productive life, although women are successful and have assumed many decision-making positions and professions such as doctors, engineers and pilots.”

Naffa, who has a six-year-old son, added that no matter what a woman achieves in society, “her role is still limited to caring for her family at home and the kitchen.”

“Mother’s Day comes only to remind women of this role of cooking and cleaning that they endure daily. It is all about getting mothers cooking pots and vacuum cleaners,” she told The Jordan Times.

Injaz CEO Deema Bibi also voiced her dismay over the media's handling of Mother’s Day.

“We are still reinforcing the stereotypical image of women’s role in the minds of our children and society,” Bibi said.

“We are always talking about changing perceptions and implementing strategies that would change this image, but in reality these efforts are not being reflected in our school curricula or media… nothing is really changing.”

The Women Unit coordinator at the Amman Centre for Human Rights Studies, Lina Jazrawi, also criticised the advertisements by retailers seeking to cash in on Mother's Day.

“The ads that are broadcast by the media on Mother’s Day do not go beyond the kitchen, the bathroom and — in some instances — the living room,” she wrote on her Facebook page.

“Kitchen utensils, plate sets, luxurious toilets that make a mother proud of her aristocratic toilet… smart electronic equipment that is so smart women cannot leave their homes… beautiful sets of tables and couches... these are all ads that strengthen the idea that a woman’s place is her kitchen and her heaven in her home,” Jazrawi wrote.

“It is a society that kills women’s creativity and limits it only to the kitchen.”