| Abstract [eng] |
Gender roles and images are very important part of relationship understanding between men and women. The research “Gender roles and images in the magazines: Lithuanian and Russian magazines comparable research” aimed at studying men and women roles and images while analysing printed media: women’s magazines Lithuanian “Laima” and Russian “Krestyanka”; business magazines Lithuanian “Verslo klase“ and Russian “Korolevskie vorota”. The subject of the research is printed texts and advertisement in the mentioned magazines. The main aim of the research is to find out the dominating gender roles and images. The relevance of the research consists in the main fact, that gender dominating roles and images in the media determine peoples understanding and opinion about themselves and influence their behaviour, mannerism and lifestyle. An important change in the social community has been occurred already and is still happening. The analysis will let us see, if changes in the real gender life are truly represented in the media. Research will picture the difference between Lithuanian and Russian magazines and together the difference between Lithuanian and Russian communities. The qualitative analysis of the printing matter and advertisement revealed the following very important themes of men and women relations in the private sphere and public sphere: family relations, duties division, carrier, job opportunities, sex relations, appearance. The analyses results provide that men and women are represented differently in the women’s and business magazines: in the women’s magazines dominating positions are mostly occupied by the women and in the business magazines dominating positions are mostly occupied by the men. Although in the magazine “Krestyanka” in the carrier sphere men cover the dominating position comparing to women. Also in the advertisement even in business magazines dominating positions are occupied by sexual, beautiful women. Discovered tensions between private and public fields: women are still ascribable to home duties and childbearing and of course this limits women’s opportunities in the carrier field. It seems that women are more passive and less independent – in the women’s magazines women housewives and women mother are represented often, especially in Russian magazine “Krestyanka”. Taking in consider women in carrier field, noticed that in the women’s magazines number of women-chief and women-carrier roles and images are very similar to men-chief and men-carrier roles and images. But in business magazines situation is different, women-chief roles and images are represented three times less that in women’s magazines. This means that in the business magazines men are covering mostly all business positions. The core point of women picturing in the magazines advertisements is, that women are like decoration. Images of sexually beautiful, young, wonderful body shape ladies are very often in women’s magazines and also in business magazines. Such women advertise even men’s products. Gender stereotypes influence people imagination of their own behavior and appearance, these stereotyped women and men roles and images are seen in magazines texts and advertisements: men are leaders in the public sphere and women are leaders in private sphere. But changes in women world are already seen, women becoming more and more independent, occupied, active. In the framework of gender relations, the qualitative research shows, that women step into men field, make carrier, successfully combine her family and her business occupation – roles and images of strong women are shown in the analyzed magazines. But men are not trying a lot to combine his family and business; men are still domination only in business sphere. |
