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Women in Cleaning Advertisements

Women in Cleaning Advertisements

127 signatures 123 to reach 250
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Started by Anonymous 17 years, 4 months ago
Throughout history, certain household jobs have traditionally been considered more within the wife's domain, such as washing dishes and cleaning bathrooms. Other jobs, though fewer in number, remain within the husband's domain, like yard work. According to a recent Consumer Reports polls, women spend an average of five hours per week cleaning their homes. Comparisons between a 1996 and 2007 Gallup Poll pertaining to gendered distribution of household chores,"Women appear to be more likely than men to do a number of chores within the home." In 1996 Gallup Poll, six percent of men claimed that they cleaned their home, while 60 percent of women claimed that they cleaned their home. In the 2007 Gallup Poll, the percentage of women claiming they cleaned their home rose by one percent, while the percentage of men claiming to clean their home remained consistent with the 1996 poll. Advertisements for cleaning products perpetuate the stereotypical role of women as domestic workers. According to a University of New Hampshire study, "only 2.1 percent of commercials featuring men showed them performing domestic tasks, such cooking, cleaning, and caring for children." We believe that these statistics show that women are not treated fairly when it comes to domestic tasks. In order for equality to exist within the domestic realm, cleaning product companies need to diversify their subjects by showing men participating in domestic chores.

Updates

April 15, 2009

I have finalized a formal letter addressed to the marketing departments of several major cleaning brands to highlight the discrepancy in their advertising practices. We are currently tracking how these companies respond to our documented research regarding gendered domestic roles.

Reached 100 supporters

April 15, 2009

6 Comments

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Linda Vega
17 years ago Featured

Keep moving forward. It puts unnecessary pressure on women to feel like their house has to be perfect all the time while men just get a free pass.

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Jessica Gibson
17 years ago Featured

SO TIRED of these commercials. Every single time it shows a woman scrubbing the floor while the husband sits on the couch. Change the channel.

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Mike Hill
17 years ago Featured

Totally agree. Companies need to catch up with reality. I do way more cleaning than my wife does and it would be nice to see that on tv for once.

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Karen Ortiz
17 years ago Featured

sick of being targeted as the only person who knows how to use a vacuum. treat us like equals already.

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Sarah Bauer
17 years ago Featured

its 2015 people. why are we still acting like cleaning is only for women? my husband does the dishes every night and the world hasn't ended yet.

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David Reyes
17 years ago Featured

About time someone said something. It feels like these ads are stuck in the 1950s.

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