TAILIEUCHUNG - The depiction of gender roles in a Singaporean parenting magazine
This paper reports the analysis of 22 pictures and 5 full text articles from the Singaporean parenting e-magazine, The New Age Parents [1] to examine how gender roles of both parents and children in Singapore are depicted. Especially, such aspects as colours, clothing, toys, accessories, postures in the pictures and linguistic usage in the texts are scrutinised. | VNU Journal of Science: Foreign Studies, Vol. 31, No. 4 (2015) 46-60 The Depiction of Gender Roles in a Singaporean Parenting Magazine Lê Phước Thục Nhi* 343 Infirmary, 280 Fletcher Drive, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611, USA Received 04 September 2015 Revised 01 December 2015; Accepted 02 December 2015 Abstract: This paper reports the analysis of 22 pictures and 5 full text articles from the Singaporean parenting e-magazine, The New Age Parents [1] to examine how gender roles of both parents and children in Singapore are depicted. Especially, such aspects as colours, clothing, toys, accessories, postures in the pictures and linguistic usage in the texts are scrutinised. The findings indicate that in all images, the fathers have a proclivity to stand more in the foreground or in a protective stance. In contrast, these pictures present mothers holding their babies tenderly, positioned on the inside, which denotes “the weaker sex” of mothers. The images also show that pink and light colours are associated with girls and mothers, while blue, primary and bold colours are connected with boys and fathers. In addition, the articles describe the parenting roles of mothers more than those of fathers. Even when fathers’ roles are discussed, they are referred to or compared to those of the mothers. None of the articles advocates any change in the mothers’ roles, whereas, it is recommended that paternal roles should be slightly modified to be tenderer and include certain tasks for fathers that used to be associated with only mothers. Keywords: Singapore, gender roles, parenting. 1. Introduction* philosophies [2]. In such a specialised magazine as a parenting one, the ideologies and descriptions of this specific theme are obviously highlighted. Readers of such a magazine undoubtedly include a majority of parents and those who wish to become parents as well as general readers. Besides, a parenting e-magazine because it is a window into attitudes concerning
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