The representation of women in <i>Huisgenoot</i> in 1963 and 2013: A multimodal discourse analysis

Abstract

The opinion that people and the media are in a relationship of mutual influence, together with the study of the cultural conceptualisation of femininity in two issues of Huisgenoot, is the point of departure. The purpose of this study is to determine if there is a difference in the portrayal of women in the 1963 and 2013 issues of Huisgenoot. According to research, the visual image and written text work together to convey a message. Multimodal discourse analysis (MDA) assumes that a variety of modes are used to construct meaning. MDA assumes that communication and representation comprise of more than just language. Therefore, the intersemiotic complementarity method within MDA is used. The study comes to the conclusion that the representation of the ideal woman’s responsibilities has extended, although the woman’s role is still restricted to certain domains, as reflected by the presence of the mother stereotypes.