Get Back In The Kitchen: Insights into the role written and visual language used in magazine adverts, from 1960 to present day, have played on the gender usage of the kitchen space
Gender-equality and Gendered Language Analytics (GLA) have been gaining attention since the beginning of the 20th century. The existing literature widely covers the gendered spaces where a domestic space is considered feminine; while public space is masculine. As a designer, it is key to understand the end user. Although the gender use of the kitchen is still majority women, this number has drastically reduced by 36% since the 1960s. The notion of perceiving the husband as the solo household head and being absent from domestic responsibilities is changing. According to the latest UK census, the total number of hours spent in kitchen by men increased by 40% over 23 years. Media is a mirror of its society, it swiftly indicates drastic societal changes, dynamics, and demands. Adverts have played a slow but active role in the changing of the gender usage of the kitchen. Recently various Acts have come into action to dictate the implicit/explicit stereotyping in the media, and in particular the gender-sensitive visual/written contents in Adverts. This research analyses 3 selected women-magazine Averts (out of 50 Adverts). The timings and the gender-oriented content were part of the filtering process. The 1st was in 1964, “You-and-High-Speed-Gas”, 6 years before the initial launching of the Equal-Pay Act, “Think-inner-Kitchen” in 1982, 3 years before the Equal-Pay Amendment Act, and finally “Samsung-Oven”, in 2018, before the 2019 rules on gender stereotyping. Qualitative and quantitative analyses of the visual language and narrative were conducted addressing the research question: How have UK magazine adverts influenced the gender usage of domestic kitchen-space? The interim results showed that Adverts’ gendered-language has evolved through the years, it shifted from a female-dominated space to being equality shared by men. Despite the other factors that contribute to such change, the Adverts have a considerate impact. The outcomes reflected upon the importance of understanding the effect of gendered-language on the spatial perception and the applied design guidelines. The research outcomes should benefit contemporary designers/architects as these studies inform the design and highlight the main design guidelines for better spatial experiences, space usability, and utilisation of resources
