The Influence of Gender Ideology in Consumer Behaviour and Gratification amongst Women Magazines in South Africa

Abstract

Acknowledging the need for gender equity and female empowerment, effect-based research have led to the investigation of publish media content and the influence it has on gender beliefs and women’s self-views. When it comes to the Africa media landscape studies examining women’s representation in magazines remains limited. To overcome this gap in the literature this quantitative descriptive study compare the consumer behaviour and satisfactions of selected women-related magazine titles in South Africa through the lens of the Uses and Gratification Theory. A mobile administrated survey was distributed to 300 regular female magazine readers aged between 18 and 60 years. The findings highlighted that readers, overall, preferred to read magazines during their spare time in the evening either in their bedroom and/or bathroom. It was furthermore also found that the highest gratification dimension of women readers was that of diversion followed by self-development and lastly surveillance. The results of this study can assist the editors and publishers of women-related magazines with an understanding of how gender ideology can influence consumer behaviour and satisfaction. This study contributes to theory- and hypotheses development by testing existing constructs to support the validity of theoretically grounded constructs originally developed in developed countries.

Keywords

• gender ideology
• media studies
• uses and gratification