#under-representation

We were given a research task to test how effective our methods of research are.  We’ve spent approximately half an hour going through a magazine, checking the proportion of white, black, mixed raced, and Asian women.  We discussed what makes someone white, black, mixed race or Asian.  We are going to count each and every woman in the magazine, then make a rough estimate of the percentage.

  Ethnic representation of women in magazines:

 Ethnicity

White: 75%

Mixed Race: 10%

Black: 10%

Asian: 5%

We concluded that it’s to do with skin colour, tone of their skin, facial complexion and what country they look like they come from.  This has been quite a challenge because we don’t know enough about the models background in the magazine, we can only judge on their skin tone, but their image may have been edited. 

No matter the exact numbers which we estimated the percentage from; we know that some of the UK magazines are still partial to white women.  The problem with our research is that we haven’t carried out research about ethnic representation in other countries, so we’re hardly an authority on that matter.  In other countries, cultures and religions, representation of women will be different, but one thing that I can conclude with is that ethnic representation is based off readership of the magazine and what the standards in the country are.  I’m surprised that white women are so predominant, considering how multicultural Britain is supposed to be.