Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: The images of gender roles within family in Korean television commercials from 1985 to 2005 are analyzed in this study. The research looked at the gender role changes in the areas of housework and parenting. The analysis showed that the pattern and timeline of the transitions were almost identical for both housework and parenting. In pattern, the analysis showed that the commercials trace a gender role transformation from traditional stage where women are mainly responsible for both housework and parenting to postmodern stage where men who can perform these traditionally female gender roles are presented after undergoing a decade of transitional period. The 1988 Olympic Games and the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997, the two defining events in recent Korean history, are offered as possible explanation for triggering the two transitions in the tree-stage transformation. In timeline, the analysis of the transitions showed consistent latency after the two major events, indicating cultural lag at work. The concepts of cultural lag and critical mass are offered as explanations for the time lag.

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