Sexist advertising may be penalized with a fine of up to 10,000 lei. A bill to this effect was drafted by the Ministry of Labor, Social Protection and Family, which proposes banning sexist advertisements. According to the Ministry, advertising is a problematic area because there were identified serious violations as regards the content of ads featuring women, IPN reports.
The authors said the street advertisements present the image of the woman in a denigrating way, using femininity as sexual object and promoting stereotypes that limit women’s rights. At European level, the sexist advertising is condemned. There are international instruments that regulate the human rights area.
Contacted by IPN, executive director of the Women’s Political Club 50/50 Ecaterina Mardarovici said an instrument is needed to regulate advertising. “The advertisements over the last few years have been very sexist and created a humiliating image to women,” she stated.
Ecaterina Mardarovici referred to the European Parliament’s resolution on how marketing and advertising affect equality between women and men, which says the advertisements that transmit discriminatory and discrediting messages on grounds of gender and all the types of gender stereotypes represent an obstacle to building a modern and equitable society.
The bill authors suggest amending an article of the Code of Administrative Offenses so as to punish sexist advertising with a fine of 400 to 3,000 lei for private individuals, 4,000 to 8,000 lei for persons holding responsible posts, and of 8,000 to 10,000 lei for legal entities.
Faithful persons and priests earlier staged protests, demanding that the authorities ban sexist advertising.
