Photographic portrayal of women in the annual reports of companies listed on the New Zealand stock exchange

Studies suggest that women are underrepresented and portrayed stereotypically in the mainstream media. Stereotypical images of women generally portray them as a wife or mother, in situations where they are depicted as inferior to men, or make use of their sexuality to sell products or services. Images are reconstructions of the truth (David, 2001). As such, the negative portrayal of women raises the concern that gender biases reinforced through representations in annual reports may contribute to the gendering of organisations. This paper uses New Zealand annual reports to replicate and confirm the findings of an earlier study by Benschop and Meihuizen (2002).