Representing the Modern Filipino Housewife: Presuppositions in Good Housekeeping Magazine Philippines

Feminist Stylistics

Feminist theories and studies in the French literary and linguistics scene have started questioning the role of language in propagating certain gender ideologies by combining psychoanalytic theories and language use. These theories have been highly instrumental in influencing other inquiries in language and gender studies, which according to McConnell-Ginet (1998) can be divided into two major categories: First, women’s language use as differentiated from men’s, and second, the ways women are represented in language.

This particular study aims to focus on the second category. Therefore, a feminist stylistics framework is very important to yield answers or results for the objectives set. Specifically, this study will use the feminist stylistics of Sara Mills (1995). There are a variety of reasons why the framework is deemed important: First, it allows for an analysis of features of a text’s language other than simply relying on content analysis to be able to extract ideologies present in a particular discourse; second, a stylistic analysis emphasizes the foregrounding of certain features of the text that may seem natural or ordinary, but that in reality provide an opportunity for a more critical analysis of ideologies propagated by the more powerful entities in a society; and third, it aims to also identify the socioeconomic factors that have led the language of the text to “appear” as it is, and the reasons that have made its interpretations possible.

Critical Discourse Analysis

The significant role of presupposition in supporting consumerist ideas and thereby creating certain gender ideologies will be explored through the critical discourse analysis square or three-dimensional model of discourse developed by Fairclough (2010). The first dimension represents text analysis, in which the use of presuppositions will be accounted and classified according to Yule’s categories. The second square, pertaining to discursive practices, aims to show that presuppositions are a dominant discourse technique in writing magazine articles as it assists in furthering whatever goals they have. The third square aims to discuss how the use of presuppositions in magazines tends to represent a bigger and wider social practice in our society, that is, influencing the ways we view gender in the society, and how it influences us to construct self-identities.

Figure 1.

Discourse Analysis Square

The Sample

The sample consists of ten issues of Good Housekeeping Philippines published in the span of one year, 2016. The samples were selected based on availability of these magazines in a high school library situated within a university. During the time of the research, only the 2016 issues have been completed in the library’s collection. Its presence in the library indicate a possible readership among young students, and other academic members within the university.

Good Housekeeping is a female-oriented magazine distributed by Summit Media. It is an offshoot of Good Housekeeping UK, which has other versions in other countries. According to their website, the aim of the magazine is to “help women save time, money, and hassle, thus allowing for more room—and encouraging them—to pursue the things that make them happy and their lives fuller.” Its target readers are women aged 35–55, married, with children aged 1–15, and belonging to income levels B and C. The magazine’s circulation is between 45,000–50,000 with an estimated readership of 225,000–300,000.

Procedure

The procedure involved tallying the occurrence of identified presuppositions and categorizing them according to Yule’s categories. Presuppositions included in the study are those that have the potential to promote certain ideologies connected with gender and that may be contestable.

For this purpose, the following limitations apply: (1) Only feature articles were included in the analysis, and (2) the study excluded direct advertisements, advice columns in which specific persons (letter-sender) are direct readers, and editor’s messages. Images, or graphical representations, are excluded from the analysis since the framework of Yule only allows for the analysis of grammatical units which have potential to indicate presuppositions. This is also what Yule calls as “triggers.” When the term “images” are used in the present study, it does not refer to the graphical representations like pictures, but connotate the mental images formed in process of writing or reading the text.

In terms of topic categories, the magazine articles were categorized according to a modified topic category proposed by Feng and Karan in their 2011 study. This was done to establish whether the presuppositions and the content categories match to portray an image of a woman who is either traditional/conventional or non-traditional/progressive. The articles in this research were categorized according to content: Beauty and Fashion, Parenting and Relationships, and Home under traditional topics, while the non-traditional topic categories were Career and Money, Self-Development (Mental & Physical Health), and Leisure and Lifestyle. The following table shows a modified version of Feng and Karan’s topic categories.

Table 2

Modified Version of Feng and Karan’s Topic/Theme Categories

Feng and Karan’s (2011) topic categories have been modified to fit the themes offered by Good Housekeeping Philippines magazine and its target readers. Although used also for female-oriented magazines, the main target readers in their study were young and single women in China. In the present study, the magazine under analysis includes target readers who are middle-aged married Filipino women. Furthermore, the topic categories were further classified by Feng and Karan as traditional and non-traditional. Traditional themes include fashion, beauty, and family relations, and housekeeping while non-traditional themes include career development, travel and vacation, social awareness, and human-interest stories. This present study also sought to find out whether a traditional or non-traditional theme is generally portrayed by the magazine in question.

Using the principle of CDA according to Fairclough, the presuppositions were qualitatively analyzed to determine certain discourse practices utilized by magazines and how they reinforce or challenge certain social values and practices.

The Sample

The following table shows the identified presuppositions in ten issues of Good Housekeeping Philippines magazine, taken from different topic categories.

The data in Table 3 shows that the highest number of occurrences is classified as structural types (67.42%) of presuppositions, with existential presuppositions (22.18%) following in second place. Lexical presuppositions are the third highest at 6.38%. Factive, non-factive, and counter-factual presuppositional triggers were used sparingly.

Table 3

Occurrence of Presuppositions

The tables also show that presuppositions were mostly observed in articles discussing Beauty & Fashion, with 27.25% of the total number of occurrences, closely followed by Career & Money at 24.8%. Presuppositions observed under Self-Development were third at 19.74%.

The following gives examples of presuppositions for each category type.

The examples above taken from different articles and issues of the magazine show how the presupposition types in different linguistic forms were used to indicate presupposed meanings. For instance, the existential presupposition indicated by the possessive “your” with the noun phrase “income” not only presupposes the existence of the reader’s income, but also indicates a presupposed meaning that the reader maintains a career and is financially independent. Since this image of women is frequently observed in the texts, it promotes certain images that may not be directly conveyed since presuppositions are used.

Lexical presuppositions are used to assert something using an indirect word that may represent what the text producer wants to emphasize or, in Yule’s words, “The use of one form with its asserted meaning is conventionally interpreted with the presupposition that another (non-asserted) meaning is understood” (Yule, 1996, p. 28). In the example above, the use of the word “start” does not only literally mean that the reader has to start doing what was suggested, but also implies that the text producer thinks or presupposes that he or she has not engaged in the activity yet. The same is true with using words and phrases like “got to,” “have to,” and phrases that indicate that something has been going on or was being done before but no longer is, like “falling back,” “repeat,” and “again.”

In Yule’s examples of structural presuppositions, he only included examples in the form of a question. Asking the question implies that situation presented in the interrogative form is true or applicable to the reader. However, it was observed from the analysis that a significant number of structural imperatives were also used to indicate a presupposed notion that the action indicated by the imperative is not yet being carried out by the reader. For instance, the imperative “Trade the boring collared outfit for a dressy top-and-pencil skirt [⋯]” (see Table 4) presupposes that the reader has not yet taken action to trade in her outfit for a dressier or trendier one. Analyzing the sentences this way, it can also be implied that another presupposition occurs which is that the reader has boring outfits and there is a need for her to change them.

Table 4

Examples of Different Types of Presuppositions Taken from the Magazines

Non-factive and counter-factual presuppositions only occur sparingly in the samples. They both indicate that something may not exist for the reader. In the example for non-factive presuppositions, the use of the word “ideal” presupposes that the situation is not yet true for the reader, that a stable financial future is currently only an imagined dream, but which the text producer also presupposes that the reader aspires to. Targeting this aspiration, in a way, also allows the text producers to insert indirect advertisements that make the reader think is an opportunity to realize the dream. For instance, the example presupposition can be used to advertise an insurance company the reader can invest in. Counter-factual presuppositions, on the other hand, not only imply that the situation is not true for the reader, but also indicate that the opposite is what is currently happening. In the example, the text producer presupposes that the reader “fears” bold cosmetics by indicating the phrase “You don’t have to fear [⋯]” Countering the reality is also seen as another advertising strategy, which in this case can be a cosmetic product. The text producer sees the “fear” of particular cosmetics as a hindrance in selling the products of companies sponsoring the magazine.

A considerable number of existential and structural imperatives were observed in the magazine articles. The overwhelming number of structural presuppositions can be explained through the effectiveness of the imperative form to do the following: 1) It establishes a friendly relationship between the reader and the text producer through direct dialogue using the second person; 2) it targets the reader as a consumer who should purchase and use certain products through indirect advertising; and 3) it emphasizes an action that is expected so that the reader can play her designated role in the family or society.

It has also been observed that the effectiveness of existential presuppositions is based on their capability to produce an idea that may exist for the reader through the use of definite noun phrases and possessive forms. It allows the text producer to assume the kind of readers they are dealing with by mentioning things, events, and even personal characteristics or attributes that they think the readers have or should acquire in order to play their role in the family and the wider society.

Constructing the Image of Femininity through Presuppositions

The presuppositions analyzed in topic/theme categories such as Beauty, Home, Career & Money, and Self-Development revealed that presupposed meanings are able to give an image of the kinds of readers they are dealing with. While the occurrence of the types of presuppositions and their appearance in different category types reveal that the discourse practice of presupposing exists, the qualitative analysis of the examples and their presupposed meanings provided an image of the woman as follows: 1) that the reader is a woman who is maintaining a career and keeping a home at the same time; 2) that the reader has a husband and children whose well-being is her obligation; 3) that the reader maintains the traditional image of the woman who is domestic, in charge of managing the home, and doing home-related chores; 4) that the reader maintains the traditional image of the woman who engages in stereotypical activities like shopping, dressing-up, hosting parties, and going out with friends; 5) that the reader, although a housewife who maintains a traditional role, is also modern—keeping up with the latest fashion trends, gadgets, and even activities, and making independent decisions about money and finances; and 6) that the reader tries to adopt modern non-traditional attributes like being smart and confident, maintaining a positive outlook in life, and taking care of her own mental, emotional, and physical well-being.

While some studies, like Schlenker et al. (1998) and Feng and Karan (2013), were able to categorize articles’ messages as conveying traditional or feministic messages, it has been found in this study that such absolute categories do not exist. Instead, it was observed how the magazine still reinforces the image of a woman who is domestic or concerned about the affairs of the household, be it chores, food management, or more challenging skills like maintaining healthy relationships with family members, but at the same time is capable of making independent decisions regarding career and financial management which emphasize modern and non-traditional traits. Furthermore, there is a tendency for the topics to elevate the status of domesticity from something that is taken for granted in the past into something that is as relevant as any career in the present.

Johnston and Swanson (2003) discussed how both traditional and non-traditional images of motherhood can be revealed by magazine discourse. The traditional image of the mother is characterized by the woman who does not work outside the home and considers her role as rewarding. There is a tendency for the traditional mother to sustain what is considered to be outdated parenting styles based on control and exclusivity (exclusion of outside interference). The non-traditional image of the mother, on the other hand, characterizes a woman who has a career outside home, shares parenting responsibilities with the father and other people concerned, and finds the responsibilities of motherhood “fulfilling” and equivalent to a career. Similarly, the present study reveals an image of the housewife that is domestic but empowered. By integrating topics that discuss career and money, physical and emotional health, and even political and social awareness with conventional themes like fashion and household activities, the magazine was able to create two opposing images. From the combination of these two images, the magazine was able to produce a new image of the modern Filipino housewife.

However, it has been observed that although a modern and non-traditional image of the woman as mother and housewife is depicted through the choice of topics, the analysis of presuppositions reveals that implied meaning sometimes still tends to revert to the traditional image. For instance, presuppositions found under Career and Money are expected to reveal women who are successful in their line of work, and can make effective decisions about money, but manages to inject every now and then that part of their money decision-making can also involve buying things or acquiring services that can be considered rewards for the hard work they are doing. In one article about money, it was observed that women are traditionally viewed as frequent shoppers. It highlights a negative image observed in magazines which implies that women’s lives are centered on consumerism. However, contemporary magazines such as Good Housekeeping Philippines tend to lessen the overtness of this kind of image. In many of the articles analyzed, the magazine writers made an effort to present important advice about money handling, budgeting, and investing. These rather progressive ideas about the role of the wife or the mother can probably balance out the very consumerist images portrayed in other sections of the magazine. However, these progressive ideas are downplayed when the articles, through the use of presuppositions, tend to fall back on the consumerist idea. In some other cases, it was emphasized how the woman is supposed to consult her husband about decisions regarding finances. The following extract shows an example:

Managing personal finances can sometimes be tedious, and that’s why it can be challenging to stick your plans. Overcome this by constantly checking in on your progress with your spouse or partner (Jan–Feb 2016, p. 64).

Although other presuppositions found in this study may indicate the woman’s financial decision-making power, contradictory statements such as the one in the example also show that important financial matters are tedious and challenging. Hence, there is a need to consult with the spouse to overcome such difficulties. Furthermore, it has also been shown that women’s financial decisions as depicted in the magazine are limited to those related to household and family matters: What to shop for, when and where to invest for the family’s future, and how to budget family expenses.

This contradictory nature of female-oriented magazines was also observed by Talbot (2010) when she emphasized that “magazines are diverse and often contain contradictory elements” (p. 144). There seems to be an amalgamation of different voices in the magazines since they contain different genres and even diverse kinds of discourses. Although it can be said that this could be an effect of various authorship (unlike a book with only a single author), the diverse voices can also be considered as a strategy for the magazine to accommodate modern images of women without fully rejecting the traditional one. The reason for this is to offer the idea of consumerism as acceptable without negating previously established values in the society.

This observation of contradictory images can also be related to Coates’ (1998) notion of competing discourses. According to this notion, women are able to perform varying “selves” because they also have access to varied kinds of discourses. Magazines as ideological apparatuses, through their different discourses, can create for women different ideas and images of themselves and provide possible roles that they can play. Hence, it can be said, based on the analysis of presuppositions in this study, that magazines strictly uphold neither a traditional nor a non-traditional image of women. On the contrary, discursive practices of magazines reveal that both images are upheld, and that competing discourses are used.

Feminist Consumerism

According to Talbot (2010), profit making still determines magazine production. The people who write for magazines are hardly free agents, and they are controlled by business methods. This is hardly surprising since advertising is also a big source of income for magazine publishers. The magazine firms can only do what corporative giants ask them to do regarding selling their products and services. To do this, magazine publishers and writers face another challenge: How do they present the idea of consumerism as an acceptable thing in the present society?

Consumerism is a western-born idea that strongly contradicts some values long established in Philippine society. Filipino values have always emphasized the importance of thrift and non-materialistic happiness. Christian and conservative traditions existing in the culture do not support beauty that is artificial or altered by science. Consumerism is also an especially difficult concept to promote in a country plagued by too much poverty and economic insecurity. To keep the notion of consumerism alive, text producers adopt techniques to obscure the promotion of consumerism. Through the presuppositions analyzed in this study, text producers were able to inject ideas that promote the traditional image of the Filipino woman with a modern twist, like “women can be fashionable but they can be smart as well by choosing pieces that are affordable or expensive but considered as wise investment,” when investment is only a contestable idea that may not really exist. They also manage to convey ideas like dressing smart and looking good are correlated to confidence which allows the modern woman to perform her duties effectively.

The maintenance of the traditional image combined with the modern image of the Filipino housewife may be considered a technique to further the goals of magazines as advertising tools. The text producers needed the effectiveness of the presuppositions to remold the unacceptable images in a more acceptable way in order to promote consumerism. This result can be related to Conradie’s (2013) study in which it was discussed how magazines manipulate the consumer’s way of thinking by using lingual primitives as a way to establish a good relationship with the reader in order to advance advertising goals.

The technique of balancing the traditional and modern image of the woman uses a rather postmodern way of viewing gender. It veers away from certain negative stereotypes and absolute categories to promote a more positive view of gender and gender roles. The feminist view of women put domesticity in a negative light, and clamored for a more empowered image of women. On the other hand, the independent and “iron-lady” image of the woman also gives a negative impression related to rebelliousness. The postmodern view shatters such categories, and supports ideas such as that being a housewife and a full-time mother is like any career, and that domesticity is not an easy feat but requires proper skills and management. It puts domesticity on a whole different level, supporting the idea that women gain power through domestic purchases and activities. Another idea is that fashion is no longer seen as shallow but more like a form of art and a creative resistance to a certain stereotyping of women in society. While magazines offer emancipating ideas about women, this is sadly only to the extent of the limits allowed by the interests of capitalism. This analysis can be related to the concept of neoliberalism which Conell (2005) defines as “the political and cultural promotion of free-market principles and individualism and the rejections of state control” (p. 370). At first glance, the concept seems to be liberating as it seems to promote gender neutrality (such as women taking roles and attributes of men), and the power of individuals to choose gender identities. However, a closer analysis of discourses ofcapitalism, such as advertisements, reveal that individualism propagated here is not geared towards gender equality or social justice, but more of an instrument to further promote and legitimize consumerism. The gender ideologies revealed in a critical discourse analysis study such as this reveal this facet of capitalism.