A number of countries in the Americas have rules in force that apply to how women are portrayed in media content.

Cullen International’s media benchmark shows for example that:

• Argentina has a comprehensive law on the protection of women that includes a prohibition on the transmitting or rendering of stereotypes, messages or values that tend to “naturalise" the subordination of women. Argentinean media law also forbids discrimination on the basis of gender in advertising.
• Canadian broadcasters are subject to a voluntary industry code, whose observance is closely monitored by government regulators, that forbids the airing of negative portrayals as to gender and other traits, including in advertising.
• Chile and Mexico both enforce specific rules on how women are depicted in television content and forbidding gender discrimination. The rules do not apply to advertising in either country.

Among the eight countries surveyed, only Argentina and Mexico have laws providing for a legal definition of gender equality.

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