《臺灣婦人界》是日治時期唯一在臺灣發行的女性雜誌，其創刊宗旨為「協助提升發展臺灣婦人文化」。雜誌中所呈現的女性形象反映了當時臺灣部分女性，特別是中上階級女性的樣貌。本研究以《臺灣婦人界》的廣告為文本，運用法國符號學者羅蘭‧巴特提出的圖像符號學分析觀點，探討雜誌圖像中呈現的女性形象，及其背後所代表的文化意涵。 本研究發現，《臺灣婦人界》中呈現的女性形象與日治時期臺灣女子教育中的「高女文化」相符，這種「高女文化」所體現的「和洋折衷」符號現象，具體而微地代表日治時期臺灣邁向現代化的過程。臺灣的現代化過程，係受到殖民母國影響，掺雜了日本經驗與經過日本篩選的西方經驗。此外，根據文本分析的結果，《臺灣婦人界》有一種女性形象為「賢妻良母」，代表的是日治時期臺灣女性婚後的典範，女性必須透過婚姻與婚後的家庭場域，才能實踐她所扮演的理想角色。《臺灣婦人界》發行後期受到中日戰爭影響，呈現的女性形象與戰前截然不同，此時期圖像反映出戰爭期間，日本殖民政府利用媒體意圖塑造的各種表象，如幸福的皇民化家庭、女性進行的奉仕活動等。 / Taiwan Women's Sphere is the only women's magazine published in Taiwan during the period of Japanese occupation. Its object was to assist in developing women’s culture in Taiwan. Taiwan Women's Sphere can be viewed as an important medium representing images of upper-class females during Japanese Occupation of Taiwan. Using the analytic principles of pictorial semiotics proposed by French semiotician Roland Barth, the present research analyzes advertising and pictorial texts containing female images and provides an in-depth discussion of the cultural and societal factors influencing such representation. Our research results indicate that the female images represented in Taiwan Women's Sphere fit into "the culture of girl’s high schools" during Japanese occupation. "The culture of girl’s high schools" connotes both the influences of Japan and the West, which play significant roles in the modernization process of Taiwan. A modernized Taiwan was not only influenced by Japanese colonizer but also by the western cultural elements selected by Japan. . In addition, another significant female role portrayed by Taiwan Women's Sphere was "a dutiful wife and also a loving mother." Such an image implies that females were “ideal women” only when they were married and practice their dual roles as wife and mother in the familial space... After 1937 when Sino-Japanese War broke out, contents of Taiwan Women's Sphere were censored closely by the colonial governments. A certain number of the pictures printed on this magazine are related to the Kouminka Movement such as the portrayal of the kouminka family and war-supporting women engaging in various activities.

本研究運用Roland Barthes符號學分析，研究日治時期發行量最大的《臺灣日日新報》廣告中的女性圖像，試圖瞭解日治時期報紙廣告的圖像運作邏輯，以及廣告中呈現的理想女性形象為何，在女性形象背後又隱藏著什麼樣的意識型態。 研究發現，日治時期，殖民臺灣的總督府雖然基於發展經濟的理由，透過放足運動與興辦現代化教育等手段，提供女性走出家庭，進入工作職場等機會，但由殖民者主導的現代化過程，並沒有讓臺灣女性地位有實質上的提升。女性雖然在現代化的過程中，形象越趨多元、活潑，但一但圖像出現與「他者」的互動關係，傳統社會與殖民統治產生的階級差異便呈現在圖像運作原則之中，「殖民者 ＞ 被殖民者」、「男性 ＞ 女性」的原則顯而易見。日治時期的「理想女性」形象也依循對「賢妻良母」要求而生，最終還是需要符合社會期望，回歸家庭才能成為「理想女性」。此外研究也發現，無論臺灣女性在殖民時期現代化程度為何，最終還是擺脫不了被殖民者被剝削的結果。 / Adopting pictorial semiotics, the present study analyzes female images of advertisements of Taiwan Jih Jih Shin Pao (1898-1944), the largest newspaper in colonial Taiwan. The research aims at discovering the textual and graphic strategies employed by advertisers to represent ”women” and therefore explaining the social, cultural and political struggles embedded in these print ads. The research results indicates that although during the period of the Japanese occupation, the colonialist liberated the bound feet of Taiwanese women and provided opportunities for women to work and to receive western education. However, Taiwanese women’s social status did not improve accordingly. According to our analysis, even though various female images might be found in the samples, the presentation strategies of the women in print ad often follow two semiotic rules: the status of males is higher than of females. Women in Taiwan were mostly portrayed as dutiful wives or caring mothers at home so as to meet the social expectation of traditional and ideal women. In summary, the social role of Taiwanese women war restricted and exploited despite the modernization during the Japanese occupation period.