The portrayal in the media of women as mothers is “sexist” and “a barrier to gender equality”, according to a new report produced for the Council of Europe.

The report, written by Ms Doris Stump, a Swiss member of the Socialist group in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), claims that the media portray women as “as passive and lesser beings, mothers or sexual objects”.

A vote on the resolution is set to take place a week on Friday.

The report continues: “These sexist stereotypes in the media perpetuate a simplistic, immutable and caricatured image of women and men, legitimising everyday sexism and discriminatory practices and establishing a barrier to gender equality.

Christian Democrat politicians have criticised the linking of the word ‘mother’ with sexism.

The report also contains a proposed resolution which calls on the Assembly to urge member states to undertake awareness campaigns, set up think tanks and include measures in gender equality legislation to combat sexist stereotypes.

An amendment sponsored by the European People’s Party has said that the “linking of the word ‘mothers’ with the expressions ‘sexual objects’ and ‘lesser beings’ is demeaning to women who freely choose to have children and become mothers which should be held in honour, not looked upon as an inferior condition”.

It has called for the deletion of the word “mother” from the resolution.

The report goes on to complain that women in the media were “described or perceived as weak, vulnerable and dependent, confined to the role of mother, wife or sexual objects”.

Meanwhile, it said, women who succeeded in the world of work were “depicted as career-minded social climbers with “masculine” qualities”.