It has been a difficult challenge for women throughout history and it’s horrifying to realize that not much has changed. There aren’t many signs of change for the future considering how the media has made little attempts to reshape their ideas of what is important for the children of tomorrow. The media has set in stone the portrayal of gender roles and it forces children to conform to society’s ideas. Feminism needs to be represented positively through the media in order for women and men to achieve the empowerment they both deserve through equal opportunity.
Newsom and Costanzo (2011) mentioned how the United States’ culture shapes the parity for both women and men. She states that women are portrayed negatively in the media, only focusing on the women’s body and not their mind. It is not the same case for men; however, men feel a certain type of pressure to have power in order to be successful. Both women and men have to live up to expectations that the media displays to feel important. Women are expressing that they want to be appreciated for their minds as well as men are. The media represents women as dimwitted people, but men are not represented the same.
According to Newsom and Costanzo, (2011) women want equality for everyone; however, equality will not occur if the media continues to represent gender stereotypes. Men should not fear an empowering woman because the media shows them that are threatening to their masculinity. According to Martin, (2012) men believe that women lack the competence of handling a leadership position as well as threatened when a woman acts more masculine than feminine. Women are not trying to emasculate men by gaining more power but creating more strength simply for themselves. Women simply desire men and women to be represented by the same positive traits they both can acquire. They desire the same opportunities in employment and do not want to be discriminated or sexually harassed for the reason of their gender. (Newsom & Costanzo, 2011)
There are many factors that contribute to shaping the role of women such as biological, cultural, and social factors; however, the role of women is most influenced by the cultural factors such as in the Western cultures. Many women entered the workplace during World War II to replace the men that went off to war; however, most of the women were laid off when the war ended. In contrast, women did not want to return to being the housewife they once were; the media used it’s influencing advantage to re-domesticate women by providing television shows such as “Father Knows Best”.
The media surrounds women with many gender stereotypes such as portraying women as moronic people to diminish the success that women have achieved throughout history. These young girls are being corrupted by the messages the Western culture’s media is constantly showing them. The media is actually trying to capture the attention of men aged around 18 through 34; although, women are being more affected by these advertisements. They repeatedly show the perfect body a woman should achieve simply to attract men to their products. A number of advertisements created the stereotype that the importance to a woman is her beauty, figure, and sex appeal. It displays a constant pressure to realize a women’s worth is anywhere but her mind. (Newsom & Costanzo, 2011) The media is capturing the gender biases we see in our culture and affects women by disadvantaging them and displays a small amount of powerful women in leadership positions. (Martin, 2012) Men are also taught from a young age that women value themselves in their looks. Young girls will continue to lack the motivation to be anything higher than they see on the media f our culture continues to exhibit the importance of a women’s body over her mind. The government, broadcasting networks or even high-level careers are missing female leaders and as a consequence, our culture is missing female role models for our future children. (Newsom & Costanzo, 2011)
Newsom and Costanzo (2011) uncovered intersectionality by discussing that the government or national leaders are chosen by limited options such as them being male, white, the highest degree possible in college education, married and straight, and over the age of 35. That is discriminating against more than half of the population in this country. She also discusses the gender wage gap and how females still earn less than males even when they uphold similar positions. Women are then also denied health coverage given that insurance companies view domestic violence as a pre-existing condition. Insurance companies are discriminating against women who endure this type of violence that is opinionated as this condition that solely occurs to women; however, it also happens with men. Most likely, men aren’t denied health coverage due to domestic abuse or less likely to admit this damage was caused due to domestic abuse from his partner. Martin (2012) discusses how this is a threat to liberal feminism considering how women and men are represented differently upon their health coverage. This country is also one of the few that does not offer a sufficient amount of maternity or family leave. Women must be present when passing these policies in order to create a policy where women and men are insured with maternity or family leave. (Newsom & Costanzo, 2011)
We as a whole culture need to reinforce female empowerment by informing our children about feminism at a very young age, especially boys. Boys need to realize that they are allowed to express emotions and not perceive themselves as machines that can’t express their feelings. Parents should educate their children on the importance that men and women should be treated equally in any given situation such as employment, education, and their home environment. Additionally, a child’s home environment is important when establishing feminism considering how it is the foundation in furthering their understanding of feminism. Fathers need to show their sons how to treat women fairly and equally; if a son simply views the negativity his father shows towards women. How can he learn to respect women in general?
In addition, women in this country should be challenging the large corporations of the media and unmask their gender stereotypes by displaying that women are more than just a pretty face. We as a nation need to start questioning these stereotypes towards these large corporations and quit placing the blame on ourselves. Women and men should be working together to promote and support the empowerment that women truly have and inform young girls that they have an equal chance as a man to become a strong leader. Also, this idea presented in the media that women are hazardous towards other women needs to come to a halt, because it truly wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for the media. Women have the desire to assist other women given that we are more powerful together to fight for feminism than apart. (Newsom & Costanzo, 2011)
Throughout our lives as women, we have female role models that we admire and aspire to be. It is important to have someone influential in a person’s lifetime, because “you can’t be what you can’t see”. (Newsom & Costanzo, 2011) Today, girls have much more female role models to admire rather than 50 years ago. There are many powerful women that surround me and affect my everyday decisions on how to inform people about feminism as well as to make our society equal to all people.
In addition to the powerful women around me, I interviewed Maria Vasquez – Doles, who is a 52-year old, Puerto Rican, and is a Supreme Court Judge in Orange County. She is also a Born Again Christian; however, she was raised Catholic. She inspires young girls considering how there are not many Puerto Rican judges outside of New York City. Her position of power allows young girls realize that they are capable of possessing a similar position of power as well given that they come from a similar cultural background. (Personal communication, April 22, 2017)
Firstly, Vasquez – Doles explained that everyone has their own definition of feminism and that she defined it as a woman’s ability to freely decide what her goals, ambition, the level of respect she deserves, and to decide for her own being. She also stated that women deserve to choose the amount of success she can aspire to achieve and be treated equally to a man.
Additionally, she mentioned how many things shaped her attitude about the role of being a woman such as motherhood. She is a mother to three, wonderful girls who are triplets as well and educates them on feminism. She reminds them how important it is to be a powerful female while reminding them that it is not a handicap. In addition to motherhood, her maternal instincts play a key role as a woman because she learned how to be a good listener at her place of employment. She listens to the ligancies and cares for them as if they were her own. She also states that being the head of her household, managing a family and employment at the same time shape her attitude as a woman. She also included how she needs to be a sense of what she’s doing as well as having a positive outlook towards her goals.
Also, Vasquez – Doles states how the status of women has changed in our nation and how women were represented as a man’s property in the past and are no longer referred to such label. Although she still feels it is male dominated culture, but she has noticed a difference since she was young. For example, she states, as she grew older that she could see a difference in the world of the independent mind of a woman. The world will slowly but surely display how women are beginning to gain a voice whereas a women’s opinion was once disregarded in the past. She continues to express how women are still not equal to men regarding their level of success and definitely do not hold the same pay scale.
In contrast, she still endures discrimination given her gender and ethnicity; however, she began her experiences of sexism in her past. At 19, she was a manager at a retail store and had learned that her male counterpart was earning $20,000 more than her a year. She mentioned that both she and male co-worker had similar employment experiences and expressed the discriminatory against her position. Also, she indicated about her days in law school where she also experienced discrimination given that her male student’s feedback of legal principles were more regarded than if she had raised her hand. Surprisingly, she continues to face sexism today as a judge where her fellow male judges have their own clique, which shares legal discussions amongst each other and rarely desire to discuss it with their fellow female judges. (M. Vasquez – Doles, personal communication, April 22, 2017)
Women today, are incredibly strong and they desire to create an even more powerful generation of women to uphold the success women have accomplished throughout the decades. As a nation, women, and men can tear down the stereotypes of gender, because of the change we provide in today’s children along with the increasing amount of female role models today as well.
References
- Newsom, J. S. (Producer) & Costanzo, J. (Producer), & Newsom, J.S. (Director). (2011). Miss Representation [Motion Picture]. United States: Ro*co Films Educational
- Martin, M. (2012) Gender Stereotypes and Other Gender Biases [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from:https://bboldwestbury.sln.suny.edu/webapps/blackboard/execute/content/file?cmd=view&content_id=_246892_1&course_id=_25918_1&framesetWrapped=true