Structural Inequality And Underrepresentation Of Women In Public Media

The media carries a significant role in the distribution of information in American society. The American populace rely on entertainment and news networks to properly feed them updates on science, politics, celebrities and so much more. The media has this kind of power due to the fast pace way of life Americans live as well as their inability, or lack of want, to read pure and unadulterated academic articles on any given subject. While the media never seems to stop covering vast topics of interest to great length it is fundamentally failing at properly commenting on one of the most important social issues of the century, class and its relation to social inequality. The media is downright disrespectful and negligent in the way it goes

In Miss Representation, many female actresses, news anchors, politicians, directors and producers talk about how females suffer a lot of social, political and economic inequalities in today’s society. There are double standards against women in magazines, on TV, in movies, the news, politics, and the workplace. The media is an influential part of modern culture. When women are portrayed as objects for men to use -- never as the protagonist or president -- and when female news anchors are objectified, this will cause girls of all ages to begin viewing themselves as objects. Girls grow up in a world where their voice does not count; where our culture does not embrace them in all of their diversities, where

Superman does not have to prove to anyone he is ready to be a superhero whereas Wonder Woman has to prove herself first before being allowed to be a superhero. In addition, O’Reilly’s article talks about how Wonder Woman gets punished for rebelling against an authority figure while a male computer genius is praised by his superiors for showing strength and resolve against their wishes. Popular children’s entertainment also demonstrates how females are treated as found in the article The Smurfette Principle. The basic premise behind this article is that fact that in children’s movies and television shows, boys take a more central role while girls are stuck at the periphery.

Women are deemed as a “minority” yet make up 51% of the world population and in 2014 made up only 12% of protagonists in films. And that is just on-screen, the percentage decreases as you go farther and farther into behind-the-scenes positions such as directors, cinematographers, and writers. Add race and ethnicity and those characters' percentages decline even more (Lauzen, 2015.) Women in film and television are often portrayed with emphasis based on their body type and in advertisement are largely objectified. The large objectification and misrepresentation of women in the media has led to an offset psychological view of women from growing up to adulthood.

Bercuci, L. (2016). Pop Feminism: Televised Superheroines from the 1990s to the 2010s. Gender Studies, [online] 15(1), pp.252-269. Available at: https://www.degruyter.com/downloadpdf/j/genst.2016.15.issue-1/genst-2017-0017/genst-2017-0017.pdf [Accessed 14 Jul. 2017].

In response to lack of strong female representation in Hollywood films, Jemina Lewis wrote a persuasive article on women being overlooked in Hollywood and how it is impacting kids-particularly young girls. Appearing in the Age on July the 4th, 2015, Lewis argues in a critical and sarcastic manner that Hollywood should dismissing the wants – even needs – of half its audience, and create more powerful female role models – particularly superheros. Adopting a challenging and scornful tone Lewis positions parents and superhero fans alike to accept her case against the Hollywood industry.

Miss Representation conveys that media is derogative to the most powerful women in the United States. People learn more from the media than any other source because it is the message and messenger. Americans devote about 10 hours and 39 minutes daily to consuming media (Howard). The media’s misrepresentation of women in movies, television shows, and advertisements negatively shapes politics, our national discourse, children’s inquisitive minds, and ultimately society. The danger behind these stereotyped images of women is that their effect is subconscious, meaning we slowly become accustomed to a sexist portrayal of women without even immediately realizing it. To cease our unrealistic, prejudiced expectations of women, a culture change is necessary.

The presence of media is prevalent in our technology savvy lives. Yet with inequality shown in media, we are constantly bombarded with sexist concepts. This issue was specifically exemplified in the movie “The Avengers” where a bunch of superheroes get together to collectively defeat an enemy.

Few would argue against the notion that society has unrealistic and unfair expectations of women. However, little time seems to be spent talking about harmful societal expectations of men, specifically those associated with toxic masculinity. Toxic masculinity is when men feel the need to prove their masculinity by upholding traditional masculine values and behaviors in a way that is detrimental to themselves and others. These behaviors traditionally associated with men include a need to prove one’s strength over others, blocking out emotional attachments, asserting dominance over others, and denying traditionally feminine behavior, such as crying and showing emotional weakness (Hess). Michael Omi’s article “In Living Color: Race and American Culture” describes how the media has had a large role in perpetuating racial stereotypes, but all his arguments can very well be related to gender stereotype. Movies that glorifies toxic masculinity will inevitably legitimize its behaviors to the public. Therefore, media that critiques stereotypes is important to shifting audience opinions. Despite being a comedy film about a team of superheroes fighting aliens threatening the universe, the 2017 Marvel film Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 tackles this subject of toxic masculinity through essentially all of its male characters. In particular, the movie’s protagonist, Peter, is the focal point of this commentary. Peter’s mother died when he was young and his father was absent his entire

‘Wonder Woman’ And The Power of Watching A Woman Save The World, by Emma Gray is an article that argues the emotional impact of having a film about powerful women saving the world. There is a substantial lack of representation of strong, powerful women in Hollywood movies, until Wonder Woman was released into theaters.  Emma Gray discusses how Wonder Woman fills a hole that many women never realized they had.  She indicates how this film empowered many women and how it created this emotional outcry for more representation in superhero films.  Emma Gray uses personal story, repetition, and supporting details to effectively persuade women that Wonder Woman is a compelling example of how representation can make a large group of people feel strong, powerful, and beautiful all at once.

From my survey results, some didn’t even care about the gender of the superhero, they just wanted to see a superhero movie, or that there should be more movies made with females as the lead superhero. More women believed that there should be more equality in the movie industry with females given more lead roles as superheroes. The problem with this data was that out of the thirty-four participants, there were twenty-eight women and only six men. There was an equal balance between the men whether they cared or not that there should be more women having lead roles.

Frequently, most superheroes in cinema are portrayed by male characters rather than women, creating a distinction between gender roles. Indeed, through the passage, “These results may suggest to viewers that women are less important, knowledgeable, and capable than men – and less likely to be a hero” (Miller et. al) women are much less likely to be featured as the hero within the film, and more likely to be featured as the “damsel in distress” of the story. Furthermore, women are much more likely to be depicted in a sexualized fashion, even when displayed in the role of hero. This feature of women with a lack of dominance defies feminism, as they lack roles in superhero films and they are portrayed with the sole purpose of boasting

Gender inequality is the idea or situation that men and women are not equal, and is a problem in countries around the world. I will be focusing my research on this type of inequality in Canada. It is an issue for both men and women that they are exposed to at birth, is fed by the media as a teen, and continues in their everyday life as an adult. My approach to this issue is examining three topics that are related to my assignment: childhood, everyday life, and the media. Acts of gender inequality can be found within these broad points that negatively or positively affect males and females. For childhood, there will be toys, clothing, and child advertising. In everyday life, I will cover the workplace, travel, and costs. Media will include celebrities, television/movies, and social media. My thesis statement is: gender inequality is evident in many stages of human development through childhood, teenage years, and adulthood. Gender inequality is a real thing and it is proven in childhood, as a teenager, and adult.

The mainstream media is one of the most popular, prominent ways people get their information about social issues, government action, and the general knowledge about what is happening in the world. A topic that has received a quite a large amount of media coverage in history, throughout the years, and currently, is gender inequality. Specifically, the issue of women being stereotyped into traditional “home” roles and not being able to join the work force or, rather, being pressured not to attempt to join. This particular issue has definitely lost much of its ammunition with the breaking of traditional gender roles in the past few decades, the successes of women’s movements and the overall national attitudes. However, not all of the stereotypes have been destroyed, and while women have entered the workforce, they are still being paid less than men for the same work. The lingering inequality of the past and the pay gap are huge issues covered by mainstream media in mostly constructive ways, and it should be receiving much more attention than it has in the past.

Books, plays, and movies that depict culture and social life often make statements about social issues such as gender roles, racism, and class distinction. Stories set up a context in which characters relate, often representing “stock” characters chosen from society and placed in situations where their stereotypical behaviors—and sometimes their breaking of these stereotypes—are highlighted. As feminism became a popular movement in Western countries in general and the United States in particular, female voices were naturally heard through fictional characters. Social and political issues commonly fuel entertainment; feminism, racism, and classism—recurring themes in entertainment through the 20th Century and into the modern day—have