The View of Women

One of the major issues the world has been dealing with for years and years is the oppression of women. A lot of women have been mistaken for their rights, and gender stereotypes are hard to break. The oppression of women showcased in many different ways such as jobs and their right to education. Many girls have had their education stripped away from them due to the fact that they are being sold to men.

Women have been downgraded and mistreated because of their gender. From birth, Women and Men grew up with very different rules to follow. Men were raised to be the head of the house and do work for a living. Growing up as little girls, women were taught to raise their kids and make food for their families. “Strong family structures were necessary because the family was the basis for all other institutions. The government, church, and community all worked through the nuclear family unit.”(“Gender and

In the world today, women have a say in what they want to do and things that they desire to do. Back in the day, before the 1800’s, women had to be submissive to their male counterparts and do according to what was required of them. In the end, this led to the demeaning of the woman and the concept that women were inferior to men. Even though this concept and perception changed, there have been some countries and regions of the world that have not yet recognized the equality that women deserve. Such areas do not allow women to vote, attend school, have a say in the community, and the women are at the mercy of their husbands, fathers or male superiors (Hartmann, Susan M).

In the United States, study after study continues to show that women have fewer opportunities to advance in the workplace than men. These disadvantages are a result of society’s views of women in leadership positions and how women may view themselves in these roles. Women have been making progress in terms of equality in pay and job positions, but significant gaps remain. Women who strive to be promoted into higher levels of responsibility in their companies often meet resistance that prevents them from achieving the goal of a senior or executive level of management. This barrier is referred to as the “glass ceiling” and it is a controversial issue in our country today. The glass ceiling called this because women are able to see the higher level positions, but can reach them because of an intangible barrier. One can look at the Fortune 500 companies, which are the most successful companies in the U.S. in terms of revenue to see how few women are in leadership positions. Clearly, women are significantly underrepresented in these companies, as less than 5 percent of these companies have female chief executive officers (CEO) today (Dockterman 105). Providing the opportunity for women to move into management positions, like CEOs, would bring a unique talent and a new perspective on how the company can operate to perform better (Buckalew 147). The “glass ceiling” is a real obstacle that creates an intangible barrier that puts women at a disadvantage in advancing in a company.

Over time, the perfect body image has changed in many ways. This is very evident in the female sex, especially through media. “Americans spend about 68 hours per week exposed to various forms of media” (US Census Bureau 2009). This media exposure through outlets such as t.v., radio, music videos, movies, and the internet, all influence the way people think about gender. The media influence is very evident in the way people view women and think about women in different cultures. Media influence on women creates negative viewpoints with how women view themselves and even how men view themselves, in turn making it hard to break certain beliefs and stereotypes instilled on society.

Throughout history, women have been viewed differently from men. In the 1880’s and before, women were in charge of making a happy home, her job above all was to make sure her husband was happy. Around, the 1910’s women began fighting for their right to vote and to be viewed as an equal to the janitor that works for them. Still, to this day, women and girls are fighting to be viewed as an equal and respected as men and boys are in our society.

Former president and religious leader Jimmy Carter, among many other actions he’s taken to try and better this world, has, in an attempt to expose some of the atrocities committed against women from practically the beginning of time to today’s day and age, through advocacy and his book A Call to Action, brought to the attention of the masses the deplorable issues of inequality this world sees constantly. From barbaric practices done in underdeveloped countries such as FGC (female genital cutting) and , to discriminatory, violent acts seen in today’s modern, civilized society such sexual assault and abuse toward women, Mr. Carter addresses the issues many are ignorant to. He not only addresses the issues of inequality, but makes strides to diminish violence entirely

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.

The documentary “Miss Representation” delves into how the media and society. The viewer is exposed to how the media builds an expectation of how women should look and act. When the media portrays women as the perfect weight, height, and behavior for the target audience, it lowers the self-esteem of the females watching that cannot hope to compare to a fictional character. Men exposed to these types of advertisement and entertainment are taught to objectify women. It distorts societies and male expectations of how real women should look and behave. The documentary also discusses the lack of female protagonists in television and movies. There is a distinct lack of female heroines in our world today. This shortage further diminishes the hopes

The documentary Miss Representation shines a light on the overwhelming impact the male dominated media has on the development of females. Women cannot grow up emotionally happy in our culture due to the overwhelming pressure they are given. As girls grow up and become women they are constantly being judged by those around them and are given a high standard compared to their male counterparts because of the media. Being strong, smart, and accomplished isn’t important as being beautiful and skinny. Today in America you are seen physically and not intellectually. With the media portrayal of women as sexual objects has come with severe consequences. According to the video fifty-three percent of 13-year-old girls are unhappy with their bodies

What does the media tell us about women? It tells us what is “most important” and that’s how we look. They surround us with images of ideal female beauty. We have been learning from such an early age, that we must spend our time to strive to be like the women in these images and to feel ashamed and guilty if we cant live up to these incredibly unrealistic expectations. But failure is inevitable, when the women we are being shown are photo shopped and airbrushed to seem thinner, with faces so flawless that there is not a wrinkle or a line to be seen. This idea of beauty that society is showing us is so edited that it can’t be achieved. Not even the women in these images we are being shown look like this. The media is beginning to dictate our lives, influencing our thoughts, opinions, and actions. Through this use of magazines, advertisements, and social media, we are being shown by society what we need to look like in order to be beautiful. Society challenges women to be strong and independent, by showing us that in order to be seen as the ideal female we have to look like a woman that has been altered with on a computer for hours until she doesn’t even look like

Mr. Carter mentioned that sexual assaults, rape, violence and warfare, genocide, slavery, prostitution, honor killing, genital cutting child marriage, and spouse abuses are shameful treatment towards women in the modern world, which is not acceptable and we should take an action against these reprehensible acts. He also covers many issues that affect women and girls in the U.S., such as the incident of sexual assaults and rape are treated with relative impunity on some college, and U.S. military. In addition, the current social practice in any nations, women gets fewer promotion, lower pay, and unequal representation in higher officials in politics, as well as other segments of society. His book really pour the frustration about the male dominated power structure through the government as well as some Evangelical Christians and the Catholic Church.

We are constantly surrounded by images of the “perfect” woman. She is tall, thin and beautiful. She rarely looks older than 25, has a flawless body, and her hair and clothes are always perfect. She is not human. She is often shown in pieces – a stomach, a pair of legs, a beautifully made up eye or mouth. Our culture judges women, and women judge themselves, against this standard. It is forgotten that “beauty pornography”, as Wolf says, focuses on underweight models that are usually 15 to 20 years old. Flaws, wrinkles and other problems are airbrushed out of the picture.

Although they have been given more rights and equality, women still lack fairness in areas such as education, domestic abuse, crime, and lower class value. Cassandra Clifford states in her article “Are Girls still marginalized? Discrimination and Gender Inequality in Today’s Society”, “Woman and girls are abused by their husbands and fathers, young girls are exploited by sex tourism and trafficking, girls in many countries are forced into arranged marriages at early ages. Twice as many women are illiterate as men, due to the large gap in education, and girls are still less likely to get jobs and excel in the work place than boys.” She describes some of the issues that women face today around the world. These issues are what keep society from coming together to form a better world.

Society has painted a picture that beautiful is the most important thing that a women can be. Smarts, a good personality, and other great traits do not matter if the women is not attractive looking. The media is most responsible for this stereotype. Women in commercials and television shows give girls a false expectation of what they are supposed to look like. The women on these programs have thousands of dollars of make up on and have done countless number of surgeries on themselves to make themselves look “attractive”. Not only does this effect the girl’s self-esteem, it also puts a false image into men’s heads about how women are supposed to look. This puts even more pressure on the women to try to achieve something that is unattainable. Not only are the women in these advertisements unrealistic looking, they are also over-sexualized. Over-sexualized means that these women are being shown as sex figures instead of being actual actors. One of the worst offenders in over-sexualizing women is music videos. Music videos almost always have scantily clad women dancing in a sexual way throughout the duration of song. This coupled with lyrics that are vulgarly demeaning towards women give ladies a false idea of what they have to be in order for a man to like them.