In a world where women account for just under half the population the representation of women in media is shocking! Media is one of the most powerful tools to educate, effect social changes and spread political awareness in the world. From childhood our personalities have been shaped due to films and TV programmes, yet only 12% of protagonists in 2014s top 100 grossing films were female. This is only one of the many examples of how women are unfairly disadvantaged in the media industry. This is ridiculous in a world where gender equality is thought to be greatly improved. Woman have gained the right to vote, escaped household roles and have achieved successful careers in the past century but are still given less protagonist roles, paid …show more content…
An analysis by TIME magazine found that women actors hit the peak of their career at 30, whereas for men it is 46, with many young women actors appearing in major films usually with men over 40-years-old. For example, Emma Stone at the age of 27 starred in movies with male co-stars each aged 53, 45 and 40. Scarlett Johansson also starred opposite two 47-year-olds at the age of 28 and 29. This means that women actors over the age of 30 are hardly getting any screen time compared to male actors of similar age. For example actress Monica Bellucci, 51, who was casted in Spectre as a main character, only appeared in the movie for all of 15 minutes. Women are also discriminated against for their looks in the media industry where even many successful actresses have faced rejection for their looks. Meryl Streep who was rejected a role in King Kong because she was apparently too 'Ugly ' for the part. This illustrates the shocking double standards the media industry has, as women are valued more for their physical appearance rather than their talent or experience in the industry. What is even more absurd is the fact that there is a $28 million pay gap between the highest paid actor Robert Downey Jr (who earned $80 million in 2014) and the highest paid actress Jennifer Lawrence (who earned $52 million in 2014). This clearly highlights the unfair and the demeaning disadvantage women have in the media industry.
Sexism isn 't just a problem in the entertainment side of the
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
The Miss Representation documentary film by Jennifer Newsom explores how media contributes to the under-representation of women in influential positions. This message is portrayed by delivering content through media and technology as well as advertising partial and/or often degrading interpretations of women. The consequences are becoming more and more dreadful. In today’s world, composed of a million stations, people will tend to do more and more shocking things to break through the crowds. They resort to violent, sexually offensive, or demeaning images. Jean Kilbourne, EdD, filmmaker, Killing Us Softly Author and Senior Scholar Wellesley Center’s for Women states, that “it creates a climate in which
Women have never been treated fairly in society, and the media, which is meant to give a voice to the population, reflects that. You’d think that today women would have a better representation in the media, yes? Unfortunately you’re wrong. How women are represented in media is very harmful to the population, and I’ll tell you why.
when we think women are the protagonist or the hero, the story ends up revolving around the man.
fifty times in the press. Male political figures might be called mean and terrible names, yet those words do not, more often than not, reflect superstition and fear (Monière 2006).
An Annotated Bibliography for The Main Cause In Negative Gender Stereotypes and Traditional Gender Roles:
Due to several decades of continual oppression on this platform, many important women figures have arose in the film industry such as Oprah Winfrey, Emma Watson and Kathryn Bigelow. This is an important reactionary movement that aims at leveling the playing field, regardless of gender. Misrepresentation of Women in the Media and Film Industry An important concept to note when analyzing the misrepresentation of women in the media is the “male gaze” theory.
Redbook magazine are devoted to selling products ranging from shoes to shampoo. The entire magazine only has only 210 pages. Approximately 6-8 min of every half hour television show is produced by ad agencies. Americans are bombarded with advertisements. We see them everyday in many different forms and through different mediums. Advertisers study America’s population through a systematic breakdown and analysis of our likes and dislikes in relation to our differences. These differences include gender, sexual orientation, economic status, location, race, ethnicity, and more. Advertisers have substantial knowledge of what appeals to each of these demographics and how these demographics will respond to
“People learn more from media than any other single source of information” (Missrepresentation). This quote exemplifies how society learns and creates their standards about people, places, and things. All sources and mediums of media impact billions of lives every day. The media holds this power over society and it’s time to change that; especially when it comes to the media’s view of women. Women are constantly being misrepresented. This misrepresentation of women in the media is negatively impacting America by corrupting both the youth and adults. This is occurring because of the hyper-sexualization of women, wrongly portraying women in leadership positions, and creating stereotypes of women in movies and television.
Women are a low percent of those behind the camera. “In 2014, a whopping 85 percent of films had no female directors, 80 percent had no female writers, and one-third lacked female producers, according to a San Diego State University study (Davidson). How can there be strong women characters if there are not that many women working behind the scenes? With the lack of women behind the camera, the roles women play are often degrading and sexist. Women are often portrayed in service jobs such as waitresses instead of in leadership roles. In the top 500 films from 2007-2012, 28.8 percent of women wore sexually revealing clothes while men only accounted for 7 percent (IndieWire). TV and movies teach girls from a young age that they are meant to be a wife or homemaker and not much else. It is hard to dream to be a doctor or a CEO of a big company if you do not see it when you turn on the TV. And it is not that women are not qualified to work behind the camera, they are just not given the chance. It is hard to change your portrayal in film and TV if you are not the one writing the characters or directing.
The key research question of ‘Gender Roles in Media’ is to analyze gender roles to determine how women are represented in an array of media and how they are portrayed in a sexualized manner. The study was published in 2010 and 2011 by Rudy et al in two issues of Sex Roles. The research suggests that an increase in representing women in media can be worthy provided they bear in mind that the way women are depicted is positive in order to alleviate negative connotations. The research queries if media can affect the mindset of viewers in a negative or positive manner.
Representation of women over time By James Hall In my opinion, the representation of women within the media hasn’t changed. However, outside of media it has improved.
There’s a saying, Hollywood is a man world, but the problem goes beyond just Hollywood. The lack of women representation in films, televisions, and general media is a decade-old problem. It’s becoming increasingly apparent as more and more women are shying away from being stay-at-home moms and accepting the role of breadwinners for their households. According to the 2017 Hollywood Diversity Report by the Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies at UCLA, women only claimed 29 percent of lead roles in top films in 2015. The underrepresentation of women in media creates inequality in workplaces and difficulties in day to day lives as well as maintains negative and old gender
Second, films tap into more conserved roles for women because the film industry is not subject to much scrutiny. Feminism may have gained more legal rights for women and placed women on more equal footing with men, but there is no regulation on the content and depiction of women in the media. It is still arguable whether media has a significant impact on women’s lives and their perception in the workplace.
How women are portrayed or represented in media is also important. Media can play a significant role in sensitizing the society about gender issues. But, before that, the media itself needs to be sensitized in covering women issues. The distribution of power between the two sexes both physical and economic is unequal, leading to discrimination against women.