How Women are Portrayed in the Media and the Effects

 What is this blog about?

This blog is about how women are negatively (more often than positively) portrayed in the media and the effects. Women should be portrayed diversely and in different ways, because women are not all the same and do not all do the same things.

 

What stereotypes? How are women portrayed in the media?

Some of the harmful stereotypes that you often see in movies or television shows, or advertising are that it is the woman’s responsibility to cook, clean, take care of the children, and to always look young. No, I am not saying that women are always portrayed in this manner, there are more and more media that are portraying women in a good and not stereotypical way. However, the stereotypes still exist and need to stop.

 

Why is it important to portray women in different ways?

It is important for the media to portray women in different ways because different women act in different ways. Not all women clean, not all women cook, not all women have children or are stay-at-home moms, and no woman will always look young. Women, just like men, age, and some age better than others but that is irrelevant. It is important for children to see more than ‘the one way a woman should act’ because it can impact their lives. Young girls who see these women portrayed in a stereotypical manner will believe that they will have to do the same, that they cannot choose another way to act, and they will think that that is the normal way for a woman to act. They will become these stereotypes. Young boys who see these stereotypes will think that all women will act and do these things and will come to expect these things to be done for them. When in reality that is not how the world works.

 

My Aims for this blog.

I aim to break this stereotype and encourage media owners and writers to portray women differently from the stereotypes. I aim to inform society of this problem and encourage others to speak out. Finally, I aim for our children and future children to see people for who they are and not the stereotypes they are portrayed as.

 

My interest in the topic

I am choosing to write about this topic because every day in the media I see a woman being portrayed in a stereotypical manner, and I cannot stand to see it. I do not want my son to grow up thinking his girlfriend or wife must cook, clean, take care of the children, and always look young. I do not want my daughter to think she must do those things for her boyfriend or husband. 

Current Event 1

Summary 

    This article starts by discussing the types of media where you would encounter stereotypes and gender discrimination. These types of media include movies, television shows, radio, magazines, and social media online. The use of stereotypes and gender discrimination in media are literally everywhere you look.

Typical Stereotypes 

         “Women in all types of media tend to be thin and sexualized. They talk less than men. They have fewer opinions. And they are far less likely, in the entertainment industry, to play roles as leaders or professionals, or even as women who work for a living.” (UN Women, n.d.)

    Research

            Several research studies were done on how women are portrayed in the media; it was done in more than 100 countries! It found that 46% of news stories (printed newspapers, radio, and television) have gender stereotypes in them. It was found that 6% have gender equality included in them. Also, in this research, it was found that men have 73% of the time in top media management positions across 522 news media organizations. Even in films, women have 1/3 of the speaking characters. Finally, many women and girls experience harassment and stalking.

    How the UN is taking steps to solve this problem

            189 UN member states have acknowledged that media needs to shift gender stereotypes because they affect how people think and act. In the Beijing Platform for Action, they made women and media 1 of their 12 critical areas. They called on media from everywhere to contribute more to women’s advancement. The conclusion that they agreed on is that women need to be represented more especially when making decisions. Women should be represented more as leaders and role models in society. Solutions for the workplace include more training and establishing guidelines and rules in the workplace.

    Progress since the Beijing conference

            Stories being reported by women have increased, women are participating in public debates, and women are encouraged to share their opinions and ideas. “The media shapes our world—but so do women, as powerful agents of change in all areas of society. It is time for media to reflect this reality.” (UN Women)

References

UN Women. (n.d.). Women and the media. UN Women – Beijing+20. Retrieved March 30, 2022, from https://beijing20.unwomen.org/en/in-focus/media#:~:text=Women%20in%20all%20types%20of,who%20work%20for%20a%20living. 

Link to the article: https://beijing20.unwomen.org/en/in-focus/media#:~:text=Women%20in%20all%20types%20of,who%20work%20for%20a%20living.

Current Event 2

 Summary

              Women are less likely to be in media everywhere in the world which reinforces harmful gender stereotypes. BBC has tried to have positive gender representation by taking more consideration about who they are putting in front of the camera and are trying to get to 50:50 gender representation. There are three ways that managers can help improve equality in representation: start with yourself, follow the data, and believe in other people’s ability to change.

Women represented in the media

            Women are only represented in the television, radio, and print news a quarter of what men are. A 2015 report showed that only 19% of experts in news stories were women and 37% were women reporters globally. Behavioral scientists study women’s underrepresentation in the workplace and have noticed that it reinforces harmful gender stereotypes.

BBC’s efforts to close this gender gap of representation in the media

             BBC has tried to have positive gender representation by considering who they are putting in front of the camera and are trying to get to 50:50 gender representation. BBC has 500 shows that have joined the 50:50 project. Surprisingly this project was started by a British white man, which caused some skepticism. Ros Atkins started this movement and in 4 months took the women on air to 50%. To understand the effects Harvard Business Review has “conducted over 35 hours of interviews with more than 25 journalists, producers, presenters, and top leaders at the BBC. We’ve found three key lessons that are relevant for any manager or leader aiming to shake up the status quo and improve diversity, equality, and inclusion in their organization.”

The 3 ways to increase diversity, equality, and inclusion in your organization

             The first way is to start with yourself. Ros Atkins and his colleagues believed that women should be represented equally in journalism, but they also realized that it was not possible. This is a very common problem in every organization because people might want to make the change, but they never really commit and make the change concrete. Ros Atkins believes that asking yourself “what can I do different” is the key to change. He talks about how psychologically the difference between bystanders and confronters. Bystanders usually don’t act because they are unsure of many things, such as, if they are the right person, if it is the right time, or if someone else will act. Confronter will act and make the needed changes. Ros Atkins was able to shift his team from bystanders into confronters. The newsmakers don’t have a lot of control over who is featured in stories; however, they do have a lot of control over the contributors, experts, and reporters. Atkins made his team focus on keeping track of the contributors and if they were meeting their goals. The main rule was to put the best person on the air regardless of gender, so they focus on women who were the best in their field.

             The second way is to follow the data. Atkins did not tell anyone about the project until his team proved it could be accomplished. This allowed any excuse to be dismissed because there was proof that it could be done relatively easily. Collecting data allows the team to see with real results how good of a job they are doing in regard to equal representation. Since the 50:50 data collection method is simple and does not take a lot of time, it is easy to implement.

             The third way is to believe in others' ability to change their behavior. BBC said they are not trying to change anyone but to encourage people to change themselves. It is their belief that people can change if they have the opportunity, tools, and support. It was not mandatory for teams to join the project, and nobody was rewarded or punished for joining or not joining. However, since top leadership supported this challenge many of the teams joined in.

             Conclusively this article has shown that it is possible and easy to include more women representation in media. This will allow the negative stereotypes to slowly disappear as more people see the positive and that lots of women hold the same roles as men are just as knowledgeable.

Reference

Rattan, A., Chilazi, S., Georgeac, O., & Bohnet, I. (2019, July 8). Tackling the underrepresentation of women in media. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved March 30, 2022, from https://hbr.org/2019/06/tackling-the-underrepresentation-of-women-in-media

 Link: 

https://hbr.org/2019/06/tackling-the-underrepresentation-of-women-in-media

What Experts Say 1

              The article that we will be examining today is, “Psychological influence of modern mass media on formation of gender stereotypes” by Guranda Shamilishvili. This article is about how media influences gender stereotypes in society. Guranda Shamilishvili conducted a study about Georgian televisions advertisements. The results that they found were that the “Formation of gender stereotypes is determined by social and demographic factors, among which age and marital peculiarities between sexes, as well as education, intellect, urbanization prevail. In media gender stereotypes are characterized by dynamic, as they represent product of correlation of creative act and perception.” (Shamilishvili, 2019). They conducted 200 interviews with people from 20-30 years old. “In commercials intended for men, the main emphasis is drawn to power, strength and courage. Peculiarity of such type of exposure is the use of associative comparisons and psychological characterization connected with masculine stereotypes.” (Shamilishvili, 2019).

              This article is very important for us to consider because not only are women stereotyped in the media, but men are too. We cannot study one without studying the other. The television advertisements that we are seeing keep playing into gender stereotypes to sell their products. However, if we want to put a stop to gender stereotypes in the media, we must stop buying from these businesses that continue to use harmful gender stereotypes.

 

Reference:

Shamilishvili, G. (2019, June 21). Psychological influence of modern mass media on formation of gender stereotypes. Economics. Ecology. Socium. Retrieved April 3, 2022, from https://www.ees-journal.com/index.php/journal/article/view/106

Link: https://www.ees-journal.com/index.php/journal/article/view/106

What Experts Say 2

              The article we will be discussing today is “Applying Critical Discourse Analysis as a conceptual framework for investigating gender stereotypes in political media discourse”, by Lanchukorn Sriwimon and Pattamawan Jimarkon Zilli. This article discusses gender stereotypes in political media using CDA (Critical discourse analysis) with a focus on language use. The news report used involves the Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra of Thailand to examine how gender stereotypes are used for female politicians.

              CDA is “a type of discourse analysis research that primarily studies the way social power abuse, dominance, and inequality are enacted, reproduced, and resisted by text and talk in social and political contexts” (van Dijk, 2004, p. 352). This will show how women are represented in the media and the stereotypes they are portrayed in. The CDA is criticized as being vague and it is hard to conclude the data.

              The results of this study included material, relational, and verbal processes. She was represented in three ways, firstly It found that Yingluck Shinawatra was ambitious, secondly she was a nominee, passive and dependent politician, thirdly she was a successful businesswoman, yet inexperienced and incompetent politician. As we can see there are three very different languages used in these representations of her.

 

Reference:

Sriwimon, L., & Zilli, P. J. (2017, March 27). Applying critical discourse analysis as a conceptual framework for investigating gender stereotypes in political media discourse. Kasetsart Journal of Social Sciences. Retrieved April 3, 2022, from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2452315117300929

Critical discourse analysis

D. Schiffrin, D. Tannen, H.E. Hamilton (Eds.), The handbook of discourse analysis, Blackwell, Oxford, UK (2004), pp. 352-371

 

Link: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2452315117300929

For Further Research

 The first article I would recommend getting more information is “Countering Gender Stereotyping in the News Media” by Héloïse Hakimi Le Grand. This article is extremely good for getting information about how to solve the problem of gender stereotypes. It says that how men and women are represented in the article impact how people view men and women. One reason that gender stereotyping is common is because inclusivity is not common. For example, it was found that in the news media women are underrepresented, that women were subjects or sources 26% of the time and 31% of experts were women. To solve this problem, they held a panel to examine it and find solutions. Those solutions included education, incentives, regulations, leadership, and sources. Education includes educating and training newsrooms of the biases so people can understand what they are, and they can keep in mind. Incentives are important because it will motivate people to make a change. Regulations are important because it forces people to change, but they take a long time. Leadership is important because when people see their leaders supporting or doing something others are likely to follow. Sources are important because women are in these fields and are expects on subjects and should be included.   

The second article I would recommend is “Media’s Role in countering Gender Stereotyping” by Olga Komarova. This article says that women and girls portrayed in the media influence cultural norms and expectations on gender roles. Women are typically portrayed as caregivers, victims, or dependents and mean are typically portrayed as professional and independent leaders. It has become better, but it is still a huge problem. News being reported by women has increased by about 10% but women are still not being used as sources. Some ways to solve this are to educate the newsrooms on the issue, find women sources, speaking the language of the people (stating why it must be addressed), funding changing within, and implementing international regulation.

The final article I would recommend is “Gender and Media: Stereotyping in Advertising” by UNESCO. This article states the fact that women are only the focus of 10% of news stories, they are 20% of experts, and 4% of news stories are willing to challenge gender stereotypes. UNESCO wants to end these gender stereotypes. Ms. Corat “pointed out the threats to which women journalists are particular vulnerable – such as sexual violence and gender-based harassment.”. (UNESCO, 2019). These stereotypes affect women through child marriage, genital mutilation and teen pregnancy. The media also objectifies women frequently through advertising.

 

References:

Le Grand, H. H. (2021, April 9). Countering gender stereotyping in the news media. International Center for Journalists. Retrieved April 6, 2022, from https://www.icfj.org/news/countering-gender-stereotyping-news-media

Komarova, O. (2021, December 17). Media's role in countering gender stereotyping. GFMD. Retrieved April 6, 2022, from https://gfmd.info/medias-role-in-countering-gender-stereotyping/

UNESCO. (2019, September 13). Gender and media: Stereotyping in advertising. UNESCO. Retrieved April 6, 2022, from https://en.unesco.org/news/gender-and-media-stereotyping-advertising

Links:

Link to the first article: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02435/full

Link to the second article: https://gfmd.info/medias-role-in-countering-gender-stereotyping/

Link to the third article: https://en.unesco.org/news/gender-and-media-stereotyping-advertising

My View

 As women, we notice the lack of females in certain roles in the media, we notice the way women must look in media, and we notice men’s expectations for us to be how the women are in the media. This can have a huge impact on how we view the world and ourselves.

I would like to do a test that I got from Forbes. “Close your eyes. Picture a CEO, a president, a Hollywood director, a top scientist, a head coach, a leading surgeon, a hero, or just a very strong, healthy, impressive person. Not a specific person but just someone who would fit these roles or descriptions. What comes to mind? What does he look like?” (Lee, 2022).

Most people picture a man in these roles, this is because in media we mostly see men in these roles. Not only are they men but they are usually white men. This can impact women in several ways, the main way is that we might be discouraged to pursue these careers because we don’t see women in them, and we might assume they are for men.

Geena Davis, a famous actress has discovered a reason for the test we did above. She says that there is a lack of females portrayed in these careers and fewer opportunities for women to be chosen to play these roles. When they are chosen, they are usually just the wife or girlfriend of the man in that role. She believes that it is sending the message that women have less value. She has a non-profit organization to help change that perspective. These efforts are extremely important because it helps “establish social norms, your identity, your health, and your well-being” (Lee, 2022). What you are exposed to as children and teens is what tends to shape your perception. Media has become a huge part of our daily lives we spend almost all of our free time on social media or watching television or movies, and we see so many advertisements in a day. The movie that has impacted Geena was Thelma and Lousie, which has two strong female leads.

Some key findings in the article: in advertisements, men are featured twice as many times as women, in movies men receive twice as many screens time and lines, “Positive female role models in the media can help women become more ambitious and assertive and even help them leave abusive relationships” (Lee, 2022), female characters often have unrealistic bodies and behaviors, and there are not many women playing roles in STEM careers.  

It is mentioned in the article that there are several ways that this is improving. For example, there are several hashtags to spread awareness, #ILookLikeASurgeon, and #MeToo. In light of this Genna Davis has launched her own hashtag #StrengthHasNoGender.

As we can see Geena Davis and many others are impacted by media with strong female leads or equal representation. We can see the importance, especially for young girls, of how women are portrayed in the media. Women have been underrepresented in the media and portrayed in ways that are unacceptable. Women have had to deal with this for long enough. When will this change? How long will it take?