From morning to night, seven days a week, three hundred and sixty five days a year, for eighteen years, I have had the privilege of growing up in a home with only one parent. Even though the only parent in my home worked full time, I was fed, bathed, dressed and driven to school every day. If it wasn't school, it was soccer. If it wasn't soccer, it was birthday parties. And on top of meeting all my needs and desires, those needs and desires of my siblings were also beyond satisfied.
Now, can you believe that this single parent is a woman? My mom has always done the job of two, without complaints. Therefore, it's hard for me to comprehend why women are still seen as inferior to men when they are more than capable to accomplishing the same goals in and out of the workplace. I never recognized it when I was younger, but my mom, a women, is without a doubt the most empowering and independent individual I know.
Today's modern society has come so far in acceptance and equality regarding many worldwide issues, and that's why it's hard for my to understand how women are still being paid less compared to men when working the exact same job. The most disturbing thing that I've realized throughout writing this blog, is that the media tends to portray women in such stereotypical roles. I often see women portraying roles as housewives but never businesswomen, nurses but never doctors. Now this isn't always the case, however the fact that I can still notice it among every day television is striking. The effect that the media has on society today is overpowering. It's almost as if people depend on television, magazines and the internet to establish what they believe, and how they act, so when the media portrays women in such a powerless and demeaning fashion, is becomes normal; therefore this idea of gender inequality normalization, is applied in people's everyday lives.
google images: powerful_11.jpg
The world has accomplished many things over the past few decades and I can only hope that complete equality between genders will be achieved in Canada. I think they only way to accomplish this is if:
- Gender inequality/discrimination is first recognized by society as a problem
- Women are given the same opportunities as men
- Environments such as the workplace are strictly monitored for gender discrimination
Hi Emily,
ReplyDeleteYour personal connection to this issue must have made your quest to shed light on this topic even stronger. I think it's very true that the media portrays women in an inferior way and even when portraying single parents, they are usually illustrated as struggling, in abusive relationships, or with an illness or addiction. In order for these images to be struck down, the media must also do its part and portray women in positions of power and success.
I agree that the media needs to change the way they portray women. I can't stress enough how society advances in so many ways, yet also holds so many people back from success.
DeleteHey Emily,
ReplyDeleteI am quite fond of the way you connected your background to your topic which made your post extremely powerful. As you've mentioned in your post I also believe that many people let the media dictate their thoughts and sometimes even took it as reality. Like what Michelle said, in order to tackle this problem efficiently, the media must cooperate with society to strike down these sexist images and impressions.
Thank you Edison,
DeleteI definitely believe that the media is one of the biggest reasons why we still see gender discrimination and inequality today. The normalization of the idea is everywhere; although mostly subliminal. We don't necessarily always notice what is sexist, but we subliminally take in the information and it becomes normal.