Having learned about the suffrage movement, women's liberation and some aspects of the condition of women today - Lily Ledbetter, advertising - you are charged with determining what the next feminist movement should look like. Consider advancements, and the lack thereof, in economics, social factors, politics, religion, education, behavioral norms and expectations and determine who should lead this new movement, how and to what end? Should it be like the NWP - single platform, NAWSA, N.O.W., Ms., Paul, Sanger, Friedan, Steinem?
You are charged with looking further into these women, movements and eras, looking into the conditions of in/equality today and determine who and what should lead the new charge, and HOW!?!?
Feel free to use these resources and encorporate your own!:
the pill, 40 years on
women pay the price for health insurance
abortion rates fall
The Wage Gap
Gapminder
The First Lady
Gender Ads
When We Hated Mom
Sex Discrimination
NOW on Walmart
CSM Walmart
Global Gender Gap Index
Leading Women (Thanks Krim)
Barrack Obama becoming president was the greatest stride to equality that African Americans have made in decades. Though racism is still present in the Unites States, it has become less prevalent and is now mostly thought of as ignorant and unintelligent. Comments demeaning African Americans can easily be rebutted by the fact that an African American is running the country and are unlikely to be taken seriously. Likewise, I believe the next feminist movement should also take place in a political form. Just as Barrack Obama has become a role model and a symbol of hope to many African Americans, women are in need of a similar figure. Women need to know that great achievement is possible. I believe a serious female candidate for the 2012 Presidential election would be an excellent example of this. If this candidate were to win the election, that would be a thousand times more powerful.
ReplyDeleteMen with sexist attitudes in the workplace would no longer seem superior to woman as a woman would be running the country. Currently, only "10.5 percent of board directors are women" in the US and over 39 percent of companies have "no female representation at boardroom level" (Leading Women). On average, women “make 77 cents for each dollar men make”(MSN). Severe inequalities exist between men and women in the workplace. If a woman were to be president, it is likely that many companies would wish to conform to the idea of having women in high positions of power and treating them better in order to stay relevant.
Quotas are not the solution to the aforementioned problem. Originally introduced in order to “promote equality and improve female board membership,” quotas have resulted in lack of experience on boards. For example in Norway, which has implemented the quota system, “only 31.2% of female directors appointed to meet the legal requirements had prior CEO experience compared with 69.4% of male directors retained during this period” (Leading Women). Though quotas were intended for their own benefit, only 37% of women think quotas are a positive way to promote gender diversity in the high-level workforce.(Leading Women).
A law will never truly change societies view and value of women. Rather, something must occur which proves to the public that women are just as capable as men. A female president of the US would be the perfect face to the new feminist movement. It would inspire young women to ignore stereotypes and work for their betterment, just as Barrack Obama inspired African American youth.
Just realized I misspelled 'Barack' a few times, my apologies to the president
DeleteAlthough Sam's idea of a third wave is not very similar to what I wrote about in my blog post, I believe that a third wave relating to politics in some way would undoubtedly be effective. It may take time to finally see a woman in the white house, so it would be vital for the movement to start out with getting more women elected into other political positions, including governors, senators, and congresswomen for example. Currently, women make up just 18% of the House of Representatives and 34% of the Senate (Women in Congress). Last I checked, women make up 50% or more of our population, so this is obviously a problem that needs to be fixed. As Sam mentioned, the election of Barack Obama helped racism towards African-Americans become heavily frowned upon throughout America, when just a few decades ago, not being racist to African-Americans was frowned upon. I feel that it's hard to argue that the same transformation would occur if the presence of women in politics were to become more prevalent. In order for this to happen, though, it is necessary for women to first shed some of the sexism that is so copious in today's media in order to put themselves into the position to both be confident enough to be politicians, and get more votes by eliminating some of the sexism that runs rampant throughout America today. This is why I discussed throughout my first post the importance of eliminating sexism in media. Eliminating sexism and the inferior portrayal of women in media is entirely necessary to spark other leaps in the third wave of a gender equality movement, such as increasing the presence of women in politics. As Sam said, having more women become politics would heavily aide in the movement to achieve gender equity, but it is necessary to first rid our nation of sexist propaganda that causes for women to be portrayed as, and thus treated as, inferior.
DeleteI absolutely agree Jack. However, I'd like to point out that even though African Americans aren't very prevalent in politics either, Barack Obama was still able to become president. Currently, there are only 41 African Americans members in the House Of Representatives and none in the Senate compared to 80 women members in the House Of Representatives and 17 in the Senate (Infoplease.com). As African Americans were under similar if not worse conditions politically than women and were able to have an African American president, than it is possible that women could do the same. I'm not saying it would be easy - it wouldn't by any means. However, it is definitely possible in the near future.
DeleteIn order to have a third and successful wave in gender equality, a lot of change has to come. I know, thats pretty obvious, but through reading all of the different sources that we have been given, I have come to the realization that things have sort of taken a step back since the first two waves of the movement. Women gained so much for themselves through suffrage and the pill, however, we have seen the horrible situation that women are in now. They are continuously ostracized through advertising and the stereotypical gender roles that they 'should' be in.
ReplyDeleteThe first step in having the third wave is changing how women are perceived in advertising. The website 'GenderAds' shows the breakdown of how many different ways women are negatively portrayed. Social class, 'ideal' size, motherhood, and even race sometimes comes into play. I feel like the advertising issue is one of the most important issues in this because it affects how all women view themselves and how men view us. Not only does it force women to act into these roles to create the advertisements, it also makes it much harder for women to get equality because they are being shown in superficial situations that do not pertain to most women. This is a huge problem that will be so difficult to change due to the preponderance of advertising and how necessary advertising is to our society.
Many are waiting for a Third Wave of progress for women's equality, but in order to make that wish a reality, women are going to have to go about fighting their fight in a way that they have not done previously. To succeed in creating a third wave of progress and advancing the condition of women in america, women must fight an enemy that has never before been encountered; modern social norms created by mass media.
ReplyDeleteThanks to mass media, and everything that comes with it -- including advertising and a lack of privacy/intimacy in relationships -- the focus of our society has become fixed on sexuality and materialism; of course at the forefront of this focus is women. However that is not because women drive these urges and trends, they are the thing that satisfies them and have thus become objects of pleasure and status for men. That is why to truly gain equality in this modern age, women can not only deprive men of what they desire, they must gain positions of economic, social and political power in order to control the mass media, and change the things which are truly important in our world. For so long as sex and material possessions are the most important things in this world, and the world is run by men: women will always be objectified in order to satisfy the primal urges of men.
Sebo, I agree with the gist of your argument in determining what has so negatively degraded the role of women in this society. However, I fail to understand how you intend to fix this problem, as it seems you summarize that they must gain power. If you could, I was wondering how you would expand on this by describing what specific decisions these leaders in power would make in order to create a better image of women. I understood and agree that women must take themselves out of the industries that classify themselves as a body rather than a human being, but would this be done through protests, sale of merchandise, or possibly a bill? I also question when you said that modern social norms had never been encountered by women, as women have been battling social norms since the birth of this nation. How the social norms today compare to past time periods, as a product of their separate medias, would be an interesting idea to grow upon. All in all, though, I agree with your argument that this socially degrading system must come to an end.
DeleteSir Fivehead Nation, I thank you for your kind words regarding the 'gist of my arguemnt', however where the line between us is drawn is where you blatantly disregard my valid points, such as the changing social norms between now and lets say... the beginning of time. In my opinion, and that of many others, there is a huge difference between social norms of today, and even the norms of the time surrounding the first wave of the women's movement. Then, it was fashionable to wear a hat with laces and a flower in it: now it is fashionable to wear loose fitting shirts and shorts that cover about 8% of your legs. The fact that not only is there sexual pressure from men to wear revealing clothing, but also social pressure from women's friends makes it inconceivably harder for women to prevent themselves from being objectified. In all seriousness, women are walking advertisements for whichever product can best associate themselves with attraction and sexual feeling; this is due to the fact that advertising is all about association, and if you associate a product with sex, and you associate sex with women, then by the laws of logic you associate that product with women. To summarize my response, sir, I apologize in advance if there was simply a misreading of my text on your part, and just to clarify, I never said anything which claimed that women had never fought social norms, I simply stated that due to the elastic and ever changing nature of social norms, the fight women face today is one that they have never fought before. Please, do not fret yourself over such a silly mixup.
DeleteWhen it comes to women's movements there is a list of reasons for the change and topics to assess. The women's movement touches upon women and their positions socially, economically, and politically. There is a push for reform on issues such as reproductive rights, domestic violence, maternity leave, equal pay, women's suffrage, sexual harassment. Whenever a matter like this is taken on there seems to be a minimal chance of changing everything because that would mean the people of our society will have to change their way of thinking. Their ideologies which they had stitched together as they grew old would have to be pulled apart and reconstructed.
ReplyDeleteLaws do little because it does not control behavior and it also fails to take control of cases involving women. “In California, Wal-Mart is sued for sex discrimination, allegedly showing inequality in women's pay, compensation, and promotion. Seventy-two percent of Wal-Mart's hourly workers are women, but only one-third of the managers and supervisors are women,” (NOW). Cases like these were taken to the Supreme Court but it had to be individualized because the case was “too big” to handle. The Supreme Court suggested to “break the massive lawsuit down into smaller, more focused lawsuits,” (Richley).
In any case (goodness these puns -_-), if there were to be a third wave for the women’s movement it would involve media perception. “What kind of woman was she if she did not feel this mysterious fulfillment waxing the kitchen floor?” is not an image of women today (Friedan). Thus, women are to be displayed in empowering roles as opposed to “ideal”. Friedan states, “she was healthy, beautiful, educated, concerned only about her husband, her children, her home,” and as shown in “GenderAds” to be the spitting image of perfection while also being categorized as “exotic”, a “doll”, “stupid”, “difficult” and “normal.” I mean it is quite contradictory. Consumer businesses and marketing should be monitored. I am not saying we should censor it but we must be aware of how women and men will be drawn to the product itself not the picture that comes with it.
Women should be shown in their true forms, free from restraint of a capitalist marketing society. Their success must be positively reinforced in the media. For example, Benazir Bhutto was the 11th Prime Minister of Pakistan, Maria Corazon Sumulong Cojuangco-Aquino was the 11th President of the Philippines, and Meg Whiteman is the President and Chief Executive officer of Hewlett- Packard as well as Ebay in the past. Their word should be acknowledged and serve as a positive influence for many young girls and women. America should compare its strategies to those of Iceland a “almost completely gender-balanced parliament, and the election of a female prime minister. It ranks No. 1 in political empowerment, No. 18 in economic opportunity and No. 96 in health equity,” (Zirulnick).
There also must be coverage for women medically. “Women who were working, who had insurance, often found that their insurance didn't cover contraception. But when Viagra came on the market and was instantly covered, we were able to get some contraception equity, and now most insurance plans do cover it,” (NPR). Though women and men are not physically the same they must both have coverage medically no matter what it may specifically get into.
I can go on about this for hours but I’ll stop here and stop wasting blog space.
(Part I)
ReplyDeleteToday, women are paid 77 cents on every dollar that a man makes, account for only 8% of the total Head of States, and occupy only 15% of top corporate jobs (Sandberg). These numbers are proof that the first two waves of the women’s rights movement in no way achieved total equality for women. In order to fully achieve equal rights in entirety for women; in society, the workplace, and the home, a third wave of the women’s rights movement is necessary. This wave, however, would need to target different areas than the previous two waves. First, I believe that women need to be aware that they can be equal. Many women place themselves in submissive positions without being aware because it’s what they’ve been taught to do. Secondly, society’s perception of women needs to be changed, in regards to ingrained actions and advertising. The third wave of the women’s rights movement would have to change women and the society in which they inhabit.
Society inculcates the ideas that women should assume stereotypical female roles, placing heavy emphasis on being the perfect mother and loving wife. In no form are women encouraged to be their best selves in entirety, whether their best self is being a stay at home mom or pursuing their interests beyond the home. Women are often pushed out of the workplace when they decide to take on the role as both a professional and a mother. This constant societal impact leaves women believing that they cannot be as powerful as men while having a family at the same time. Women are often taught to be passive, demure, and soft-spoken. These attributes that society regards are feminine are damaging to women in the workplace, who often regard themselves as less valuable than they are (Fenley). Most importantly, women are taught by society that they are not worthy of great success, especially if that success is found outside of the home. President Nixon himself stated, “I don’t think that women should be in any government job whatsoever…The reason why I do is mainly because they are erratic. And emotional.” With influential figures that have a large impact on society, such as Nixon, stating that women should not be in positions of power, not only does society accept that, so do women. This causes women to systematically underestimate themselves and their ability, making it less likely that they will push for not only a promotion, but for equal rights. In order for equal rights to be achieved, women need to know that they are just as capable and deserving as men, therefore putting themselves at the forefront and not backing down.
Society places women as the homemaker, not the breadwinner, subjecting women to stereotypes and objectifying them. Society also makes clear that women are supposed to be dependent on men. Chivalry is something that women often desire in a man, however it is something that assumes and implies that women are weak and must rely on a man to open a door or pull out a chair. These actions are ingrained in society and the third wave of the women’s rights movement would target this issue by empowering women and showing them that they do not need to rely on anyone but themselves. On a grander scale, advertising places women in the position of being weak objects. Advertising places women into defined roles such as mother, wife, or sometimes, even stripper. It even goes as far as to using body parts of women, thus implying that they are objects (GenderAds). As much as women need to realize that they are equal, society needs to realize it too. By regulating demeaning ads and eradicating societal actions that place women on the back foot, the third wave of the women’s rights movement would change women and the world around them by focusing on those two categories.
(Part II)
ReplyDeleteGetting both women and society to change their views would not be an easy achievement by any means. Beyond realizing that they can be just as powerful as men in the workforce, laws need to be in place in order to protect this belief. Calling earning 77 cents on every dollar that a man makes, “equal” is not the way to go about this issue. Laws encouraging women to pursue careers need to be put into place. These laws would potentially include the government providing support for mothers in terms of day care, sick days, and pay scale. Laws affecting fathers should also be put in place, such as extending paternity leave in order to encourage more equality in the home. Statistically, women do twice the amount of housework and three times the amount of childcare than men (Fenley). The numbers need to change and by closing the gap between maternity and paternity leave, there is possibility that men would step up with both house and childcare. However, both actions in the home and the workplace are intimately intertwined with the pictures portrayed in the media. Ads that place women in stereotypically “female” roles only make them more socially acceptable. Advertising is an ideal that people buy into, not just making what they portray (whether demeaning to women or not) socially acceptable, but socially desirable. Thus, there needs to be more regulation in the advertising space in order equalize the images of women and men that society projects as ideal. As women’s rights continues to be an issue, with the number of women in positions of power going the wrong way, this third wave of the women’s rights movement needs to be sparked.
I think that what would bring about the most successful third wave of feminism is women seen more equally in society, especially in the business place, and also men being seen more in domestic roles. I agree with Katie, one thing that would be a good catalyst to more equality is the Family Leave Act. This act requires that all covered employers to provide employees job-protected and unpaid leave for qualified medical and family reasons. I think enforcing this act among men during their wives pregnancy and after, would help men be seen as more important roles within the household and would also give them more responsibility.
ReplyDeleteAlong with men being integrated more into the household I think that women need to be integrated more into roles that they have the complete capability of. I think this third wave of feminism needs to be the implementation of the fact that women do have just as much power and capability as men do. It is said that “And what we've seen over these years is that women have been 46 to 49 percent of the overall workforce in the U.S. They have been 50 percent of managers and professional positions in the workforce. But when it comes to the senior levels, we've been stuck at about 15 percent.” Women should be considered equally based on merit for leadership roles in businesses, education, and all institutions that are important. I think that in the third wave of feminism women should try to assert and demonstrate their power within society by not only working towards equal pay but also working towards higher leadership positions. Not only do I think that laws that help assist women fulfill their capabilities would be helpful, but I also think that Within a marriage if it makes more sense that the women is the better wage earner, and makes more sense for the family that men should stay home to help raise the kids rather than just women then that needs to happen.
I believe that the third wave of the feminist movement should address the issue of inequality towards women by changing the view that people have about women. As Jean Kilbourne showed in her documentary Killing Us Softly, women, now more than ever, are being negatively portrayed in advertising and media as items and not people. Many ads have women pictured as chairs, beer cans, or even sex objects, which does nothing but help portray women as objects. Journalist Jennifer Pozner says "sexism in media affects women across the board, whether those women are in high school…or women trying to be politicians" (Leading Women). The more that the media portrays women as objects, they are thought of as such, which I believe is the main cause for gender inequality and sexism. If women are no longer viewed as items and objects, they will be able to accomplish much more.
ReplyDeleteBut how should this third feminist revolution take place and how should it be run? I believe that this movement should be driven entirely by technology and the power of the internet. Like the Arab Spring, I believe that the women's movement should be started not by anyone famous, but by an average citizen who is fed up with the treatment they are receiving. Women can start massive protests, and can create an advertising campaign shown constantly on TV and the internet all towards the abolishment of women as items. Women can also create magazines, TV shows, and websites all devoted to female equality as well. This would be just like the recent Miss Representation campaign, which "has evolved into a call-to-arms with more than 50,000 Facebook fans and 2,268 social action representatives…followers receive weekly action alerts on how to spread the message, from calling out sexist ads on social media…or talking to men in their lives about the social impact of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition" (Leading Women). The key to women changing society and starting the third wave is through social media and technology, in which they can spread the word for equality and the abolishment of women as objects.
Many beneficial issues and problems would be able to be solved with the third wave of the feminist movement. Particularly, with women no longer being considered items, I believe that women will be able to gain more equality in society. One of the biggest gaps in gender equality in the United States today is employment, women earn just 77 cents for every dollar that men earn (The Wage Gap). Additionally, "women make up 51% of the United States yet only 17% of seats in the House of Representatives…3% of Fortune 500 CEOs and 7% of directors in the top 250 grossing films" (Leading Women). With the third wave of feminism being implemented, women will be able to gain more high up and high paying jobs than ever before, because people will no longer think of women as objects, they will think of them as intellectuals. Another major problem that will be able to be combated with the third wave of feminism is abortion and female contraceptives. Currently, abortion and female contraceptives are a major political topic, and many Americans have strong opinions for and against it. I personally believe that the reason that so many people do not believe in giving women free contraceptives and letting them have abortions is because people see them only as objects, and not people. Men have been given free contraceptives for decades now because they are seen only as people, and nothing else, and when women are seen as people too, they will be given free contraceptives as well. Additionally, if women will become seen as people, I feel that others will be more pro-choice in letting women get abortions. People have let men choose not to have a baby by using a condom for hundreds of years, but they will not let women choose to have a baby or not by letting them have an abortion. With the third wave, people would see men and women as equal and would let them have the choice of having a baby or not as well. Overall, their are many important things that would be affected by the third wave of the feminist movement by abolishing women as objects. Women would become more equal, and would be able to live a better and more fair life.
ReplyDeleteAs Liz Lemon said in one of recent 30 Rock episodes, “Feminism promised us two things, fatter dolls and end to traditional gender roles.” Yes, we do now have fatter Barbies but as a society we definitely didn’t break the traditional gender roles. We learned that more women are likely to marry for the money while the men are more likely to marry for love. This is mostly because men are still providing the income, while women stay at home. The first movement women got the vote and were hopeful of breaking the gender barrier. The second movement gave women “liberation”, birth- control gave them the freedom from the house. Yet we are still defaulting on men to support us when we grow old after careers.
ReplyDeleteI think that this third movement really needs to show the whole end of gender roles and also the idea that a woman needs a man at all to support herself. Women making 77 cents to the man’s dollar doesn’t allow a woman to support herself fully. The first movement allowed women to go to school, and get a better education. The second movement created many more women doctors and lawyers because women could now plan when they wanted to have kids. Women were happy to finally have careers and go to college to get something other than a MRS degree. But these professions aren’t paying as much as men get. On average women medical scientists earn 37% less than the male does, and even worse women physicians/surgeons earn 40% (Wage Gap). The third movement is being held back, by the “traditional gender roles”. To break the roles, women must also break the media stereotype it creates.
Women in ads today are generally just objects. They are things that we as a society manipulate to look ‘beautiful’ or ‘how a “perfect” woman should look’. There are no modern ads where the woman is working and the man is the object. When I clicked the “normal” section of the Gender Ads site I got images of women working out, ‘plus sized’ woman and then too skinny woman. Anything that is actually ‘normal’ just didn’t come up. The way the media plays women is a person obsessed with image, who likes to just smile and nod, and never really move or think. Media needs to stop focusing on the Kardashians’ latest divorce and refocus on the workingwomen and the women who achieve and discover things. Inspire young girls not to just be famous and on TV but to go out and do something in their lives, make a difference in the world. Once the media sets a new focus I think the rest will come easily. But to initiate the third movement, we (society) must change which women we focus on.
Like many others have talked about earlier, the 3rd feminism wave should focus on the economical disadvantages that women are faced with. In our modern day society, everyone is always talking about wealth no matter what the subject is. This shows how we value having a lot of money. With women making 77 cents to every dollar that men earns, puts them at a large disadvantage already that is quantifiable. If you take a look at the Forbes 400, which ranks the richest people in America, only 5 out of the top 50 richest people are women (Forbes). This small population of women in the top 50 is directly due to them making only 77 cents to the dollar. Women cannot nearly compete with men economically because for jobs of equal level, they are not being paid equal amounts. While I'm not saying that money is the only way people should be judged, society values being rich so for equality to be attained, it needs to be a 1:1 ration and not a 0.77:1 ratio.
ReplyDeleteWhile changing the economic advantage might be hard to do, there is a leading female figure that could be upset with the economic disadvantage the women are faced with, First Lady Michelle Obama. Prior to being the wife of a president, Michelle Obama made $316,000, but now she makes $0 (excluding advertisements and etc.). Although she had to give up her previous job when her husband was elected, she still does work for the president such as being a diplomat to other countries that her husband can’t make. That is a very important job and if it were a male doing that job, he would most likely be paid. This is a giant problem for women in general and if Michelle Obama started a movement to improve economic equality, it would most likely be a success, as many women love her. She is very influential as she is in many advertisements so women look up to her making her a great potential candidate to help start the 3rd wave.
Everyone thus far has stated that "women earn 77 cents to the dollar." I think this is a significant difference and going further on this idea I find it shocking that women laundry workers earn 31% less than men when women during the 1950's and 60's were the face of "efficient laundry" at home (the Wage Gap). During the third wave of the women's movement I think that everyone has to be more open about problems they face in their day to day lives. "Study after study found that homemakers had lower self-esteem than women who took paid employment, even when it came to assessing their skills as parents. They experienced higher levels of stress and greater vulnerability to depression than women with paying jobs," (Coontz). Both women at home and women in the work force have to be open about what they want. I feel as though our modern day culture suppresses everyones true desires because it is indefinite of what that really is. Emanuella Grinberg states that "we live in a sexualized society where the gap between fantasy and reality is vast and harmful." We must stop being distracted with what society wants us to have and find out what we really want to obtain in life (not materialistically).
ReplyDeleteLike I have stated before, we must target media because that is what we are surrounded by each day. Krim has voiced that we must "inspire young girls not to just be famous and on TV" and this is key when our society puts those who are famous on pedestals. I mean Beyonce is ranked number 18 on Forbes most powerful women list but she is using her power in a beneficial way. Through her music she is making strong statements about how women do not have to rely on men. "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)' suggests that single women should be angling to land a man, in fact, the song is really about having a good time after breaking up with someone" (Jezebel). And her song "If I Were A Boy" tries to put women in the perspective of a man and give the advice that the stereotypical man should treat his woman right. On the other side of the spectrum in the past she has had songs demeaning women. "It's hard to determine whether the independent women thing is genuine or manufactured, particularly in the entertainment industry, whose job it is to create fantasies, not recreate reality," (Pencz).
Going into this further, if one was to have heard these songs at a young age they would get mixed messages. I feel as though in the third wave something else that should be adjusted are message that are being sent to children at a young age. They are teaching children stereotypical gender roles and placement. For example, "girls tend to display more nurturing behaviors in doll play (feed, comb/brush, cover or wrap with blanet and/ or to sleep) and boys tend to display more mechanical knowledge when playing with male sterotyped toy (lining up and joining the truck and the trailer in differe ways, fxing the tires…”( Caldera, Huston, & O’Brien, 1989). Not all girls love the color pink and not all guys are into trucks (I even had a friend with a Barbie cemetery of heads!). Boys and girls as well as men and women cannot be categorized. Is this form of categorization a natural human behavior or one fabricated by the society we live in?
As some students have been saying, I believe that the third wave should focus on economics, but also political and social equality. We have studied the progression women have made, but they still make $.76 to a man's $1.00. Clearly, there is still room for improvement.
ReplyDeleteSocially, women need to be perceived respectfully in advertising. Economically, women should have fair pay in the workplace. Similar to Sam, I think that a woman taking a high political position would create a gateway for women to be treated right, socially and economically. 39.8% of companies have no female representation at boardroom level and only 10.5% of board directors are women (Leading Women). A woman with political power would be the spark to a new women movement.
With a strong, respected woman as a political leader, I think that the country's view on women would change dramatically. Women would not just be portrayed as "Strong," "Beautiful," cover girls, half naked, but intellectual and powerful.
As Krim and Lin-Kat have stated, I think the media has had a huge influence on the problem of why women have such a hard time in society. Women are constantly being mocked or taken advantage of through advertisements, trying to display that they are only useful in the home and for materialistic purposes. Adding onto my point before and going off of some previous posts I think what would help women in the third wave of feminism is first off having them more well regarded in society. As Margaret Heckler stated “the women of America are demanding full rights and full responsibilities in developing their individual potential as human beings” (3). Women are not asking for favors to be recognized or regarded into society, they want the same amount of responsibility and the same amount of troubles and stress that men face in their high business standings. Women fully have these capabilities. In 1970 Heckler also stated, “3 percent of our nations attorneys are women, only about 7 percent of our doctors, and about 9 percent of our scientists are women…women characteristically score better on entrance examinations”(2). John Gardner said that our nations most underdeveloped resource is womanpower and I think that the third wave of feminism should highly focus on the strengths of women. The previous posts touch upon how degrading the media can be on women and I agree that that has a very negative affect on this movement.
ReplyDeleteAs many people have stated above, the third wave of achieving equal rights for women really needs to be about getting the perceived image of the “ideal woman” changed. Through advertising, media, and social fixation on vain ideals, women are currently seen as sex objects with little human value. Additionally, like my peers have said, I believe that the few women in positions of power should be able to spark this movement. Women such as Sheryl Sandberg, the COO of Facebook, Google Exec Marissa Mayer, and Virginia Rometty, CEO and President of IBM, need to show society that women are equal and should be treated as such. However, this type of “starting from the top” approach needs to occur with action from the other side of the pay scale too. For many women who are discriminated in the workplace, the issue of equal rights comes down to the pay discrepancy between males and females. The focus is not to make it onto the Fortune 500 list, instead it is to provide for their families as best as possible. This issue is demonstrated in the flagrant sex discrimination that runs rampant in the Walmart Corporation. The average Walmart worker earns approximately $8.81 per hour (GlassDoor). In cases like this, the pay discrepancy, which is reportedly 2:3 in Walmart stores, has the power to seriously effect employees in low-wage positions. Reports also state that, “Seventy-two percent of Wal-Mart's hourly workers are women, but only one-third of the managers and supervisors are women” (NOW). These numbers coincide with figures from the other side of the wage spectrum, making gender equality an issue for each social class. There’s no doubt that these statistics need to change, therefore, the third wave of the women’s equal rights movement needs to incorporate change at both the top and the bottom of the pay scale.
ReplyDeleteAfter skimming through a lot of the posts above, I found that I agree with a lot of the points brought up. In addition, I also strongly agree that the third wave would really need to involve advertising and how women are portrayed. According to "Still Killing Us Softly," American's see over 2000 ads per day. A lot of these ads portray women in very negative and unnatural ways. For example, when we found ads portraying women for homework, I noticed that almost all of the ads promoting cooking or cleaning supplies are women. I'm sure that it is no coincidence that women are portrayed as being supposed to cook and clean. This stereotype is a lot less prevalent than it used to be, however, it cannot be ignored that it still exists. This is one of the first problems that needs to be addressed in wave three. Also, the way models are photoshopped in pictures that supposedly display ideal women is disturbing. I've seen many before and after shots from "Still Killing Us Softly" and also on other websites, and the magnitude of the photoshop is more than anyone would initially think. Using computers, they are able to completely alter a woman's appearance. On top of this, they display these computer generated women as the ideal woman. They are what American girls are supposed to aspire to be, while in reality it is impossible. The fact that American's see over 2000 ads per day, and so many of them negatively affect women, is a huge problem that needs to be addressed immediately if there is ever going to be a third wave for gender equality.
ReplyDeleteBobby,
DeleteI completely understand where you are coming from, but one thing I think that could help enhance your argument would be to talk about how men would have to do women's jobs and vice versa. In the U.S. right now, there are 5 million stay-at home moms and only 154,000 stay-at home dads according to the U.S. Census Bureau. While it seems that these companies are stereotyping by using women in their commercials for cleaning products, that would be incorrect because they are trying to actually target the audience that would by that product. While that is not the blatant stereotyping that we are used to in society, these women are practically forced to be the stay at home mom so it is not by choice that they are their. For women to attain actually equality, not just some documents that don't actually help change anything, they need to hold jobs that men as well as men becoming stay-at home dad's.
In addition to stereotyping that women stay at home mom's are faced with, the presidents wife has to deal with too. Giving up a great job to be an official spouse is something that society has forced the wife of a president to become. She is most likely an "official spouse" because she is a female. If the roles were switched and a female became president of the U.S. Myra Gutin, first lady historian and professor of communication at Rider University in New Jersey, said, "Will a man give up his work to be an official spouse? My guess is the answer is no" (First Lady). So ultimately for this third wave to be successful, men also need to do the same jobs as women do and vice versa.
While I stated that women need to be equally represented in politics, I agree with your idea that equality can also be reached in the media. These advertisements do not just portray women negatively to men, as they are often seen in stereotypical situations that show them only cooking and cleaning, but they give women a false sense of what they should be like as well. Many of the images are photoshopped and can lead to a misrepresentation of what people, especially women, are supposed to look and act like. This can lead to serious eating disorders for women because they are constantly reminded that they may not fit into "model" behaviors in our society. Most people in advertisements are either altered with a computer or harming themselves with eating disorders in order to appear as a model. This is extremely unhealthy because it hurts the model and it hurts anyone who watches these ads 2000 times a day. The website "Gender Ads" displayed many of these stereotypical pictures and it pointed out the wrongs in something that is exposed to most people regularly. While political equality is extremely important for women, being removed from negative advertising and media is another example of what the third wave of the women's movement could look like. When more people start realizing what they see on a daily basis is wrong then they could ignore the images and attempt to achieve equality in the media. The large impact the media and advertising has on the portrayal women today is a serious issue and in order to achieve equality between men and women these stereotypes must be taken out of what we see everyday.
DeleteIn addition to my prior post which focused on women in advertising, I think that they must also be seen as equals in the economic world. While there are any more women in the work force now than there has been in the past. Women still make 76 cents to a man's $1.00. So women make 76% of what men do. In addition to this, men often hold the jobs that earn the most money like managers, lawyers, and doctors. "The Wage Gap" even shows how when women do hold the same highly sought after positions of power, they make significantly less money then their male counterparts. For example, women physicians and surgeons make 40% less than men. This is another serious problem that needs to be addressed for the third wave of gender equality to begin. For women to be seen as equals in society, they also need to be paid as equals throughout the country
ReplyDeleteI agree. If women had better jobs in the first place, than maybe some women would become teachers or CEOs instead of models. There would be more opportunity out there for them instead of just being a model. Another thing that women could target is education. In some cases if women were better educated, than they would go to college and peruse a different career besides modeling. Education is critical. It could send more women to college which could help them get a better job than modeling and then if women were in high places of power, than they could change the system. The U.S's current system is flawed. Besides the fact that the education is mediocre for how big our country is. According to Country Rankings 2012, the U.S is ranked 33 in Student Performance in Reading, Math and Science. The U.S notably is behind Poland, Brazil, Slovak Republic and Luxembourg. Considering we spend more on our education than those countries do on their military and education combined that is disgraceful and an abomination. (USCRossier). For the Land of Opportunity, the U.S is giving little opportunity for women.
DeleteDespite their undying effort and dedication throughout the 20th century, women are still far from where they should be in society in a nation that is supposedly defined by the word equality. As we all saw in Jean Kilbourne's Still Killing Us Softly, an inferior image has been forced upon women through advertising and media, which causes for sexism to run rampant throughout America. The weak, vulnerable, and worthless portrayal of women causes for the idea of female inferiority to be inculcated into the minds of children at an early age. In fact, when looking for advertisements portraying women, I found that not only far too many of them were sexist, but also the vast majority were commercials or magazine advertisements that kids were definitely exposed to. This allows for generation after generation to be taught that women are inferior and only meant to work in the home, and will only get worse as time goes on due to the advancements in technology, and thus more opportunity for advertising.
ReplyDeleteTherefore, I strongly believe that the third wave of the gender equity movement must target advertising. Whether that means picketing advertising agencies, boycotting products that utilize sexism in their advertisements, or just spreading awareness about the problem, targeting sexism in the media is necessary to at least spark the movement that will bring women closer to achieving gender equality. The messages that media brings along allows for the inferior treatment of women to be acceptable, and in turn causes many women to not even question why they earn 77% of what men do for the same work (The Wage Gap), or why a few decades ago the average male college graduate earned double what the average female college graduate earned (Heckler), or why a woman has never been elected as a President, Vice President, or even walked on the moon. This portrayal of women as inferior domestic creatures transfers into the world of economics and politics, thus preventing women from pursuing and achieving the dreams that men are able to. If sexism is not drastically cut down from media and advertisements, then women will continue to have an extremely tough time achieving their goal of equality.
For women to have another successful equality movement a couple of things will have to happen. They will be religious and morale movements.
ReplyDeleteThe religion movement will be largely focused on the bible and abortions. Although the bible does not say the word abortion, it does say when life starts. The bible says, "every male from a month old and upward shalt thou number them." (3:15-16). Women have made it clear that they do not want to have twelve kids and twenty pregnancies, thats why the pill was created. However, once a women is pregnant the pill will not do anything to stop the women from having a child. So if a mother does not want the child, they will try and get an abortion. Obviously with the bible stating when life begins, a big chunk of the Christian population is against abortions because they think it is against what god says. However, the bible never states that killing an unborn child is murder. So obviously the big debate begins as to if abortions should be legal or not. That is where I believe the women will make their stand. They will want to have abortions and thus women will start to separate themselves from the Church. I believe that they will take on the Vatican and will make abortions much more common in the U.S and unless the Church wants to loose a lot of followers, they will make a statement on abortions. Women will not want to have a child if they were raped, under the influence when conceiving the child or are teens and quite frankly they should have that right. The next big women's movement will be fighting the bible and the church.
Women have been the center piece of advertising for almost a century (at least) and a minor movement, compared to the religious movement, will be a morale/social movement. This movement will be very difficult for a couple of reasons.
One, men will abject to not having women in advertisements anymore, two, some women actually enjoy their job as a model and three there are a lot of women in the world that need jobs.
We all know how crazy and greedy and brutal men can be. Our long human history is full of men running the world (notice I didn't use the word leading) and men are always trying to put men down. It's interesting, people in this country think that women had a tough time gaining their rights, but in the Middle East and other parts of the world women have absolutely no rights and one job, produce children. It would take a lot to change the mind set of men. Despite all of the news that we hear about women starving themselves to be models, some of them do enjoy their jobs, so putting women out of work would make a small section of women unhappy. Lastly, probably the biggest reason, is that there are a lot of women in the world that need jobs. Men are predominately the ones who are the CEOs and the big business men. Young women need jobs, wherever they can find it. The population is only growing and there will only be a growing demand for jobs for women. Erasing jobs completely will be counter productive. If the women want to change the face of advertising, they will have to honestly think about what they realistically can change. Women will always be depicted the way they are right now in advertising, at least in my lifetime. What they can change is what can be advertised or maybe even some levels of advertising altogether. As much as it pains me to say this, realistically women aren't gonna be able to change a lot about their role in advertising. They can change what can be advertised.
Women's next big move is on the church. If they can achieve their separation from the bible and the church, then maybe they can change advertising.
I was quite surprised that after years of achieving the vote and obtaining the pill, women are still viewed as inferior to men. After watching last week’s video the whole class witnessed women’s demeaning portrayal through advertisements. Pictures included women pretty much naked, depressed, cooking, cleaning, and lonely in elevators. Women’s portrayal in modern day society can also be seen through the presidency. We all know that Barack Obama is the president but what about his wife, Michelle? “Michelle Obama will go from being a high-profile, highly compensated professional to serving as her husband’s full-time, unpaid ... helpmeet?” (First Lady). While the president is making nearly $400,000 a year, his wife will be making absolutely nothing. And let’s not forget the fact that being America’s first lady is not the easiest thing in the world. In order to do this you have to be a mom (hardest job in the world), help your husband as much as you can, and attend a thousand meetings and events. These are without a doubt some pretty hard things to do.
ReplyDeleteFurthermore, I wonder what would happen if there was no first lady; instead, what if there was a first man? Would he get paid? Would the nation respect him more because he is a man? I think it is evident that after these few examples women are still not equal to men. In my next paragraph I will explain an effective solution that I think could potentially change the current circumstances for women
This solution comes through sports. About 52 million people watch March Madness (USA Today). About 111.3 million people watch the Superbowl (yahoo). And about 2.2 billion people watch the World Cup (FIFA). And guess what: do you think there are any women involved in these events? The answer is short and simple: absolutely not. Why is it that people only care to watch men play sports? NBA, MLB, NFL, NHL, and MLS are America’s biggest sports and none of them include women. I can only think of one sport where women are actually involved: the Olympics. Nevertheless, this event only occurs every two years. I think that the next step for women is to exceed in sports. When a guy and a woman are compared, most people would automatically say, “The guy is obviously stronger, faster, and much more athletic.” Although this may not be necessarily true, I know thousands of people who think like this. My ultimate goal is that someday the media will focus on women just as much as they do with men when it comes to sports. This way I believe people won’t generalize about physical capabilities that much. Men will finally understand that women can be just as good as them, maybe even better.
As others have said, I think that the new feminist movement will be focused on improving the views and stereotypes of women. This movement, unlike that of the first and second wave, will be much more difficult. This is because, in the first two waves, the focus was always on something tangible. For example, women gaining suffrage or widespread use of birth control. However, no law or product can single handedly alter the typical view of women. In addition, as showcased in the film, Killing Us Softly, people are constantly influenced by thousands of ads that portray women as inferior to men. Thus, one of the first areas this new movement would have to deal with is greatly improving how women are incorporated in advertisements. Also, while altering ads will help, it would not completely change the view of women. The one thing, I think, that would greatly aid the view of women in America would be if more women joined the work force.
ReplyDeleteUnlike during the second wave of the women’s movement, the majority of women now go to college, and graduate with legitimate degrees. For example, in 2011, “the college enrollment rate was 72.3 percent for young women and 64.6 percent for young men.” (Bureau of Labor Statistics). However, after graduating many more women will not work, and become housewives. In addition, the women who do work with degrees, “One year after graduating college, women are paid on average only 80 percent of their male counterparts' wages” (Women Deserve Equal Pay). Thus, not all women who go to college work, and if they do they earn much less money. If women were almost always guaranteed equal opportunity as men, there would most likely be more women working. However, these women are constantly at a disadvantage to men, even with laws in place that attempt to prevent inequality in the work place. Therefore, I think another focus of this new movement would have to be equality in the work force. This goal could be met by raising awareness about the large pay differences between men and women. In addition, this new women’s movement would have to push for laws that not only promote equal pay but those that make it more difficult for a women’s pay to vary from a man’s. Also, prior to this unit in HUSH, I knew that less women worked than men, but I did not realize that women earned less the men when working at the same position. Thus, a major necessity of this movement is raising awareness. The general public needs to learn of the discrepancies in how much a women earns. Once the public is more aware, the issue would become more of an issue, similarly to how after the hunger strikes, the women’s suffrage movement became more known. In addition, bringing awareness to the topic of the current treatment of women would benefit in the view of them overall.
As I said before the women that media need to focus on is the working women, and the women who run companies. Katie brought up a good point about the COO of Facebook, and there are also two ladies who run Twitter. Although these women are sometimes spotlighted in the news and in the papers, it is mostly these ditsy celebrities that ‘we’ just can’t get enough of.
ReplyDeleteRecently, we have had a powerful woman in the spot light: the First Lady, Michelle Obama. Our first lady has become almost the Jackie ‘O of our decade. She is watched for her fashion, and works with kids trying to improve nutrition around the country. She does just as much work as the President and yet, she doesn’t get paid for any of it. As First Ladies, “they are expected to volunteer their assistance” (Coller). Michelle Obama was a working mother and didn’t spend her days just waiting on her husband. She went to work for the University of Chicago Hospital. Michelle Obama also was a Harvard Law grad (Coller). The media is always fascinated with Michelle Obama, and she is a role model to children. She is someone who they can aspire to. We need more women in power and that will inspire kids. If our generation is still stuck in this rut, then maybe we’ll have better luck with starting a third movement with the next, given they grow up in media that doesn’t just cover ‘celebrities’ but smart women.
Women in America are still viewed as inferior to men. We’ve all seen the advertisements, noticed that Michelle Obama earns 0$, men are preferred over women when it comes to getting a job at Wal-Mart, and the wage gap between men and women is quite astonishing. While this are definitely some things to fix and talk about, in some ways I don’t think this is a major problem in the U.S. As a matter of fact, there are countries that live under far worse conditions. Some of these countries include: Saudi Arabia, Mali, Pakistan, Chad, and Yemen (Forbes). In some of these countries women are raped, abused, not allowed to drive cars, and not even allowed to show their own skin. On the other hand, the other countries that reside on the opposite side of the spectrum include: Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Iceland. These countries are great places for women because they truly value them. In some of these countries women make close to 50% of the government and some hold high governmental positions. The U.S. is not in the top 10 nor is it in the worst 10. In fact, it is ranked 17 (Forbes). While the U.S. is evidently not perfect, I do appreciate that it is nothing like Saudi Arabia or Pakistan. Here in the U.S. problems are a lot different. I think the way to fix these problems is to do what top 10 countries like Finland, New Zealand, and Iceland are currently doing. As Sam mentioned, it would be highly beneficial to have a woman as president. Just as president Barack Obama helped blacks overcome racism, a woman as president will make women feel valued. And as Jack mentioned, it doesn’t just have to be president. It could be a senator, a governor, a diplomat, or a congresswomen; anything would help. The bottom line is that there should be more women governing this country. They make up about 50% of the country; therefore, they should make up 50% of the government.
ReplyDeleteAs Katie brought up earlier, Virginia Rometty is a good example of a woman in a position of power, being the CEO of IBM. She was in the news recently because the Augusta National golf club refused her membership to the all male club. However, all of the other CEOs of major companies are members. This stirred the media, which I think is really good. A good opinion page in the New York Times, written by a man, brings this sexism to light. The paper stated, "So why did IBM, one of your blue-chip corporate sponsors, have to go and pick a woman as its C.E.O., putting the spotlight on your exclusionary bylaws? So far, you have not offered the C.E.O., Virginia Rometty, a green jacket." These are instances that should draw the public's attention and hopefully be able to make a change. She attended the Masters as a spectator, and her membership is still under review. I just thought that was interesting. It combines the ideas that people have been saying about women in positions of power and women in the media. Rometty is in a position of power that young women can aspire to. It is imperative that 21st century gender equity remove the stereotypes of previous centuries.
ReplyDeleteIn addition to this, women still earn 76 cents for every dollar a man makes. This figure went up drastically after the first women's movement, but has stayed static since the second movement. I think the third movement needs to focus on improving this figure. It's more than just a statistic; it's a very large problem, considering women are equally qualified for these positions as men are. In some fields, especially medical fields, women earn 40% less than men (New York Times).
After reading “Top 10 countries for women: Global Gender Gap Index 2010” (which the U.S. is not included in), I realized some other important things that would need to happen in the U.S., to have gender equality similar to that of in the top 10 countries. For example, in Iceland, which was rated the best country for women, “completely gender-balanced parliament, and the election of a female prime minister. It ranks No. 1 in political empowerment, No. 18 in economic opportunity and No. 96 in health equity. While it lags in salary equity, it also does well with a paternal leave system, preschool and daycare” (Global Gender Gap Index). Thus, it appears that political power is valued the most in gender equality. For, once women enter positions of power, the economic and health conditions improve as well. Also, in order for women to have an equal opportunity in work, a country needs to have a way for children of all economic classes to be taken care of. Thus, I think that not only does something has to occur to level the economic playing field of men and women, but that our society has to provide more ways for women in lower economic classes to have their children taken care of while at work.
ReplyDeleteOne other repeated idea brought up is about the media, and I think it would be interesting to see how the media portrays women in Iceland and other top rated countries. I think that if they show women in a more positive and empowering way in society it could be the reason women are so equal. As you said in your post, political power could be considered the most valued form of equality, and maybe the fact that more women hold positions of power could define their social status. If women are powerful, they might be given more respect socially and this could mean better portrayal in the media. I think one interesting point that stood out to me in this top 10 was how education equality was pretty random in the rankings. Some of the countries in the top 10 had very high rankings in education equality. For example, New Zealand, “has fully eliminated its education equity gap” (Global Gender Gap Index) and it ranks 5th in the top 10. Higher ranked countries like Sweden, ranked number 4, and Finland, ranked number 3, have not closed the education gap. However, the number 2 ranked Norway, “has completely closed its education gap and performs well on economic opportunity (ranked No. 3, with 83 percent of the gap closed)” (Global Gender Gap Index). I do agree that political power is very important in gender equality, but I find it strange that something like education equality could be so random.
DeleteMass Media in the united states breeds ignorance about women. Particularly, as exemplified by 'Killing Us Softly,' advertising spreads a negative image of women by labeling them as objects of sex, weak, insecure, concerned with trivial matters, and as 'housewives.' Due to the fact that "more than 90% of all American families own televisions, and the average person views over seven hundred advertisements each week alone," people are constantly exposed to media which demeans and trivializes women (People Magazine). Not only does this spread a negative image about women to society, but it also creates a ridiculous persona of the 'ideal women' that many young women yearn to attain. This can lead to many health problems like anorexia, bulimia, as well as emotional issues like low-self esteem, depression, and anxiety. In order to change this absurd perception of women by the public, the media must first cease to belittle and abase women in advertisements, television, movies, etc.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the media should remove the spotlight from "perfect" women who don't really exist, and focus on successful working women. I found one ad in TeenVogue that to be spreading a powerful message, because of the words "I'm Strong. I'm Beautiful. I am a Covergirl." However, the ad depicts a woman, in a bikini, posing on a beautiful beach. This ad is completely missing the point.
ReplyDeleteThe women that magazines and other forms of advertising should be focusing on are the ones who are making a difference. For example, "For First Lady" explains the role of Michelle Obama as first lady. Although she does not get the credit her husband does, Michelle puts in more than her fair share of effort. She has more than fulfilled her duty "to serve as a highly visible goodwill ambassador for the nation"(Coller). Since this article was written in 2008, Michelle has become a role model for women. She works with military families and giving back to her community. Yet, women like this do not always get the credit they deserve.
After reading through more comments and reflecting on my ideas, I think that women should be portrayed differently in media. There are women out there who are smart and powerful but are not introduced to the world because models are taking up that space. Without the presentation of a woman's work, other women cannot be inspired to charge a movement.
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ReplyDeleteI think that everyone else’s comments on the economic disadvantages between men and women is quite valid, but I think that this starts with the social view of women. If men viewed women as equals socially, I think that the gap between wages would shrink. The judgement that women “can’t do as much as men” would cause the gap shrinkage. In the article “When We Hated Mom,” the author, Stephanie Coontz, writes that “One of the most enduring myths about feminism is that 50 years ago women who stayed home full time with their children enjoyed higher social status and more satisfying lives than they do today.” After looking at advertisements from that time period, that myth doesn’t really seem to be true, as the author suggests. Now looking at the ads from that time many of them show women as inferior to men, and many continue to show this inferiority. Coontz suggests in the first paragraph of the article, that the idea of women having a high social status “[...] changed, the story goes, when Betty Friedan published her 1963 best seller, “The Feminine Mystique,” which denigrated stay-at-home mothers. Ever since, their standing in society has steadily diminished” (When We Hated Mom). She makes a very valid point, and even though women have made strides, full equality has not been gained.
ReplyDeleteIf women can gain respect socially, I think that economic equality would be much easier. Many people have discussed the idea that women are making 76 cents to every dollar a man makes, and I also agree that it is a very important issue that needs to be addressed. I think that you could pass laws against wage discrimination, but I think it would still not be very successful. The judgement about women is that they are inferior, which unfortunately determines their wages sometimes. This is the idea that needs to change and I agree with others that it starts in the media. Women are often degraded in ads, tv shows, commercials, songs, and movies. For mother’s day my mom got The New Yorker Book of Mom Cartoons, and while looking through the book, many cartoons show this struggle. One was a woman sitting at a large desk with child strapped to the back of her chair, showing how women could be powerful and still have children. Others showed powerful men calling for their mommy. The one that stood out the most was a woman sitting in front of a fortune teller and the caption was “Career track or mommy track?” This was exactly the issue that we have been discussing in this unit, and it was a printed cartoon in a popular magazine. I think that the illustrator may be suggesting how this perception of women is an issue. The media still plays a huge role in equality for women and if it changed it could make the difference in women’s lives.
After reading "The First Lady," I got a better understanding of what the duties of Michelle Obama are, and how even though they are extensive they are almost mandatory and without pay. The article stated, "The time will come too, when we have a first gentlemen... Will a man give up his work to be the official spouse." This led me to believe that the new women's movement will be solely political and it will involve women getting into positions of power. The first wave of suffrage was political, as women eventually got the vote but, "Helen Keller had said 'We vote? What does this mean'" (Zinn 503). Other than gaining a small amount of political status, the vote did not do much for women, as it was a right that all people should have already had. Women are underrepresented in our political system today, which is why the next movement will focus on putting women in positions of political power.
ReplyDeleteThis has already started to happen as in the last election Hillary Clinton ran for president. While she was not elected as the candidate for the Democratic party she still attempted to run for one of the most important jobs in the nation and in the world. Before Barack Obama all of the presidents had been white, Christian males which says a lot about the society we live in and who dominates it. Another example of women moving into political power is Obama's nomination to bring Elena Kagen into the supreme court. She was eventually appointed by President Obama and she is only the forth women to serve on the supreme court. In the time our country and political system has been functioning, the fact that only four women have served in the supreme court is astonishing. But today and in the future, as more women start to move into positions of political power, equality between men and women can be achieved. As society is reforming, the ideals that men should be the ones involved in economic and political issues should reform as well. This is why it is crucial for women hold the same power as men because it shows that our government and country treats both equally.
I completely agree with you. There needs to be a time where women can rise up to positions of political power. Looking back at the 2008 Democratic primaries, it was a close race right until the end between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. And while we have made some sort of equality progress, however big or small it may be, by electing an African-American president, the bigger change would come when a women was at the helm of one of the most powerful nations in the world. I also liked that you brought up Elena Kagen, and how she is only the fourth women to serve on the supreme court in the country's history, with a list of 112 total justices serving on the supreme court since 1789.
DeleteAccording to the NPR news article, more women graduate college than men today. Perhaps men are worried that women are going dominate if they let them, because they're capable of it, and that's why they are oppressed in the work force. Maybe that's why the 1.5 million women who complained of Walmart's sexism were told their case was too big and that they needed "more specific evidence." It's clear that today's women's movement needs to target the work force, but large numbers of women suing their employers do not seem to be effective. I think we need more female role models in the work force, and that's what's going to make the difference. They are the women who are going to push younger generations to strive for those positions and to instill confidence in young women, proving that they can be executives.
ReplyDeleteThe generation that is growing up now needs to have these women to look up to instead of the ones that the media commonly portrays. The Gender Ad project includes 3860 ads, and have categorized the ads showing women as stupid, animals, nagging, strippers, difficult, and many other unflattering portrayals. This needs to stop. At this point I'm really not sure why the media thinks its okay to corrupt the minds of America's youth with these awful images- planting sexism in their minds at a young age. Women need to come into positions of power so that girls can see that they should be powerful rather than the media's image of beauty.
Meghan-I completely agree. I feel as if the media is largely at fault for the gap between men and women in management positions. Women are portrayed as sex objects, always submissive to a stronger male. The products marketed towards women include cosmetics and other appearance enhancing merchandise, which teaches girls from a young age that it is necessary to mask ones own features to please a man. Because that’s a woman’s only purpose. To find a mate and make him happy: a mate who isn’t pleased by a girl’s natural appearance. I remember Jean Kilbourne explained that marketing women as such is the reason for the increase in eating disorders and depression in women in this country. The media rarely portrays females as authoritative and strong human beings, and thus girls grow up believing they have nothing to aspire to. I can infer from this that advertising companies are one of the industries in which very few women hold management positions. In a third wave of feminism, I believe this industry is what most needs to be targeted. Women need to start becoming managers and leaders of corporations, (as opposed to secretaries) so they are the ones who choose what images to use to portray their gender to the public. If girls start to receive the message to embrace their body, to pursue a career, and to see a man not as a bank, but a husband, I believe the next generation of women will make higher salaries working very respectable careers. In management positions, women will be able to lead men and give directions, rather than follow. Women will help run and maintain the order of this country. In doing so, both sexes will be equal.
DeleteIn order to overcome challenges that have faced women for the large majority of recent history, it is imperative that education is molded into an important aspect of their lives. While it is becoming increasingly more common for women to attend college and therefore receive a decent job, this type of education does not train them to understand how they are subconsciously being affected by the media. A total social change would need to take place in order to kick start the third wave - and that starts with an education on their current social position in society.
ReplyDeleteThe media is possibly the most influential educator on an American's life, in the sense that we are consistently being educated without even knowing it. As an article from CNN states. "The glitzy world of fashion and design doesn't typically conjure up images of sustainability and social consciousness [...]", supporting the fact that both men and women play the zombie role when it comes to taking in information from advertisements and other methods. It is critical to understand that while both are affected, however, men are not pushed towards enhancing their personal appearance or cleaning a kitchen floor in order to succeed in this society. Despite some cheesy after shave commercials and/or a few erectile dysfunction ads, men have it pretty well off.
It is not necessary to flaunt the physical aspects of women in order to make money off of advertising. Society has come too far to allow habitual bad habits come between women and the possibilities that could arise for them in a socially balanced world. In order to achieve this goal, education on the problem must be given to both genders from a young age - no longer should women feel obligated to fit any societal standard.
I think that the new feminist movement would have to deal with the views and stereotypes of women and the fact that it will be much more difficult to bring about than the first two movements. During the first movement, the goal was for women to gain suffrage, and during the second, making use of birth control more available. The difference between the first two movements and the third are that the first two deal with tangible things rather than a behavior or an idea.
ReplyDeleteAs we all saw in Killing us Softly, all of us are greatly affected by advertisement every day. Many of these advertisements portray women as vulnerable and helpless, and portray violence as erotic and something pleasurable. While changing advertisements would help improve the image of women, I think another important thing to look at is women gaining more powerful positions in companies and in the government. As Katie said above, there are women who have powerful positions in major companies, “Sheryl Sandberg, the COO of Facebook, Google Exec Marissa Mayer, and Virginia Rometty, CEO and President of IBM”. The next area to look at would be government. The most famous role a women has played so far in government is being the first lady, whose duties require them to be, “a highly visible goodwill ambassador for the nation, performing a wide range of ceremonial and quasi-diplomatic jobs” (The First Lady). But what does this pay? Nothing. All of this work, and while your husband gets a salary, you earn nothing for all the work that you do. It is time for women to enter legislature and show the country that women are leaders and politicians too.
After looking at the interactive site by the New York Times which contrasts salaries between men and women in common careers, I realized that the second huge issue in gender equality is salaries. Everyone has them, everyone needs money, it is simply unfair that women are objectified and not given equal earnings. The most interesting part of the chart was that there were only 3 professions in which women earned more than men. These professions include Postal Workers, Special Education
ReplyDeleteTeachers, and Data Entry Keyers. It seems as though there are not a ton of opportunities to get these jobs, they either take intensive training/education or there are not many job positions open. Women deserve just as much money as men do, and many are just as qualified or even more qualified than men are for many positions that they are applying for. The salary differences have an influence on traditional roles in the family because it causes women to feel like they should be the one at home so that their family will have the most money, due to the father working. This creates the allusion that women shouldn't work, even though they should continue to work.
I believe the third wave of feminism needs to be largely political. Currently, women hold 90 (16%) of the 535 seats in the US congress (Federal Bureau). Much like the general population, their voices are suppressed by a male-dominated body. The Equal Pay Act of 1963 states that “No employer shall discriminate between employees on the basis of sex by paying wages to employees in such establishment at a rate less than the rate at which he pays wages to employees of the opposite sex.” However, it is evident that it is not being enforced. Today, women earn about 25% less than their male-counterparts (Federal Bureau). To have a woman be elected president would be symbolic of this nation’s recognition and acceptance that women and men are equal. A female president would not treat women’s rights as a casualty, and I believe would dedicate more time and effort into ensuring equal rights for women than any past leader. She would be a voice powerful enough to initiate change without a higher force telling her “no.” I don’t think this nation can call itself a government “of the people” until at least half of its body is women. Additionally, attaining political equality would segue into economic and social equality because it is the politicians who maintain order and pass laws. The most recognized female “politician” today is Michelle Obama. However, the position “First Lady” sends the message that women are subordinate to men. According to Professor Janet Muir, “It will take a man in that role to redefine it” (First Lady). Not only will it redefine his place, but it will define hers as well. It will illustrate to the public that women can lead, and men can follow; that women are capable of leading, and men want to follow. Overall, I believe the third wave of feminism needs to be political, because electing a woman president will end this struggle which began at America’s birth.
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