Whenever you turn on your TV or the radio in your car you are bombarded with images of sexalized females or people justifying their decisions based on sexist stereotypes. Despite women's best efforts to gain political and economic power, the media never represents them in the way that they do men. Yet it prevails in our society, teaching sexism while denying its presence. Media, one of the most influential reflections of culture, displays women in stereotypical positions, hurts their self esteem and can reflect poorly on female candidates. The way we perceive men and women is due largely to the way that the media reflects their roles in society. Our background and upbringing provide a major role in what we think and can determine how women are affected and treated. "Sexism is the subordination of one sex, usually female, based on the assumed superiority of [another] sex" (Kendall 76). Sexism is typically portrayed as objectifying women so men may retain social power, privilege and …show more content…
The question of whether the media is at least partly to blame for women’s underrepresentation in politics has generated much debate. Studies have found that male candidates received more total coverage and better coverage than female candidates. Coverage for women has improved with time in some ways, but gendered coverage continues to plague women’s candidacies. Several academic studies have demonstrated that female candidates consistently have more coverage on their appearance, personality and family situation and less coverage of their political views than male candidates. There are hundreds of examples of these kinds of situations that have been found in the media. One of the most obvious incidents of sexism affecting female candidates, "'WRKOAM Radio in Boston endorsed Karyn E. Polito, a Republican Massachusetts candidate for state treasurer, for her “banging little body” and “tight little butt'”
Witt, Linda, Karen M. Paget, and Glenna Matthews. Running as a Woman: Gender and Power in American Politics. New York: Free Press, 1994.
On November 1912, women won the right to vote in Arizona. This period of time marked a lot of changes for women and politics in Arizona. Women had to struggle against a male dominated society that influenced their vote despite their new freedom to vote as they saw fit. The right to vote eventually led to a proliferation of women running for local, state, and national offices. Those running for office faced skepticism about their capabilities as a politician, concern over whether they had the drive, intelligence, and strength to face down opponents within the political arena. Despite these obstacles, women have proven to be successful politicians and have infiltrated the ranks of male dominated government systems, both within states and nationwide. Today, women are virtually equal to men as far as their capabilities are concerned, yet are still under-represented in the national political scene. By reviewing a brief history of a few women in politics in Arizona and examining current political themes, a platform is formed that allows an understanding and recognition of the struggles and progression of women in politics today.
Sexism is the ideology that maintains that one sex is inherently inferior to the other. Sexism or discrimination based on gender has been a social issue for many years; it is the ideology that one sex is superior or inferior to the other. Sexism does not only affect females, but also males. Men are very often victimized by social stereotypes and norms based on gender expectations. Sexism has appears in almost all social institutions including family, the media, religion, sports, the military, politics, and the government. However, although both genders are affected, men have benefited from sexism the most (Thompson 300-301.)
In Congress only 2 percent of members have been women in 1789. That is severely low number and part of the reason why this is so low is due to the media’s and society’s treatment of powerful women. The media is especially savage to women with their criticisms, but they are often criticism not of the policies but of their outfits and hair. The media teaches society that it is more important to focus on aa women’s pantsuit than her policies. The can be disparaging to any women wanting to run for politics. In the film they show many clips of newscasters or radio host taking about women; they comment on their outfits, their hair, their hormones, they call them sluts, and whores, they attack them. It was unbearable to watch these women who have worked so hard to become powerful women being torn down for their hair choice for the day. Its also hurts voter’s confidence in women in that “sexist media coverage results in drastic decrease of voter confidence in women candidates” (Larris, Maggio).
“In particular, not only are rates of IPV expected to be higher in a capitalist economy than a socialist one, but rates of IPV, are also expected to be higher during periods of economic downturn and recession than during periods of relative prosperity” (Hattery and Smith 211). Relationships that undergo financial hardships through economic slumps are likely to create problems because doubts are raised towards the ability of the man to provide for his relationship, which trigger outbursts because men see that as an attack on their manhood. But through recessions and lean employment periods, women see the importance in which there are advantages in having an additional income to supplement their living conditions. “Thus, marriage—or long-term
One thousand years go by and an abundant amount of people still view women in a stereotypical type of way. On the opposing view, if women did not overstretch the slightest of things, this wouldn’t be such an enormous issue. Women may be overreacting to what the media has to say about them. It is not affecting everybody but a vast majority of successful women from continuing to moving forward said Marianne Schnall. Important to realize, women are capable of doing jobs men can do. Such jobs as being an engineer, physician, mechanic, lawyer and even top notch business women! Up to the present time there is an ongoing public debate on women suffering from double standards. If it makes a female feel threatened or belittled than it may be sexist. A very interesting article this came to be because the writer had numerous accountants to keep her argument steady. A worthy writer brings up present time activities, statistics, and people being affected by the scenario and provides the reader some closure. With a devastatingly crucial issue such as women being shunned by the media, it’s not okay to have the ideas of other people in your work. In the article, “Controversial Hillary Cover of Time Illuminates Sexism in the Media” by Marianne Schnall, implies that the media is negatively affecting the chances of women becoming successful with all the sexism it is portraying. Marianne Schnall is a published writer and professional interviewer with many influential credentials that she in not afraid to use.
On a daily basis people are exposed to some sort of misrepresentation of gender; in the things individuals watch, and often the things that are purchased. Women are often the main target of this misrepresentation. “Women still experience actual prejudice and discrimination in terms of unequal treatment, unequal pay, and unequal value in real life, then so too do these themes continue to occur in media portraits.”(Byerly, Carolyn, Ross 35) The media has become so perverted, in especially the way it represents women, that a females can be handled and controlled by men, the individual man may not personally feel this way, but that is how men are characterized in American media. Some may say it doesn’t matter because media isn’t real life, but people are influenced by everything around them, surroundings that are part of daily routine start to change an individual’s perspective.
Women of power are treated very poorly. These women of power include politicians, doctors, lawyers and businesswomen. Arguably, female politicians receive the worst treatment of all. Everything they do is constantly under media scrutiny, like what they wear and what they say, much more so than their male counterparts. The difference in the number of men and women congress members is vast, almost 5 to 1. Many women shy away from the political light for these reasons. An article, “Women in Politics”, written by Kenneth Jost, he explains the feats of women in the past 100 years:
Sexism is discrimination against a person based on their gender, especially on women. Sexism in language is the use of language which devalues members on one sex, almost always women, showing gender inequality. In the 1960/70’s there was a feminist campaign in Western Countries and a lot of research was conducted into gender inequality. The feminist campaign demanded that gender equality should be eliminated from the educational system (Shi, 2001.) The existence of sexist language is due to sexism in society and it is also related to social attitudes.
It is a fact that candidates from 1984 to 2010 have significant gender differences in their candidacies. Female candidates in both parties are more qualified than men, and democratic women spend more money and run in more politically favorable districts than their male counterparts do. These factors give democratic women a significant advantage, so much that when these factors are included in models predicting victory rates, democratic women are actually less likely to win than democratic men in both incumbent-contested and open seat races. Republican women are the opposite. Although they are more likely to have held elected office than republican men, they do not have a fundraising advantage relative to their male counterparts, and they tend to run in politically unfriendly districts.
The topic of politics has been a common topic recently. When people are in a conversation about politics, many people come to the conclusion that women shouldn’t be running or aren’t cut out for that job. Women being in Congress is apparently a bizarre idea for some people, but women actually aren’t more emotional than men, aren’t less aware of current situations, and aren’t going to be voted ‘just because they’re a woman’. Although some media sources might still believe that women aren’t supposed to be politicians or presidential candidates, women are just as capable to be legislators, which makes this claim illogical.
Women – beautiful, strong matriarchal forces that drive and define a portion of the society in which we live – are poised and confident individuals who embody the essence of determination, ambition, beauty, and character. Incomprehensible and extraordinary, women are persons who possess an immense amount of depth, culture, and sophistication. Society’s incapability of understanding the frame of mind and diversity that exists within the female population has created a need to condemn the method in which women think and feel, therefore causing the rise of “male-over-female” domination – sexism. Sexism is society’s most common form of discrimination; the need to have gender based separation reveals our culture’s reluctance to embrace new ideas, people, and concepts. This is common in various aspects of human life – jobs, households, sports, and the most widespread – the media. In the media, sexism is revealed through the various submissive, sometimes foolish, and powerless roles played by female models; because of these roles women have become overlooked, ignored, disregarded – easy to look at, but so hard to see.
Electing more female officials into Congress and state legislature to fulfill the gender gap in the American legislation will give women more pathways to equal rights in laws and policies. Currently, women only represent twenty percent of the American national legislation, and even less in many state legislations. Furthermore, this underrepresentation in the American government leads to a gender gap and misrepresents America’s body of approximately fifty percent female population. The general belief that the overwhelming amount of men in American legislation office causes women not to participate in politics. However, according to the American University in D.C. their study showed the perceived gender gap in government prevents women for running for political office. Nevertheless, the study found that novice politicians are more likely to run for office if encouraged by a fellow incumbent politician to run for a competitive seat; thus, it only takes more encouragement to fulfill the gender gap in politics
When people imagine women in the media we often imagine women playing a negative role. As our media sources grow women continue to establish a negative stigma to them. Research shows that women in the media should either have bodies that may not be attainable and play a role where they have to find a man to obtain success and happiness. Although, women have extensively roles in every characteristic of life, the extended list of in human behavior given seems to never end. Sources such as the government and social action groups are taking helpful actions to supply women true pride in economic, social and personal areas. In attempt the mass media have a critical role reporting misleading actions, using public opinions, bringing social change and emphasizing positive improvement.
When discussing appointments to the Supreme Court, the candidates only entertained the idea of selecting a man with a conservative track record. Planned Parenthood and overall spending on women’s health issues repeatedly came under attack. All of these slights against women—deliberate or subconscious, premeditated or impulsive—accumulate into a cultural practice in American society, and the Republican base being represented in this case, that still considers women less capable than men in the political arena. Women were systematically dismissed, underrepresented, mocked, ignored, and trivialized throughout the night. A Cultural Studies approach would look at this distinct pattern as a representative of underlying cultural symbols and