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Essays on media gender stereotypes
Comparison of how men and women are portrayed in media
Essays on media gender stereotypes
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have it all” became some sort of new motto in motherhood thus creating this whole division of “good” mother and “bad” mothers. Experts in popular media and academic scholars view this as the “Mommy Wars” between two camps, with the "stay-at-home" ("good") mother picking against the "working" ("bad") mother (Douglas, 2000; Hays, 1996; Johnston & Swanson, 2004). Steiner (2006) backs up this view that:
“Working moms often feel guilty about not being there when a child has a hard day or a question about a tough topic. And stay-at-home moms fret about sacrificing the financial independence, intellectual stimulation, and recognition a job can provide.”
This debate has been ongoing where mothers are constantly being judged under media’s microscopic lenses on their decisions to either stay at home or go to work. The whole idea of mothers only staying at home and nurturing their children is seen as a good mother whereas going to work and only doing “half of a job on mothering” is seen as negative in society despite the fact, media failed to
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The study by Johnston and Swanson (2004) shows the working mother is often depicted as a woman concerned more with her own personal success (e.g. having a good figure and career- orientated) and attainment of material objects (e.g., new car, big house, expensive clothes) than the success of her own children which is what they found out in these celeb magazines. The magazines have become a tool for guidance on how to be a good mother. The celebrity mom profiles that cover magazines reinforce the ideology that consumer goods lead to a happier and more fulfilling experience as a mother. With all the latest toys and gadgets that will supposedly help with their child’s development and what more does a mother want? They have encouraged self-loathing, rather than
Swanson, D., and Johnston, D. "A Content Analysis of Motherhood Ideologies and Myths in Magazines." Invisible Mothers. New York: Plenum Publishing Corporation, 2003. 21-31.
The mother is described as a caring, hardworking individual to her offspring. “A baby to one shoulder, a dish towel to the other” (8) this mother displays the true perception of motherhood. Willingly, this mother ensures that her children are well taken care of before her own well –being. Though she experience challenging situations, she outcast
There was an article entitled why woman can’t have it all, and our readings that stated women struggle to both work and be a great mom. Kim is fortunate, being able to continue her job while working from home, so she is there to experience being a full time mom, but Kim also gets to work and make her own money as well. Kim’s family is a traditional family in a sense, with Aden’s father going to work daily away from the house, and his mom being home with him, but my aunt is working from home as well. Kim will be the first to tell you it is not easy being a great wife, mom, employee and keeping up the house chores, but she will also be the first to tell you how rewarding it is for her to balance all her hats. Comparing Kim to what we learned in class, she has many similarities and differences to our lectures. One example is how she spends more time on housework than her significant other, and also works which does not appear to affect her marital relationship or her child. Sometimes I can see role strain with her, especially when she gets busy at the end of the month, but she is great at balancing everything and doing what is important first, realizing her most important roles are mommy, wife, employee, and then homemaker. Kim sees the differences in genders, leaning towards the nature side of it, saying her son is all boy, but also sees the similarities between the genders as an
“How to Be a Mean Mother”. Mommy Has to Work. Global Influence. 8 May 2010. Web. 20 June 2010.
...’s view also explains the division of labour, as girls are modelling by mothers creating psychological link to mothering, whereas men do not as result of being mothered by women. Nevertheless, such pattern could be eradicated by changing social arrangements; mothers working outside home and fathers doing house tasks.
The ‘media sensationalisation’ of what it means to be a good mother frequently condemns women who work by suggesting that the stay-at home mothers are ‘good’ and working mothers are ‘bad’, or at least ‘ less good’ can also have a major impact on people’s views of working mothers. (Page 348) In addition, according to Russo, “A ‘good’ mother must be physically present to serve her infant’s every need. As the child enters school, a mother may pursue other activities-but only those permitting her to be instantly available should her child ‘need’ her.” (Russo 8)
“The logic of intensive mothering, particularly as it applies to middle- and upper-middle-class mothers, therefore seems to be the greatest barrier to solving the problems detailed in this book….Nearly all mothers, for instance, feel they ought to be at home with their children, ought to want to be at home with their children, and ought to be their children’s primary parent.” Pg. 201 This quote from Untangling the Mother-Nanny Knot emphasizes on the fact that these working mothers need to let go a of that temperament that they must keep the nanny, their spouse and anyone else away from their child at any cost. Because they are not able to be there for their kids they can rest their mind knowing that the person with their child when they are not present is someone that will love them and care for them no matter what, and all the working mother must do is let go just a
Articles in the last ten years have begun stating that it just doesn’t matter whether a child comes home to a mother or goes to a childcare facility. These same articles have started saying that a working parent has no ill effect on their child, but that is wrong. Articles that are from a less politically correct driven time, show the statistics over and over again. These articles show test scores, behavioral issues, obesity ratings that are all correlating with maternal work patterns. Test scores in an article printed by Ann Milne, show that test scores in high school children are significantly lower with children that have full time working mothers.
Since 2009, when shows such as “16 and Pregnant” and “Teen Mom” aired, there have been many debates as to whether these shows condoned or condemn the behavior of teen pregnancy. The shows looked at the lives of teenage girls during their pregnancy and in the following years afterwards. In The Media’s Glamorization of Teen Pregnancy, author, Briana Bosworth, suggest that these MTV shows do not accurately depict how a teen mother’s life would be, and that they create celebrities out of the teens on the show. Bosworth is not alone in her stance as the comparison of the salaries and lifestyles of the teen moms to those who are unrecognized teen mothers yield to the same conclusion that MTV has glamorized the life of a teen mother.
In a society with the muajority of mothers joining or returning to the workforce, there is a growing body of research documenting the demands placed on these women and what can be done to help their transition into this new role. According to the United States’ Department of Labor, in the year 2012, 70.5% of mothers with children under the age of 18 were a part of the workforce; of these women 73.7% were employed full-time, working over 35 hours a week, and 26.3% were employed part-time, working less than 35 hours a week (United States Department of Labor, 2012). Given this information, it is becoming more important to further research how this new role as an employee affects the role of parenting and what can be done to help this transition. The intent of this paper is to compare the experiences of a working mother to the current research on the topic of working mothers. Moreover, this paper addresses the demands placed on working mothers as well as the factors that ameliorate their transition into this new role.
Nowadays, women perform stunningly in any field. Never before they had as many opportunities to pursue careers and passions in any form they desire as they have today. However, the more demanding and successful the women become when raising their opinion on gender equality, the more irresponsible they turn out to be regarding their motherhood duties. The feminist movement has negatively affected the women’s perception of motherhood.
So how should we base our society on mothers that stay at home to raise their own children and mothers that decide to better themselves and their family and go to work in the corporate world? We shall see what the outcome is… “Barker, Olivia. " Modern Moms Ditch Frumpy for Fit, Tired for Trendy." USA TODAY. Jan. 27 2005: n.p.
The media has a strong influence on society, both negatively and positively. So when children as young as 6 are being influenced by celebrities such as Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, and Britney Spears; we as a society have lost site in what it is to be a positive influence. Kathleen Deveny and Raina Kelly raised awareness in their article “Girls Gone Bad?” which depicts the bad behavior and influences set by celebrities such as Hilton, Lohan, and Spears have any long term affects on young women. Are young women so riveted to the highlights of these celebrities and the media that surrounds their lifestyle that, as Deveny and Kelly boldly puts it, we are raising ‘prosti-tots’? Or can our young women look beyond the bad behavior with lavish lifestyles, and still make a wise decision based on common sense? Not only are young women bombarded with the lifestyle of these celebrities produced by the media but they are plagued with images of how they should behave and what they should look like. This is an adolescent crisis in a young woman’s life because from the stages of preteen to near adulthood is when young women are most susceptible to influence.
One of the issues that parents are dealing with is money. They believe that they can’t have a stay at home parent, because they wouldn’t be able to live off of one parent’s salary. However what many people don’t know that the value of a stay a home parent is a lot more than one would imagine. According to Barbara Sefton, “The stay-at-home mother is on duty an average of 12 hours a day, 7 days a week. She provides a service with a market value of approximately $36,000 annually.” This is more than some individual salaries. Most do not realize how much work a stay a stay at home mom does, from c...
Men and women are working harder than ever to survive in today's tough economy. It's a big challenge for low and middle class families to survive. To meet growing demands, it's getting difficult for families to depend on one income. To contribute to family income, mothers are coming forward and joining the workforce. Working mothers are the one who takes care of the family and work outside the home. They may be a single mothers or married mothers. Working mothers usually work to support their family financially. Some of the mothers work, just because they are more career-oriented. Working mothers may work part time or full time. Women are now the primary or only income source for 40% of US households with kids, according to a new Pew survey (Wang, Parker and Taylor, ch. 1). They play a major role in raising their family and doing household chores. There are many reasons that why mothers should work.