The media play a critical role in contemporary society for interpretation, mass mobilization concerning various issues, and entertainment. Equally, the media is a crucial actor in gender representation and equality through fair gender portrayal and inclusion. However, the portrayal of women in the media is subverted for financial gains and reflects cultural aspects. The visualization of women is falsely dominated, valueless, and sexualized compared to men. Gender stereotypes limit women’s professional opportunities, abilities, and social perceptions. This study illustrates how media is a pervasive and powerful medium in modern society for influencing the varying perception of women. At the same time, modern media portray men as masculine and incredibly tough. A man should always be serious and act only by judging his principles, which is wrong. The paper investigates if the impact of such stereotypes can be considered significant, and how they affect people’s lives.
Regarding representation, men dominate in the participation and influence in the media over women. The gender disparity is particularly evident in an occupation where men take the priority positions, such as executives, producers, hard news, directors, and editors. On contrary, women take soft themes such as lifestyle, arts, and fashion. Thereby, they create invalid expectations about the representation of men and women, which promotes gender inequality. The Global Media Monitoring Project GMMP study highlights that many representations of women in the media focus on sexuality, emotions, and relationships, hence creating gender stereotypes (GMMP, 2020). According to Dixon (2019), “Women are objectified when influencing men in advertisements by depicting them in a sexualized manner in magazines, newspapers, and advertisements”. These are the main reason why such representation is dangerous, namely having the possibility to worsen the situation related to the gender issue.
Cultural standards created by false media representations subject women to violence, objectification, discrimination, and socioeconomic inequality (Dixon, 2019). Unfortunately, gender stereotypes have a direct impact on children’s learning these days. Moreover, due to media misrepresentation, gender-based evaluations impose stricter standards on women, especially in job occupations and social participation.
References
Dixon, T. L. (2019). Media stereotypes: Content, effects, and theory. In Media Effects. Taylor & Francis.
WACC. (2020). Gender and media alliances urge the Commission on Status of Women to postpone the adoption of the Political Declaration.