The women in leadership
The society has remained the most influential aspect in the society especially in the recent era. Majority of people spend several hours out of the day on social media, watching mainstream media and looking at a variety of television shows. Similarly, people are engaged in listening to different forms of media all of which are essential in shaping the beliefs of a person on different topics. On the documentary Miss Representation by the Oprah Winfrey Network, the narrators and the influential women look at the different ways in which media shapes the ideas of women and what it means to be an ideal woman. Different concepts of the presentation of the body and disregard for intellect in discussed at length in the film. media effectively impacts women in leadership by focusing on their clothes and outfits despite women leadership being essential in the world, media still judges women by their looks, unequal representation and demand for both the male and female gender, and consumers have been made to feel like their power does not count.
The women in leadership are constantly in the scrutiny of the media and compared to the image of the women in advertising thus replacing their mental power and intellect with looks. The advertising and media message of a woman is powerful in the diminishing of the overall power of women in leadership. as campus explains, “Although the quantity of coverage is an easily measured indicator because it deals with the number of mentions, interpreting the quality of coverage—the lens through which a woman is seen—is a much more complex task because it is subject to subtler gendered constraints” (39). Women in the media are given coverage. However, the quality of the coverage differs from the men in the media as women are presented as underdogs and through sexualized manners. In the opening scene when the narrator explains her journey, she points out that “I increasingly became susceptible to peer pressure and bombardment of media messages telling me that being smart and accomplished was not enough” (7:20). The media has different standards for women in leadership that constantly explains that their intelligence is not enough. Even so, the leadership of women in the world is important as the style of leadership is cautious and organized. However, the women are faced with constant scrutiny of looking and acting a certain way.
I agree that women are constantly judged by how they look despite being successful or accomplished in life. In an article published by the Guardian newspaper, the author explains that, “children as young as seven believing they are valued more for their appearance than for their achievements or character” (Devon). The value of a woman is based on how they look as constantly expressed on the media. as Devanshi Patel explains in the documentary, her achievements were always expressed in sexualized manner and majority of her friends were sexualized in trying to express essential issues (21:31). Despite enormous achievements, women such as Hillary Clinton have been subjected to the definition of how they look and not the actual intellectual achievements.
Real women are of different body types, hair colors and hair types which is rarely represented in the media. on the other hand, the diversity in men in terms of body types are strategically fit in the media. as illustrated in a study of the women presentation in social media, the author explains “The view of women as objects rather than individuals reemphasizes the idea that men should be able to determine a woman’s worth by her use-value” (Davis 4). The media has created the objectified woman type which is used in advertisement. That is, the petite, blonde, blue-eyed woman. However, in real sense, real women do not look like that. On the contrary, different male personalities are fit in the media. the less masculine man is presented as the CEO and intellect, the masculine men are viewed as the model men bodies as the geeks are also given a place. the media has allowed me to be represented in a powerful sense as real men which differs in the understanding of women.
The media has an impact on people as it illustrates what is ideal. Unfortunately, people have been made to believe they have no power against the message being expressed in media. in the documentary, Margaret Cho explains that when she did her first television show, she was constantly told that she was fat and needed to lose weight which led to her becoming Anorexic (12:24). The example illustrates the power of the media in making women feel they are not enough and influencing the male gaze. However, women have been forced to adhere to the standards as they feel powerless against the social force. As a society, the change in the media can only be achieved by refusal to consume the media stereotypical designs. People have the power to condemn and refuse to watch channels and social sites that instill the idea of women as objects.
Overall, the media has misrepresented women for a long time. despite women playing an essential role in leadership over the decades, their value is weighed in terms of how they look. The intellectual aspect of women is disregarded in the media as men of different intellects and body types are represented in different capacities. Rising against the media platforms using the stereotypical gender bias is critical in forcing a change as consumers are essential in the advancement of media. taking the power of women back is crucial in the modern society which can be achieved by taking the power back.