Only 14.2% of the top five leadership positions at the companies in the S&P 500 are held by women. Women currently work two-thirds of the world’s working hours, but earn only 10 percent of the world’s income (CNNMoney). Shocking statistics? I think not. Growing up solely being raised by my mother has taught me a lot about the societal pressures, discrimination and expectations women face in today’s day and age. Every morning as a child, I watched as she hustled diligently to ensure that there was enough time to prepare breakfast, drop me off at school and make it to work on time. Gender roles are enforced from an early age, as demonstrated in common acts such as the toys we introduce children to; girls play with dolls and boys play with trucks.
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In a recent Volkswagen commercial, a young girl is shown to be riding in a car with her father, when the car hits a milestone of a 100,000 miles. Her father then proceeds to point this out to her, but the girl is portrayed as uninterested and replies with “Err, so what?”. The father replies saying that “What if I told you that whenever a Volkswagen car hits a 100,000 miles, a German engineer gets HIS wings?”. The advertisement then proceeds to show the interior of the Volkswagen factory filled with men - not one woman in sight. In a recent study of gender and culture stereotyping in advertising, the results showed evidence that women are portrayed differently than men in ways that conform to traditional gender roles and stereotypes. The studies suggested that in advertising, women were 3.5 times more likely than men to be presented at home or in a domestic environment (versus at work) (Social Psychology). Back in 1950s before the Civil Rights Movement, it was common for advertisements to portray sexist and chauvinistic innuendo against women. Regardless of how sexist these advertisements were, society accepted the “female housewife stereotype”. With that being said, it is apparent that in today’s age of mass media, women still have to face societal discrimination of what is expected of them through media and
In a recent Volkswagen commercial, a young girl is shown to be riding in a car with her father, when the car hits a milestone of a 100,000 miles. Her father then proceeds to point this out to her, but the girl is portrayed as uninterested and replies with “Err, so what?”. The father replies saying that “What if I told you that whenever a Volkswagen car hits a 100,000 miles, a German engineer gets HIS wings?”. The advertisement then proceeds to show the interior of the Volkswagen factory filled with men - not one woman in sight. In a recent study of gender and culture stereotyping in advertising, the results showed evidence that women are portrayed differently than men in ways that conform to traditional gender roles and stereotypes. The studies suggested that in advertising, women were 3.5 times more likely than men to be presented at home or in a domestic environment (versus at work) (Social Psychology). Back in 1950s before the Civil Rights Movement, it was common for advertisements to portray sexist and chauvinistic innuendo against women. Regardless of how sexist these advertisements were, society accepted the “female housewife stereotype”. With that being said, it is apparent that in today’s age of mass media, women still have to face societal discrimination of what is expected of them through media and