Monday 21 May 2012

Questioning Why?

google search: propaganda poster from WW2 

Canadian women have battled hard in the fight against inequality and in 1956, the Canadian government created a policy declaring that women are entitled to the same wages as men when working the same job. The Female Employees Equal Pay Act had made discrimination in wages due to gender, against the law. However, it is easy for laws to change quickly, while attitudes take years to catch up. The 
American Civil Liberties Union reports that in 2010, a woman still earned only seventy-seven cents for every dollar earned by a man.

 Society is stuck in a vision of women playing certain roles that have been passed along through the generations. Although, I've also noticed that the media continues to portray females in roles like "the caretaker," or "housekeeper." What people see on television and hear on the radio steers them into the idea that women should work and are only capable of working very "pink collar" jobs. 



In today's modern society, the television and internet have enormous amounts of influence on people. Discrimination against women is seen via television, radio, and social networking. It's gotten to a point that the stereotype of a woman being a sexual object, incapable, inferior, uneducated and unworthy has made such a dent in reality, that it's hard for women to be seen as professionals. The normalization of this issue is the main reason of why we still see this discrimination among us and in order to see change, gender discrimination must become an alienation in our society.







6 comments:

  1. Hi Emily,
    It shocks me that men are currently still making more money than women. I also find it interesting that more TV shows and movies are not showing women in the roles of traditional male roles, such as the breadwinner or in more "trades" types of jobs. I have noticed that when women are depicted as having a male job, it's usually done as a joke and these women are ridiculed. It's safe to say that the media most likely has one of the biggest influences on gender inequality.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hey Michelle.
    Now that I've been paying attention to gender discrimination in the media, I find that it's everywhere. Many things are either feminized or masculinized, and the way the media approaches this issue makes it seem funny, which takes away from the real issue. The media makes it seem normal for it to be like this, and it is not.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Emily,

    Your post was quite informative of how sexism against women is still a major part of our media culture, and I think that the media is in ways promoting these sexist thoughts. Like you said, the media makes it normal, but it is actually a big issue which I think your post clearly addresses.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks Edison!
    Now, the next step is finding a way to limit what the media puts out there for the world, because it's harming society and how people are treated.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi Emily,

    It shocks me as well that men are still making more money than women. Its interesting to see how TV shows and movie's are not showing women in untraditional roles but as objects and useless items. And do you think the media will ever stop promoting these ideas about women?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think that in order for change to be made, the issue has to be addressed and enforced. I will touch on this is future posts.

      Delete