Undermining the credibility of women?
Marian Wright Edelman, the founder and president of Children’s Defense Fund and first African-American woman admitted to the Mississippi state bar, once said, “You can’t be what you can’t see.” Does this hold true for women seeking leadership positions? And what does that have to do with the PR and advertising industry?
A lot, actually.
Recently, I attended the first North Carolina screening of a new documentary called Miss Representation, a film that explores how mainstream media contribute to the under-representation of women in positions of power and influence in America.
The film walks audiences through numerous examples of disparaging or overly sexual portrayals of women in politics, news and the entertainment industry. Given that American teenagers consume 10 hours and 45 minutes of media a day (TV, music, movies, magazines, internet), the overwhelming message young women and men receive is that a woman’s value and power lie in her youth, beauty and sexuality, and not in her capacity as a leader. While women have made great strides in leadership over the past few decades, some of the statistics highlighted in the documentary show we still have miles to go:
- America’s women continue to earn just 77 cents for every dollar men earn.
- Women make up 51 percent of the population and only 17 percent of Congress.
- Between 1937 and 2005 (68 years), there were only 13 female protagonists in animated movies. All of them, except one, had the aspiration of finding romance.
- Women hold only 3 percent of clout positions in mainstream media.
- 65 percent of women and girls have distorted eating behaviors.
Between the physically-impossible airbrushed cover models and badly behaved reality TV stars in the Real Housewives series, it’s hard to know what a real female role model would look like.
I left the screening wondering about the role PR and advertising professionals play in the representation of women in media. Agencies are not effective unless they can help a company drive sales, customer engagement or a business reputation. And if scantily-clad women sell products, do we have a responsibility to find an alternative approach? I would argue that our industry carries most of the responsibility for changing the portrayal of women in the media. And perhaps, clients who make a pledge to reject sexism in advertising could capture the 86 percent of purchasing power held by women in America.
Comments
For the most part, the images that are shown through advertising communicate to us who we are and who we should be. If you pay close attention to the commercials aimed at or portraying women, they seem to all state that the most important thing about women is how we look. This is unfortunate and disheartening.
A few weeks ago, I made it a point to show my kindergarten-aged daughter a television broadcast created to foster positivity and influence the manner women of color are portrayed in the media. Even at her age, I believe she was inspired and excited to see a celebration of women on television. The annual show, "Black Girls Rock!" seeks to build the self-esteem and self-worth of young women of color by changing their outlook on life. She saw a broadcast and advertising aimed at the awesome accomplishments of female business leaders, innovators and social reformers. I felt good about what this broadcast did for her young self-worth.
I think those of us who are female in the PR and advertising space have a responsibility to encourage and promote this type growth for future generations.
Thanks for your comment, Janelle. I totally agree with you. And you are doing exactly what the documentary suggested with your daughter! Let's hope others do the same.
This film reminds me of an older documentary, "Killing us Softly" by Jean Kilbourne which criticizes the advertising industry for creating gendered expectations for both women and men. As a communications and advertising student, I'm discovering how much media impacts our identities. We make movies, television, advertisements, magazines and video games with what we believe to be correct gender norms and ideals. Then, we consume this media and unconsciously shape ourselves to fit what we see. This prescribed inequality does motivate me to become involved in the advertising world to help establish new representations of women and hopefully new "norms".
Still, I wonder about how realistic I'm being. If a client or audience wants to see women or men in a certain light for an effective advertisement, how much can I challenge them?
I've heard about that film, but haven't had the chance to see it yet. Thanks for mentioning it.
We all have the responsibility to make change. I understand your point about being realistic. It's up to both advertisers, clients and consumers on a much larger scale than just you and me. But we could work to eliminate the temptation to create sleazy ads by boycotting products that use them. Pie-in-the-sky? Maybe. But you have to start somewhere.
I believe she was inspired and excited to see a celebration of women on television. Thanks dude.
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