The double standard against women in the media
By Robin Ngai, Staff Writer
@bluebird1278
On Thursday, Hillary Clinton spoke at the Women in the World conference in New York. There, she boldly stated that there is a double standard for women which is created by the media. Clinton claimed that the media should be more aware of how they present women in the media, and despite the progress women have made, this double standard still exists.
Clinton’s statement can surely be backed up with reliable evidence. Recently, the Women’s Media Center released their annual report on women and their impact on the media. Time collected the nine most depressing facts from the study, and it shows that Clinton’s claims are right.
Just a couple standout facts is that women are barely represented in newsrooms (in fact it’s gotten even worse over time) and women have had fewer speaking roles in movies in 2012 than any other year since 2007.
I find this is absolutely absurd.
It concerns me to see that women are being so misrepresented in the media. The media controls what information the public has access to and shapes their views, and to have these views be dominated by one race and gender is highly detrimental to society. As a society we need to strive to have a more equal representation and the first step to do so is to change the way media perceives and treats women. We need to have more women in advertising, television, film, and news. We must see the change in order to make it.
I understand that women have made great strides in the past few decades. There are many things to be celebrated, but there is still much to be worked on. The Representation Project produced a video titled, “How the Media Failed Women in 2013,” which documents a few great moments for women in the media. It echoes the fact that there isn’t enough progress being made.
There is no quick way to fix this problem. Instead, we must strive to have the media incorporate women in a positive light in order for this double standard to slowly recede and hopefully one day, no longer exist.
Check out the Representation Project’s video below:
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