Mainstream media, that is, television, radio, and newspaper play a major role in portraying and shaping the dominant values in our society. To some extent, we could say that it has a great influence on the degree to which we uphold societal values. People’s perceptions are often a result of the things that they are exposed to regularly hence why representation is important on mainstream media; it has a huge impact on how people view women and how women perceive themselves.
Gender Roles
In previous years, women were barely being represented in mainstream media and when they were, their roles were limited to being caregivers and home keepers which was a classic case of gender stereotyping.
In today’s modern-day world where women are taking up more leadership roles and working jobs, we can attest that there has been a significant gain in some areas of film production such as women being given more leadership roles, taking up film leads as well as increasing the number of women on set and showcasing their diversity. We are seeing more women bosses, more women who have their life together while being the main decision-makers in matters affecting them, and more women in high authority positions. While this is all good representation and we applaud the great progress, we still do acknowledge that there is much more that can be done by mainstream media to represent women and the real issue that they face in their day-to-day life.
Representation in Terms of Numbers
In the real world, women have greatly outnumbered men but is this what is being reflected in mainstream media? Certainly not, for a majority of the films we see on our televisions, the male casts often tend to outnumber the female casts. For media to be more realistic, this needs to be reflected.
From Humans to Objects
Most often than not, we will see women being objectified by being made to look a certain way such as dressing provocatively or taking up undignified roles which take away from the message they are trying to put across. This type of objectification is majorly seen in advertisements both in print and on media. This propels the idea that the symbol of femininity is a woman’s appearance. If you happen to fall short in any way, then you are not perfect. A good example is the outrageous number of advertisements based on beauty products for women while their male counterparts are praised and admired for their masculinity.
Such representation often has negative a negative impact on how men view women. Men might start feeling entitled hence increasing their possibilities of ill-treating women.
Bottom Line
Mainstream media now is not what it used to be in the past, there have been great strides made towards breaking societal gender-based stereotyping.
It is estimated that an adult spends an average of one and a half years of their lives hooked on media. This is a clear indication that mainstream media is an integral part of our livelihood hence we cannot fail to recognize the powerful role it plays in shaping societal norms.
It is the high time that film producers and casts start using media to not only strengthen the good pre-existing stereotypes but also bring in new ones as well that we would love to see people emulate for a better community.
The current portrayal of women in media has made great advancements in light of the linear progression of women’s activism movements. We can only hope it goes up from here.