There were several facts presented in Miss Representation that surprised me. First, one of the
commentators noted that women are preventing themselves from gaining leadership
positions because they are the most skeptical of women in leadership positions.
I hadn’t even thought about this, but thinking about my own family, both of my
grandmothers were very skeptical about a woman becoming the President of the
United States. They expressed concerns that a woman would not be able to run
the country as well as men have for the past two centuries. I imagine that
there are more women that think this way, which upsets me. Former Secretary of
State Condoleezza Rice mentioned that women in leadership roles in this
country had to stop the men in office from making changes to Title IX
legislation, which shocked me. This shows that there is a dire need for women
in our government so that women’s voices are heard. I also didn't realize how female journalists are portrayed as sexual objects in news broadcasts. When the film
played a montage of clips from various news programs, I was disturbed by how
much female journalists have been sexualized in the media. This shows how
society has become so used to seeing sexualized female news anchors that we don’t
even think about it anymore.
I learned a lot from Miss
Representation, but there were a few things that stuck out. First, as various quick facts flashed across the screen throughout the film, one
caught my attention: America spends more on advertising than the entire GDP of
80% of the countries in the world. Think of all the things that could be done
with that money that would be a better investment for our country: helping
those who are less fortunate, supporting scientific research to end diseases
such as AIDs or cancer, or even paying off some of the United States debt.
Regardless of anyone’s political beliefs, I think most of us would agree that
there are many better things to spend that much money on than advertising. I
also found it interesting that often times in the media negative verbs are used
for women in power. For example, the media will use the phrase “she demanded”
as opposed to the much less negative “she asked.” The film also mentioned that
women had much more diverse roles in 20s and 30s films than they do in today’s
films. I find this really strange, since we claim that women are treated more fairly
now and have the freedom to branch out into the so-called “male” jobs and
roles. Yet our films and television are not accurately portraying this shift.
I was able to relate to a lot that was presented in the
film, specifically the way that men are scrutinized about their appearance much
less than women are. While the film focused on how this manifests itself in the
media, I have found it true in my everyday life. Whenever I have attended any
social gathering, whether it was with friends or family, I have always found
that the women I am around are judged on their appearance much more than the
men are. In some situations where it’s perfectly fine for a man to wear jeans
and a t-shirt, women feel like they need to wear a dress and makeup in order to
impress everyone. I’ve never understood why this occurs.
While the film did focus on the problems women face
when trying to obtain leadership roles, and the scrutiny they face once they
land in these roles, Miss Representation also discussed ways to promote more
women to leadership roles and make sure they are respected when they land in
these roles. First, the promotion of women for positions of power needs to
begin at an early age: Devanshi Patel, a high school student, was involved in
Youth in Government, which promotes young people, specifically women, to jump
into leadership roles at a young age. The film also encouraged everyone to
challenge the media to view women as more than just sexual objects. One way
they proposed doing this was by avoiding watching television shows and films in
which women are not respected as they should be. Finally, my favorite
suggestion was that women in leadership roles need to mentor those that are
trying to obtain leadership roles. Women need someone to look up to and
encourage them to pursue these roles, and there is no one better to do this than those who are
already in these positions.
I also found it fascinating that part of the problem—both in political representation and in public scrutiny—was actually the fault of women. I haven’t met a woman who thinks other women shouldn’t be in office, but I know there are women who are much harsher on their own sex than on any other. I think this might even be true for me, but I’m not totally sure. I do remember someone in the film explaining that it is hard, generally, to imagine something you’ve never seen, which is perhaps why we have such a hard time imagining a woman as President of the United States. This is really only a partial explanation though, since, as the film pointed out, many other Westernized countries have had female leaders. Often, these leaders have been extremely effective as leaders. Similarly, there have been a large number of male leaders in the world who have been incredibly destructive in leadership positions. In fact, I can’t think of a single monumentally destructive leader who wasn’t a man. Why isn’t that something people think about when they consider who might make good leaders?
ReplyDeleteThat’s why I have to agree with you that mentoring programs might be some of the most effective programs in changing the way women think of other female leaders. Seeing women in leadership positions and learning from them can go a long way in creating an atmosphere that is more receptive to female leadership.