Femina Slater Stereotypes

In the TV show Ugly Betty, Wilhelmina Slater is portrayed as selfish, conceited and mean. She has a high profile job as creative director at a fashion magazine called MODE. Throughout the show Wilhelmina Slater is depicted as someone who will stop at nothing to reach her goals. Many of the myths and stereotypes of working women can be applied to her character.
According to Susan J. Douglas a lot of media tends to overrepresent how far women have come in the workplace. Meaning, in their professions they seem to excel an extreme amount, an amount that most women statistically will never be able to obtain. These shows seem to try and show that equality has been met for women in the workplace. (Fitzpatrick) Wilhelmina Slater already meets this overrepresentation category. She is a creative director at MODE, one of the top magazines in the country. A comparable real life magazine to MODE would be Vogue. Grace Coddington, Vogue’s creative director is worth an estimated 50 million dollars. (Forbes) Wilhelmina Slater throughout the show can be seen in her over the top apartment and office so the viewer can safely assume that she is making an extreme amount of money.

Another theory that Wilhelmina Slater demonstrates is that of the balancing act and personal sacrifice.

Women in the workforce are portrayed as having to balance their careers and their family life. A lot of Media makes this look like impossible and Ugly Betty in no exception. Wilhelmina has no husband and one daughter, Nico. In episodes Nico is featured it is evident that she dislikes her mother because of the lack of interest Wilhelmina pays to her. Nico throughout the show is always away at boarding school. Case in point Wilhelmina has sacrificed her relationship with her daughter because she is too busy

working.
Wilhelmina’s character also matches the Bitch-Boss stereotype. The Bitch-Boss character is typically someone described as having low morals and stopping at nothing to get what they want. (Manral) Wilhelmina perfectly embodies this stereotype. In almost every episode she does something morally questionable and she comes up with these wild schemes to get ahead at the magazine. She is also often seen manipulating Betty Sanchez, a new assistant at the MODE. This shows that she also follows the typical Bitch-Boss formula: A high powered boss who is mean to her employees.
Overall, many of the pop-culture myths and stereotypes that were discussed in the lesson can be seen Wilhelmina Slater’s character. She represents a boss who has an almost unattainable position at a career, she has sacrificed her family life for her career and she has a morally questionable leadership style.