Gender Prejudices

1372 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Discrimination against women in the workplace

Gender Prejudices

“Women need to..” is the first line featured in the new ad campaign for UN Women, an organization focusing on the gender equality and the empowerment of women. The ad features a woman with a Google search bar obscuring her mouth and autocomplete results for the incomplete phrase “women need to…” These include “women need to be put in their place”, “women need to know their place”, “women need to be controlled”, and “women need to be disciplined”. The small print of each ad also reads “Actual Google search on 09/03/13.” UN Women successfully uses these results to illustrate the still- present ideas of sexual discrimination. However, an analysis and synthesis between this campaign ad and articles related to the plight and progress of women show that the presence of gender prejudices can one day be an antiquated ideology,

Discrimination against women by policy, laws, and legislation around the world is still a major obstruction to gender equality. These include laws discriminating against divorce, marital rape, employment, education, sexual harassment, and obedience laws. In countries like Kenya, Zambia, and Malaysia, laws prohibiting gender discrimination are present but do not protect women against laws on marriage, divorce, and custody of children. In Uganda, practice of polygamy, bride prices, and forced marriages are still in practice. In studies done by the U.S. Census Bureau, the average age of marriage for an American woman is 26.9 years, and most states feature an age requirement of 18 years. However, in places like Guatemala, Japan, and Syria the age requirement for marriage differ between the sexes. In Japan, girls can marry at 16, while boys marry at 18. In Syria, the limit is 17 years for girls ...

... middle of paper ...

...day be a thing of the past. In future years, the progress of women with overshadow the close-mindedness of some individual’s beliefs and the concept that “women need to be put in their place” will be a thing of the past.

Works Cited

Austin, Grace. "Legalizing Discrimination: Women's Discrimination Around the World." Diversity Journal. N.p., 10 July 2013. Web. 18 Feb. 2014.

Deen, Thalif. "WOMEN: Reservations Grow Over UN's Women's Treaty." Web.archive.org. N.p., 15 Mar. 1970. Web. 17 Feb. 2014.

Gender Development Group. "Quotations on Women's Rights." Quotations on Women's Rights. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Feb. 2014.

Howard, Caroline. "The World's Most Powerful Women 2013." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 22 May 2013. Web. 18 Feb. 2014.

"UN Women ad series reveals widespread sexism." Un Women. UN Women, 21 Oct. 2013. Web. 17 Feb. 2014.

Show More
Related

  • Analysis Of The Seven Minute Life Of Marc Lepine

    760 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the past there were many biases against women and their lack of abilities compared to men. Although the male perspective has changed over the past few centuries, there are many feminists who still fight for ...

    Read More

  • Two Ways A Woman Can Get Hurt By Jean Kiilbourne

    791 Words  | 2 Pages

    The world is becoming more aware of the gender hierarchy occurring in our society. Men are consistently leaders and placed in positions of power while women are seen as inferior. Jean Kilbourne, author of “Two ways a Woman Can Get Hurt”, investigates this ideology as she looks throughout media and advertisements and highlights their sexually explicit commercials that degrade woman. In comparison, Allan G. Johnson, writer of Why Do We Make So Much of Gender?, discusses how the world’s view of gender has changed over time and how it has affected the world. Kilbourne and Johnson outline the presence of a gender hierarchy but do not accurately interpret why it happens. The underlying presence driving patriarchy is hidden deep in men’s resistance

    Read More

  • Analysis of the Documentary: Killing Us Softly 4 and the Role of Women in Advertising

    533 Words  | 2 Pages

    The documentary Killing Us Softly 4 discusses and examines the role of women in advertisements and the effects of the ads throughout history. The film begins by inspecting a variety of old ads. The speaker, Jean Kilbourne, then discusses and dissects each ad describing the messages of the advertisements and the subliminal meanings they evoke. The commercials from the past and now differ in some respects but they still suggest the same messages. These messages include but are not limited to the following: women are sexual objects, physical appearance is everything, and women are naturally inferior then men. Kilbourne discusses that because individuals are surrounded by media and advertisements everywhere they go, that these messages become real attitudes and mindsets in men and women. Women believe they must achieve a level of beauty similar to models they see in magazines and television commercials. On the other hand, men expect real women to have the same characteristics and look as beautiful as the women pictured in ads. However, even though women may diet and exercise, the reality...

    Read More

  • Pros and Cons of the Equal Rights Amendment

    1284 Words  | 3 Pages

    Gaughen, Shasta. Introduction To Women's Rights: Contemporary Issues Companion. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2003. Hennessey, Kathleen.

    Read More

  • Sexism in The Work Place

    1273 Words  | 3 Pages

    Sex Discrimination in the American Workplace: Still a Fact of Life. (2000, July 01). Retrieved from National Women's Law Center : www.nwlc.org

    Read More

  • Elaine Hall And Marnie Salupo Rodriguez's Article: The Myth Of Antifeminism

    1158 Words  | 3 Pages

    Women’s participation in school or the workplace are negatively affected because of the fear of violence, and many long-term health consequences arise from physical and sexual abuse. Heartbreakingly, a woman in South Africa has a “greater chance of being raped than she has of learning to read” (Tracy 6). In the patriarchal society of China, infants or fetuses face death simply for being born female (Tracy 18). After reading the reported incidences of violence against women, it is nothing but frustrating to hear women not supporting feminism. They do not need feminism because they represent a victory for this movement with the freedom to work alongside men, attend school, and choose their life partners. However, as shown in International Violence Against Women, there are many women and girls begging for a change. This population is the next victory for

    Read More

  • Research Paper

    1148 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...y. These brave ladies had a vision in mind, that one day all women would be able to understand self-worth while reaching equality measurable to their male counterparts. Unfortunately, women in today’s society have forgotten this battle, and are selling themselves short while taking part in beauty competitions, which would be very disappointing to women’s rights activists of the past. With any luck, women will begin to understand the countless disadvantages of beauty pageants and how these competitions damage every one of them in the end. Hopefully women will once again come to the realization that respect can be earned through the value of the mind and interior rather than the appearance of the exterior. In a perfect world ladies will soon be able to stop cowering down to beauty pageants and begin to honor the fact that being a woman is strength in itself.

    Read More

  • Gender Discrimination In The Millennial Generation

    3938 Words  | 8 Pages

    Gender discrimination, that is a form of prejudice, is one of the dangerous global issues facing all societies nowadays. It is considered as a civil rights violation, especially to women. That is interpreted by traditional stereotypes of gender roles which are over-generalized ideas about a particular group of individuals. It leads to neglecting people’s differences and uniqueness and to having a certain image based on one opinion or belief. Stereotypes often give a certain generalized impression that is often not entirely true, especially about gender issues. No matter how developed a country

    Read More

  • Invitation to Sociology by Peter Berger

    922 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...action with others… especially men. This supplies final substantiation of the authors' argument, that women continue to be oppressed by their male-dominated societies. It is a bold undertaking for women to ally and promote a world movement to abandon sexist traditions. Although I have never lived in a third world or non-Westernized country, I have studied the conditions women suffer as "inferior" to men. In National Geographic and various courses I have taken, these terrible conditions are depicted in full color. Gender inequality is a terrible trait of our global society, and unfortunately, a trait that might not be ready to change. In America we see gender bias towards women in voters' unwillingness to elect more females into high office, and while this is not nearly as severe as the rest of the world, it indicates the lingering practice of gender inequality.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Kellogg's Pp Cereal Advertisement

    1088 Words  | 3 Pages

    Through the application of physical appearance, audience and text the ad unfortunately paints women in a negative manner. The ad employs tactics that reel society into believing that women must put a man on a pedestal in order to gain his admiration. Women have the right to be treated equally and deserve to be represented in a positive light so the culture can fray away from following beliefs similarly portrayed in this 1930s advertisement. We must teach the next generation that although it is in our nature to nurture those around us, there are no boundaries or restrictions for women to excel in society for the

    Read More

  • How Men View Women in History - Through Voltaire, John Locke, Joesph Conrad

    1481 Words  | 3 Pages

    In conclusion, even though our society would like to believe that women have always had equal liberties (with men) in everything they do, we can see this is not the case. Throughout human history, woman has believed she is inferior to man, however, now with our civilization progressing in the women’s right movement everyday, women can finally come to terms with the fact that they are indeed equal to men.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of The Autocomplete Truth Essay

    1371 Words  | 3 Pages

    A photograph of a Muslim woman of color in a hijab; eyes sad; mouth covered by a google pull down search menu with the words “women need to” entered into it; darkness surrounding her; these are all the pieces of a powerful ad. U.N. Women’s “The Autocomplete Truth” advertisement aims to showcase modern day sexism, and to make a clear statement that women need to be seen as equals. The advertisement achieves this intended impact, not only through the use of rhetorical appeals, but also through visual aspects such as being spare, calm, carefully organized, subdued in color, and through the contrast of traditional versus cutting edge elements.

    Read More

  • Feminism: An Analysis of Three Generations

    1634 Words  | 4 Pages

    ...rom the confines of gender and social inequality, there must be an equal freeing of men. The limits that we place on the lives of both women and men must dissolve together in order to achieve equality. The social construct of 'woman' was built in the context of the construct of 'man'. To change one without the other would be impossible. The politics, laws, economics and sociocultural systems that prop up inequality must also be renovated and/or dissolved somehow in order for anyone, man or woman, to be free of deeply ingrained systems of inequality. There can be no shift toward equality without recognition and recalibration of the power structures that enable and perpetuate imbalance. If we can solve all that, then equality is feasible. If not, or if only in a far and distant future, it is absolutely necessary to believe that it will always be worth striving toward.

    Read More

  • Gender Roles and Prejudice

    1380 Words  | 3 Pages

    I aim to find out whether these views are correct. I want to find out

    Read More

  • Feminism History

    1244 Words  | 3 Pages

    Modern-day feminism is no longer about equality but more about superiority. Today, many feminists go around stating there isn’t a need for men, women can survive on their own, and that women are better than men. As Saira Khan states in her article on Spiked, “modern-day feminists engage in man-bashing rather than dignified demands for equality.” (Khan 1). It just shows how feminists would rather take their anger out on men rather than realize we a...

    Read More

More about Gender Prejudices

Open Document