Issues of Gender in the Media Essay Example

Introduction

Plato once said, ''if women are expected to do the same work as men, we must teach them same things.'' Gender is one of the most sensitive issues in the media today, and that is because most people believe that there is an unfair representation of both genders in the media. While most parents are interested in bringing up a generation that understands that men and women and are equal and each can handle any form of work, the truth is that the media practices stereotyping on gender roles. Therefore, it was important to conduct an investigation based on gender roles in the media, and this included researching newspapers, magazines, and watching televisions. Notably, there are various conclusions that one can make from gender roles in media today, as the truth is that they have clearly defined each gender's duty in society. For instance, the most popular pattern that is across every medial material is that of men alone engaging in big business. The central importance of sharing the details regarding the media materials and evidence on gender roles is that it creates a better means of finding a solution to the matter. For example, one of the possible mechanisms that television adverts can overcome stereotyping in advertisements is showing younger girls who have bigger dreams of becoming achieving professions such and engineering, while boys have dreams for common jobs like nursing. The truth from the materials is that media practices stereotyping in gender representation, and that is consistent in all media platforms.

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The Possible Conclusion Regarding the Notion of Gender

From the collected materials, it is possible to note that the common notion of gender is that each sex is destined to handle a specific role in the community. That implies that all the media materials have a fixed definition of gender roles which are repeated in every advertisement, hence the reason why it is a concern for many. First, going through different magazines, it was possible to note that the common notion concerning woman's beauty is that they are supposed to be slim and tall, as those are the only ones who featured on most fashion magazines. Therefore, it is from that the reader will create a notion that it is wrong for a woman to stay fat, thus the reason why most women will want to change their body shapes (Chakvetadze and Dautova, 40). Apart from the fixed gender roles in the media materials, it is also evident that they have created the notion that gender determines one's future, hence the reason why there are chances that younger females are concerned about their destiny. For instance, it is common to come across advertisements which indicate that girl grows up to achieve a smaller profession than boys who engage in admired careers such as engineering. Arguably, that is a dangerous notion concerning different genders, as it might affect the female learner's approach to academic life since they believe that they are imperfect. The media materials also create the notion that gender is the one which determines an individual's responsibility in the community. There is an instance in the advertisement where a girl is arranging her mother's house while the brother is playing games, thus meaning he does not care.

The Noted Pattern in the Media Materials

One of the notable patterns in the media materials is that there is recurrence in gender roles reinforcement. It is realistic to state that the media personnel or the producers who are behind these commercials are interested in ensuring that the audience understands that is the right means. One of the most common methods that they achieve this reinforcement is through numerous advertisements, as that ensures that the people understand and get to note the applied stereotype (Mavin and Elliott 315). While watching the television channels, it was possible to observe that commercials would come after around ten to fifteen minutes, and during that break, they would repeat a particular advertisement across the day. There are chances that they would have achieved their reinforcement in a situation where a child has watched the television across the day. It was also common for magazines to apply stereotyped advertisements in frequency to ensure that they achieve reinforcement. The magazines make the advertisements frequent by providing that they feature on various pages, thus creating attention from the reader.

The other possible means that the magazines and television advertisements have achieved gender roles reinforcement is through placement. For the magazines, the editors choose to place these advertisements on the most attractive pages, and the best example is the middles. The fact that it is common for people to read or review the centermost page in a magazine is the reason why this deserves the reinforcement titles, and it is common across all magazines (Perez-Quintana and Hormiga 25). There is also the repetition of the placement pattern on television, as most of the advertisements only appeared during the prime hours. For instance, the fact that most people tend to watch the 9 Pm news and they choose to place the advertisement before the report implies that they are targeting a large audience, and that is a gender role reinforcement approach.

Big Picture Caught Sight Off

There are various facts that one can easily conclude from the media analysis, and that is the application of reverse roles might increase television viewership and magazine purchase. Whereas the previous report indicates that the most common pattern in the television and magazine features is that of gender stereotypes, there are other instances where they achieve role reversal, and the truth is that they seem more attractive and appealing to normality (L. Rice 18). For example, it was possible to come across the television advertisement where it was a woman who was offering garage services, and the truth is that everyone who was around paid attention so that they could watch the feature (Rice and Barth 92). The fact that such instances are appealing is the reason why it is vital that media houses change their tactics towards advertisement, as they might achieve more with reverse gender roles. Whereas most grownups found reverse roles interesting to watch or view, it is a different situation for children since they already believed that some characters stay meant for a specific gender. Nonetheless, an early can frequent use of gender reverse roles in the advertisement will create the right platform to make youngsters understand earlier that some things said about other genders are wrong.

The other notable fact regarding the reinforced advertisements is that they are the ones who ensure that the media manage to sell products, as people tend to believe they are the right ones. For instance, there are limited chances that someone will hire an engineering company to aid in construction if a woman heads it, thus the reason why it is essential for the feature to include a man.

Conclusion

In brief, the paper has provided a detailed analysis of the issue of gender roles and media representation. The first step concerning the study was researching various media materials and their approach to the advertisement. First, it is crucial to note that the analysis featured magazines, newspapers, and television for the media and gender roles review. The paper indicates that the media has created a notion that different genders perform different roles in the society, and that is through the advertisements that feature on magazines and television. For instance, it is common to come across magazines which only have slim models, hence implying a woman is just beautiful and can a place in the modeling industry if they are slim. The other notable issue from the materials is that they apply the gender roles reinforcement pattern, and they manage to achieve that through different approaches. For instance, one of the essential means that the media materials achieve gender roles reinforcement is by putting these advertisements on repeat mode, thus implying that everyone gets to see them at some point. Nonetheless, the biggest picture regarding gender roles in the media is that there are increased chances that people will appreciate more a reversed gender role. The best example of a reversed gender role is where a woman serves as a mechanic, while the main is facing challenges in tire repair. The fact such a commercial shows that women are relatively powerful and innovative will make it appealing.

Works Cited

Chakvetadze, Lia G and Rezeda v. Dautova. "Gender Stereotypes, Mass Media, and Migrants." Journal of Organizational Culture, Communications and Conflict, suppl. Special Issue 20.5 (2016): 39-45.

Mavin, Sharon and Carole Elliott. "Women managers, leaders and the media gaze." Gender in Management 31.5 (2016): 314-321.

Perez-Quintana, Anna and Esther Hormiga. "The influence of sex and gender-role orientation in the decision to become an entrepreneur." International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship 9.1 (2017): 8-30.

Rice, Lindsay. "Hiring Decisions: The Effect of Evaluator Gender and Gender Stereotype Characteristics on the Evaluation of Job Applicants." Gender Issues 33.1 (2016): 1-21.

Rice, Linsay and Joan M Barth. "A Tale of Two Gender Roles: The Effects of Implicit and Explicit Gender Role Traditionalism and Occupational Stereotype on Hiring Decisions." Gender Issues 34.1 (2017): 86-102.