WOMEN IN THE MEDIA :: HOW ARE THEY PORTRAYED?

Throughout the existence of ads/marketing/commercials etc, there has always been a g r e a t d i v i d e between the portrayal of men and the portrayal of women. In Marketing Weeks article “How The Portrayal Of Women In The Media Has Changed” author Leonie Roderick writes that “w o m e n were firmly placed in the d o m e s t i c sphere, talking animatedly about cleaning and housework. Of course, you also had the female s e x o b j e c t. Women are also often shown as the family nurturer, which is something that men weren’t allowed to be either. This is a problem for both genders. There have been some real strides in that recently, where ads show men in a much more nurturing rule”.

Roderick focuses on how women are only seen as housewives and men are seen as the dominant leaders, the breadwinners. Women have to work twice as hard to get to a successful place to be

v a l u e d , but when a man becomes successful, he is viewed as a natural genius. What I am gathering at is simple: women have to work harder to b r e a k t h r o u g h t h e i r o n m o l d in marketing/ads/commercials/media just to show to the opposing gender that we too can do that.

However, women are breaking that mold, especially in recent years. Sue Todd, CEO of Magnetic, speaks in the article about how women run magazines are breaking that wall. Todd says that “big women’s magazines, have really moved with the times, and are taking much more of a lead on culturally relevant issues. There’s more a c t i v i s m coming through . . . there’s two ways the

a d v e r t i s i n g c o n t e n t i s c h a n g i n g . There are a lot more partnerships and native content being developed. Look Magazine, which is a weekly young women’s magazine, placed its

f i r s t c u r v y m o d e l o n t h e c o v e r l a s t y e a r . This was done in partnership with Simply Be, a clothing retailer for larger sizes. Three years ago that wouldn’t have happened”.

Simply put:

W O M E N A R E B R E A K I N G T H A T D I V I D E ! !

And the progression of women being portrayed as

s t r o n g , i n d e p e n d e n t , r e a l , n a t u r a l and showcasing the different body types is becoming “a positive move in terms of being more reflective of their audience”.

Work Cited:

"How The Portrayal of Women in Media Has Changed" Link