How has the perception of women and women’s rights evolved over the last century?
- In the early 20th century, women obtained the right to vote. The women’s suffrage movement fought for the vote using direct action.
- Other institutions that were challenged included marriage, an idea challenged by the woman’s liberation movement. This conservative ideology limited women’s opportunities. Marriage was seen as women being subordinate. Issues such a marital rape reinforces the prejudices against women
- Attitudes towards education also changed rapidly, with some women attending university
- However, advertising in the 1960s were typically sexist. “That’s what wives are for”, suggests that there is no equality between the sexes
- Bra burnings were common in the 60s and 70s to challenge patriarchal hegemonic standards of beauty.
- Women were not taken seriously, and even the women’s liberation movement was joked about in mainstream media and advertising
- The pay gap between men and women used to be significant. Now it is less significant.
- The emergence of feminism in the early 20th century led to first wave feminism, for example in the UK, the suffragettes performing direct action to achieve vote equality.
- In the 60s and 70s, the Women’s liberation movement demanded equality with men in terms of pay, employment opportunities and also bodily autonomy.
- Bra burnings were common, as bras were seen as an uncomfortable symbol of sexualisation
- As time has shifted, attitudes towards marriage and premarital sex have changed.
- Transportation: going out for leisure during the day. Independence!
- Increasingly women were working and attending university
- Around the time in which this edition of Woman was released, sexism in advertising
Approaches to feminism
1st wave - the suffrage movements. Votes for women
2nd wave - the women’s liberation movement. Equal rights, equal pay. Critical of the institution of marriage.
Liesbet Van Zoonen
- Representations of men and women are constructed through media language. This central argument is shared by Stuart Hall and Roland Barthes.
- Men and women are constructed in completely different ways in media products
- Women are presented as spectacle: objects to look at by the audience. A voyeuristic mode of address is constructed.
- The male gaze: media is constructed for the perceived gaze of heterosexual men
bell hooks
- We should all be feminist, as it is a human right and a political ideology. We should advocate for equality for all genders.
- Intersectional feminism: we must take into account wealth, race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality. Certain groups in society are more discriminated against than others
- Feminism is for everybody. The patriarchy is damaging for everybody, including men. For example, expectations of men lead to conforming to damaging masculine stereotypes.
- Feminism is an active process, and we must always challenge the patriarchy
- Problematising is process of actively looking for problems in a media product