Is the Representation of Women in Media Acceptable?

    When you turn on the TV, do you think you have an equal chance of seeing a man or a woman? Historically, it has been an uphill battle to have film and television represent women on equal grounds as men, and though there has been a lot of progress made in the last few decades, can it be considered acceptable yet? As of recent times, women have been more active in industry, education, and labor, and therefore, it is reasonable to connect this increased presence in society to an increased representation within our entertainment and news media. However, while the quantity of women represented in media has changed, can the same truly be said for the quality of women being represented?

                In short, not yet. As mentioned previously, there has been a higher inclusion of female characters in television and film, both in leading and supporting roles. However, the higher inclusion of female characters has not necessarily led to the nullification of prevalent gender stereotypes, which has the potential to influence not just society, but women’s own perceptions of themselves. Audiences should wonder if the responsibility to do better lies on the hands of studio executives, or if female audiences should be appreciative of the growing shift towards female participation in media as it stands.

                It should be recognized that despite what I stated, representation of female characters has improved considerably from what was once the norm. In previous years, it was common to see rigid stereotypical representations of gender within film and television, which often perpetuated harmful perceptions of both genders and restricted audiences into feeling as if they had to fit into these stereotypes in order to be accepted. For example, consider how previously, media tended to depict male characters as the only characters with solid ambitions, seriousness, and competence, while female characters would often be relegated to the sidelines, forced to play ditzy wives and incompetent women who had no redeeming factors save for supporting the men in their lives. However, following the second world war, due to the participation of women in the wartime labor force, society was forced to recognize the competence and strength of women, which directly resulted in less “incompetent woman” characters and led to more “girlboss” characters, as they’re known colloquially in the present day.

                In only a few decades, media representation of female characters had shifted from being supporting incompetent characters to depicting stronger, more independent women in leading roles. While it took a long time for female representation to reach this point, shouldn’t the industry be celebrated for this effort? After all, with more female competency being shown in the media, the more audiences have come to recognize and respect women in the workforce and education sectors, showcasing the influence of media representation.

                However, quantity does not necessarily equal quality. Female characters remain consistent with traditional and harmful gender stereotypes, even in characters that are meant to be combating these stereotypes. Though women are present in a lot of media, the vast majority of them still fall into the same-old roles and tropes that have persisted since the 1960s, often as a one-dimensional love interest for male protagonists or damsels in distress that male heroes must save (Santoniccolo et al.). Even when female characters don’t fall into submissive or supportive roles in media, they are typically sexualized for the gaze of a male audience, which influences how these audiences may behave to women in real life.  Women who consume these sorts of media with poor representations of women typically develop some mental health issues like anxiety or depression, largely owed to the depictions of women in media as objects to be sexualized or have no agency of their own, which they internalize and affect how they see themselves (Santoniccolo et al.). This can be especially noticed when regarding the rate of hypersexualized female characters, which perpetuate unrealistic body standards for women (Smith & Cook) and feed into male objectification of women.

                As mentioned previously, plenty of supporting female characters in media serve no deeper purpose than being one-dimensional love interests for the protagonists, often with no deeper personality or character motivations. Smith and Cook organize female characterization into three categories for modern female representation: Daydreamers, Derailed, and Daredevils. Both Daydreamers and Derailed female characters have no deeper motivation beyond a relationship with a male character, with the distinction that Daydreamers are always focused on a man, while Derailed women start out with a unique motivation or personal goal, but surrender personal ambitions in favor of a male love interest (Smith & Cook). With the majority of female characters in media falling into either of these two-character archetypes, it is clear that despite having a higher number of women in media, it does not necessarily equate to representing women in an accurate or beneficial light, which perpetuates the myth of women caring about romance only and having no personal ambition.

                With these issues in mind, audiences might wonder how it is possible to fix the biases and stereotypes that media institutions can’t seem to stop perpetuating. Luckily, there are solutions to poor representation within the media. Consider the 50:50 challenge that’s mentioned in the Harvard Business Review when discussing gender inequality at the BBC. The 50:50 challenge explored solutions to a disparity in male reporter to female reporter representation within BBC news broadcasts. As stated in the review of the project, “the golden rule remained to always put the best person on air, regardless of gender. What changed was that the team pushed themselves to find the women who represented the best and got them on air.” (Rattan et al.) This is the case within many media institutions- women who are capable and would be good representation for the media do exist, but there simply isn’t an effort being made to get them broadcast to audiences. In the cases of film and television, simply hiring more female writers and elevating their voices should do wonders for producing a more realistic and acceptable representation for women in entertainment.

                So, with the problems with female representation in media exposed and the solutions to the issues being simple enough, why isn’t the problem fixed? To put it bluntly, it’s because of the lack of pressure. If audiences are satisfied with the current representation of women in media, favoring quantity over quality, then why bother go through an institutional change? It is the responsibility of the people who consume media to demand better representation for women, because it is only through the voice of the masses that true change will be brought about to the benefit of women everywhere.