http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWa9jmv3u90&feature=related
This video portrays the different ways women around the world are affected by discrimination. People think that in 21st century, male & females have equal rights. Is it really true? Recent reports have found that some 774 million adults lack minimum literacy skills; one in five adults is still not literate and two-thirds of them are women; 72.1 million children are out-of-school and many more attend irregularly or drop out. In 2000, 110 million children in the world were not in school—two thirds of them were girls. These points suggest that females in this world have less priority than males.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFUPi-RSQ9M&NR=1
This is another video that illustrates the developing countries like Peru is so discrimination against females. Many parents in Peru don't send their daughters to school, only their sons. There are still people around the world who think that women are stupid, they place women in a box that is labelled 'stay at home, cooking, cleaning, ironing & washing slaves'. when considering this video, it seems like we can't go anymore with the dominant discourse of both genders have equal rights.
Media don't seem like they're paying reasonable attention towards major problems like this in the world. Few organizations like UNICEF are trying to make an impact of this issue on the society.
Do you see these kind of advertisements often on TV ?
Media should make a voice for those who don’t have power to make a voice. Do you agree with this or not? Can you justify?
Who is responsible for this ?
What is the role of society regarding this issue?
I barely see advertisements on such issues. Some common advertisements I come across on a daily basis would be about cars, clothing (popular brands), groceries, furniture, etc. In fact, I see commercials about helping kids, in general (in third-world countries), and sponsoring them for their better future.
ReplyDeleteMedia, obviously, has the power to voice those who have no voice, but I believe the media will not (mostly) give voice to weak females because the media usually goes with what is the dominant discourse (or what is in). For example, the media would not portray heterosexuality as
an unnatural thing and homosexuality as the common thing. That is not in order as it is vice-versa.
The mentality of parents and society, in general, are to be held responsible for the inequality of rights for women (across the world and not just one country such as Peru). The media is responsible for this as well, without a doubt. As you said Kasun, the media should have a more active role in allowing females to obtaining their fair share of rights (because it is so powerful…).
Unfortunately, I think most societies across the globe would still bend over to the masculinity side of the spectrum (meaning males would go to school, work and females stay back, do chores). As they say, “Some things never change”. I believe no matter how many societies (influential people in them) attempt to give females their equal share of rights, there will still be many other societies who discourage females and tend to be misogynistic of women who try to voice their opinions (try changing the societal norms).
One last thing, I have to disagree (politely) with you, Kasun, where you say that the dominant discourse is how both genders have equal rights. Is it not the other way around? I mean the dominant discourse is about how males have more rights than women do (superiority of masculinity). I do not think that the dominant discourse is ever about having equal rights for both genders.
If the 21st century theory of both genders having equal rights is correct, the dominant discourse should be about both genders having equal rights. But like you said, in many people's eyes, the dominant discourse is still about masculine superiority. Going back to what I said in the post, i meant that society is still far off from what should be the dominant discourse (equal rights) and what remains today (males have more rights than women). So we can't really go forward with the idea of both genders having equal rights as that is not what actually exists.
ReplyDeleteAs an avid watcher of television I pay great attention to the commercials that come on tv. A few years ago I would never be able to see any commercials like these on television but now as time passes I am starting to see it on a regular bases especially during prime time television shows on stations like CTV and Global.
ReplyDeleteIt is true that not every place has gender equality like we do here in North America but considering where we were 30-40 years ago, we have come a long way and so can other countries as well but media can help to speed this process up and make life better for these girls in 3rd world countries. I agree with what Akshay is saying about parents being responsible for this inequality but I blame it on their lack of education and the struggles they have to go through in life because most of the time they have no choice but to feed 1 child and they choose to feed the boy because he can go out and work whereas in their mind the female wont be able to do anything but stay home.
I disagree with with what Akshay says about media not doing enough about this because they already are putting on these commercials and showing them to the world. I have seen the Because I Am A Girl commercials come on tv many times. I also disagree with him because the media wont have a direct affect to the people in these 3rd world countries. People in these 3rd world countries are so poor that they are unable to afford a television or computer so they wont even be able to see these things on tv.
As for the people that can afford televisions and computers I agree that showing equality between both genders would help to change these peoples minds but they may think of this as Western values and may not want to accept them. Without pressure from other people none of this is going to change
1). No, I do not see these kinds of advertisement on tv often. I mostly see advertisement about cars, money and clothes.
ReplyDelete2.)I think media should make a voice for those who don't have the power to make a voice because they also have feelings and opinions like us and it should not be ignored. However, its up to the media to decide if they want to or not.
3.) I think the ones responsible for the inequality of women are society and how they think. Society think that men should be the breadwinners and women should stay home and cook.
4.) I think society needs to be less close minded and start realizing that women are not just good for cooking they can be just as good as a man can be.
I barely see these types of advertisements on Tv unless theyre asking for money to help. Its all about the glitz and glamor on tv, they never take reality into consideration and think of ways they can help people around the world.
ReplyDeleteI agree with this because it can help out alot of people around the world. There are more important things in the world like people who have no food, children who are sick, and woman who are being abused at home, i can ramble on about this all day. The media can honestly change the world if they just gave a voice to those who cant do much! Both genders have equal rights to a certain extent, but like they say its a mans world. Men are always dominant in society, when i see a female president maybe my mentality will change.
We do not see this kind of advertisements often on TV and it makes me sad. It makes me sadnwhen I think about how media plays such a big role in our lives and makes huge impacts as well. Instead of trying to make man or woman look perfect, showing beauty products, or a certain way people should look they should advertise about hunger, discrimination and situations like this that actually matter so that we get to do something about it. If media gave those who have less power the chance to be heard society would be making enormous changes.
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ReplyDeleteI do see these types of advertisement's but not often and usually when i do see them is around 1 in the morning or around the time when most likely no one is watching tv.
ReplyDeleteMedia should make a voice for those who don’t have power to make a voice. Do you agree with this or not? Can you justify?
I do agree that media should make a voice for those who don't have power because media is one of the most powerful way to rise awareness on an issue throughout the entire world.
Who is responsible for this ?
The society as a whole is responsible for this because we always have an impact on the way things are portrayed and it is really obvious why we become an impact.
What is the role of society regarding this issue?
I would like to agree with what Sumayah said that we as a society should show more equality between genders and that it can help create some changes throughout everyone's daily lives
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ReplyDeleteSumayah – I do not watch television a lot, so that could be the reason why I do not remember the last time (or even for once) watching the “Because I Am a Girl” commercials. As mentioned before, I see commercials about sponsoring children and helping people (mainly kids) diseased with leprosy and such terribly dangerous diseases. I cannot recollect an advertisement, which is about women speaking up for themselves. However, an issue that involves women and their voice is the burqa (the veil worn by many Muslim women) incident in France. Some Muslim women wanted to wear the veil as per their personal choice (these women protested against the ban on burqa) and some women (not only in France, but in Muslim-populated countries) do not prefer wearing the burqa. I cannot recall the source I got this information from.
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