It is almost undisputable that the freedom and rights that women enjoy presently are as a result of strong activism of prior women rights movements. For instance, in the United States, women were not allowed before 1920. The quest for women’s suffrage started in the 1840s, especially after the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848 (Zahradníková, 2010). The women made a resolution that favored women’s suffrage although some of the members opposed the decision vehemently. They thought that the decision was too radical and that they were bound to get into trouble with some of the government authorities. Clearly, it took a long time before their demands were heeded to. Apart from the political aspect, women rights movements in the world have achieved great milestones in the education and employment sector. In the past, women only complemented and acted as servants to men. They did not have permission to own property or express their opinions publicly. However, women presently are fairly represented in politics, institutions of learning, and can work in any field. Nevertheless, although the women rights movement has contributed greatly to equality between the female and male genders, the movement has failed to address divisions among women in regard to race, class, and sexuality.
It seems competition among women is undermining the objectives of the women rights movement. Women rights movements have always been formed to agitate for the emancipation of women in all aspects. However, the most important aspect is the economic wellbeing of women. By agitating for equality between men and women, the intention ought to be providing equal opportunities for members of the specific gender constructs regardless of their race, class or sexuality. On the contrary, there seems to be divisions among women, with each division seemingly running a parallel agenda (Wolf, 2013). In the past, all women were labelled as homemakers and were expected to stay at home and take care of their children. At least during those times women were equal under the same plight. Currently, there seems to be more inequality among women than in the past.
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African American women have faced a lot of discrimination at their places of work. Most of the time, an African American woman is perceived to be overly aggressive and quarrelsome. The media portrays African American women as people who live in informal settlements with poorly paying jobs (Taylor et al., 2018). They are the cleaners, cooks, and care takers. It is no surprise that very few African American women work in the media or entertainment industry. Most of the female television news anchors have a fair complexion and that seems to be the minimum standard for female news anchors. On the other hand, black male television news anchors are accepted, an aspect which suggests women are still being discriminated against. The music industry looks worse; most of the music videos feature ladies with fairer skin complexions more prominently. Although these things happen profoundly in the contemporary world, women rights groups are silent about them. It looks like there is an unspoken consensus to limit the number of women in the media and entertainment industry using more ‘acceptable’ means. Women with a fairer skin complexion cannot complain because they have an advantage over women with darker skin color.
Racial discrimination against African American women has caused unnecessary strive among them to achieve a lighter skin. Many of them have decided to bleach their skin to become more acceptable and attractive (Jackson, 2013). They have been conditioned to believe that the black skin is not beautiful. Currently, skin bleaching creams are in high demand among women of African origin. In the past, only older women used these skin bleaching creams but they are now becoming more popular among adolescent girls. Besides, women in urban centers bleach their skin more than those in the rural areas. The most plausible reason is that women in urban centers are more exposed to the media than their rural counterparts. It is appalling that despite majority of African people having a dark skin color, most women in the media and entertainment industry have a fair skin complexion. Clearly, a majority of women are denied opportunities to work in such industries in favor of men. Arguably, it is a structural form of discrimination and women rights movements are not addressing it.
Sexual appeal is being used against women presently to limit the number of women in some sectors. Women are being portrayed consciously or unconsciously as sex objects, but euphemistically. For instance, women in music videos and movies are used to achieve a sexual appeal. It is common for women to be presented as emotional beings in movies, or even only to be featured briefly in episodes that have sexual content. According to the movie industry, women who have a sexual appeal are slim, charming, and with no skin deformation. Therefore fat women do not have a sexual appeal. Both mass and social media reinforce this perception through advertisement, how they construct their stories, as well as how they react to some images (Wood, 2014). For instance, a man who openly kisses a plus-sized woman openly is likely to receive strange reactions from the public. It is no surprise that plus-sized women do not like displaying their photos on social media. It is because they are afraid of being stigmatized. Additionally, most popular fashion and beauty magazines are obsessed with ladies with a slim figure appearing on the covers of their magazines.
Women are also currently being categorized into classes using the narrative that beauty influences the far a woman can rise. For instance, wives of prominent people such as politicians and businessmen are being used to create the image of an ideal woman. For instance, Michelle Obama has been variously used by the media to portray how an ideal woman should look like. According to the media representations, a powerful and successful woman needs to be beautiful as well as keep her body in shape. Therefore, the media suggests that an overweight woman cannot be successful and powerful. These images have placed unnecessary pressure on women to try and identify with a high class of women. The cosmetic surgery industry is now growing exponentially in the world because women want to look like the media models (Wolf, 2013). Additionally, women are trying to adopt specific eating habits and exercises to keep their bodies in ‘shape’. Several authors have also emerged, whose intention is to make profits by selling tips to women on how they can achieve a specific size or shape of their bodies. In most cases, a majority of the women do not achieve the model body shape and consequently develop frustrations.
Summarily, traditional stereotypes against women are still prevalent currently. Women are being portrayed on social and mass media as sexual objects in seemingly more ‘acceptable’ forms. They have been split in categories on the basis of their class, sexual appeal, and race. Surprisingly, there is no agitation from women rights groups for equal opportunities, especially when certain divisions of women have an advantage over others. Most of these classes are created by men to possibly curb competition between them and women. Consequently, most women are compelled to achieve ‘perfection’ before they are absorbed in certain employment sectors. Therefore, women rights movements need to ensure that all women have equal opportunities to all aspects instead of splitting amongst themselves.
References
Jackson, A. C. (2013). Attempting whiteness: Black women's expected and actual results of skin bleaching. Thesis. Smith Scholar Works.
Taylor, J. L. W., Campbell, C. M., Thorpe, R. J., Whitfield, K. E., Nkimbeng, M., & Szanton, S. L. (2018). Pain, racial discrimination, and depressive symptoms among African American women. Pain Management Nursing , 19 (1), 79-87.
Wolf, N. (2013). The beauty myth: How images of beauty are used against women . Random House.
Wood, J. T. (2014). Gendered media: The influence of media on views of gender. Gendered lives: Communication, gender and culture , 231-244.
Zahradníková, E. (2010). The Women's Suffrage Movement in the United States, 1821-1921. Bachelor Thesis. Tomas Bata University.
