It has been believed that women are now living in a postfeminist era. More access to male pre-dominated occupations makes the dream of gender equality come true despite that fact that the liberation from traditional roles has not fully accomplished. Is this true? Are women and men really equal now?
In today’s BBC news, Harriet Harman, Equality minister has criticised BBC of age discrimination on women. She said in the newsroom, women have to be 10 years younger than their male counterparts.That is a saying widely shared in the society that the older, the more valuable a man is. By contrast,for women, aging brings nothing good but problems.
The discrimination still exists under the pseudo-gender equality. Yes, women do have more chances working in the public, but the traditional gender stereotypes still persists in the wider social culture. Women are judged by their appearance, their age and sexuality. If you google “perfume” , almost every dispictions in advertisement portray female body. The old rules are also internalized in women’s minds. For example, in The Pussycat Doll’s I DON’T NEED A MAN MV below, Singers wearing bustier top do sexy postures to attract male audience, which does not accord with its lyrics. Thus, women have not liberated themselves from the traditional stereotypes.
These old stereotypes also marginalize women from participating in senior management. The invisible “glass ceiling” obstruct their promising futures. According to the Annual Report 2006, women took up only 24 percent of the senior positions in journalism. The gender traits for women such as intellectual inferior, emotional are employed to suppress women’s progress and the chance to be promoted. Even women takes charge in the senior position, male language assault and rumors are used to undermine their confidence. Kate Adies, news reporter for the BBC said:
not only that television constrains a talented woman from reaching senior positions, but also the scarcity of women at the top invites male innuendo”
Therefore, there are loads of work need to be done to truly achieve the gender equality. The primitive task is to rectify the social culture to make sure the positive perception towards gender difference.
