Advertising Women Working

These series of Swiffer Commercials get me every time. I know that Beauty and the Beast's new edition was a big hit, but common, brooms aren't actually alive.  Also, it is 2011, are cleaning advertisements still only targeting women?

And it isn't just cleaning advertisements. There are a bunch of advertisements that show women as ponds for men, much like this one....

Or even this one...

So these are a little dated, but still. I mean common, these are outrageous.  Here are some more modern advertisements that are no better.

If a women cannot cook, she better have a good rack.

Is this Doritos commercial serious?

Advertisements are everywhere, and when most of them have negative constructions of women, there is a big problem. 

Female Criminals

So if she isn't the poster child for domesticity I don't know who is...

She built her empire on being a killer homemaker, she also landed herself some jail time. Oops. So basically the lesson Martha is teaching us is that if a women wants to profit off her domestic abilities, she better be wiling to spend time behind bars? Okay, gotchya. When a successful woman is plastered on the cover of every stupid gossip magazine for spending time in jail, it is just a travesty. What was she thinking leaving the kitchen in the first place? There was laundry to be done, dinner to be served. Guess she had it coming. I guess the whole pre-jail Martha would have been a good role model, but lets face it, no one wants their daughter aspiring to be like Martha Stewart. 

Jenna Jameson...Feminist?

So here she is...Ms. Jenna Jameson.

Admittedly one of the most influential porn stars (yeah, I said it). I guess you could say she is somewhat a positive influence? I mean she was extremely successful in her career. I mean she did write a book "How To Make Love Like a Porn Star" which ended up being more successful than she had thought. Here is a fun interview with her, enjoy. 

Even Oprah likes the book

So clearly she has something going for her, she is successful in her industry, and is now a writer? But can we say she is a positive role model? I wouldn't push it. Jameson makes her millions off of pornography, an industry I think it is fair to say was created for men.  As much as I do see how she has changed the industry, Jameson is known for "only doing what she wants in films" (what ever the hell that means) which did not really happen before her. 

How is it that Jenna is one of the only women I can find that exemplifies a woman with some say in her career? Maybe it is because her entire job is dedicated to satisfying men.

Walt Disney

No better precursor to Disney than fairytales. Dr. Henry Giroux has said it better than anyone, “Disney has made a spectacle of innocence”.  And what better way to do this than commercialize fairy tales? From Beauty and the Beast to Cinderella to Snow White, Walt managed to completely commercialize fairy tales for children. And how does he show women working? Here is a little taste from my personal favourite movie, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

Whistle While You Work

Well doesn’t that look like fun?

Young girls grow up seeing this as female work? I know that role models like this won’t produce political leaders or CEO’s. Dr. Justin Lewis says about the media that a “certain environment of images that we grow up in and get used to…and after a while, these images begin to shape what we know and understand about the world.” By having young girls exposed to images of dainty women who do not work, or at least no work past housework, it is definitely shaping how they understand the world. Disney constructs notions of what it means to be a woman, and impressionable kids quickly absorb these ideals. So if there are not already enough problems with Disney films, we can now fully agree that there are absolutely no positive, working female role models in Disney films. So who does a girl look up to? I guess this is what we have to look forward to…

Future Princess

Fairy tales have been around forever.  Granted each version told has little alterations, but for the most part, there are not a lot of working women in them. Take for example Rumple-Stilts-Kin not only is there no working women, but the beautiful, poor maiden is sold by her father for her ability to spin gold. So here we have a women set up to work, and what happens? Rumpel-Stilts-Kin has to do it for her. What better way to tell young girls that they do not need to work than to let them know that they can just had a man do it for them? Great message.  I wouldn’t exactly say you could find a positive female role model in this story, or any other fairy tale for that matter.

As the oldest, and most told stories it is really important to consider how many young girls hear these stories. Generally, versions of fairy tales are the first stories that kids hear and whether they are young girls or boys they are still receiving the same message; girls do not work. I don’t care if they are tradition or not, but fairy tales promote problematic constructions of women.

A mother, first and foremost...

So, biologically everyone has one. And I think it’s fair to say that no two are alike. Aside from the fact that they are expected to raise perfectly angelic kids, and never fall behind on laundry. And if, God forbid, they happen to break the mold of stay-at-home-mom and get a job (making ¾’s of their male counterparts) then they become the “working mom”.  The working mom? Are you telling me that once I have children all I have to look forward to is being a mother? Not a lawyer, or professor, or whatever it is I choose to be? Guess I should follow suit of the Disney Princess and wait around for Prince Charming to support me? I have never heard of a “working dad” before, how come fathers aren’t defined by their role as a parent in the same way mothers are?

In The Beauty Myth, Naomi Wolf talks about women’s magazines as a powerful agent for defining and changing women’s roles in society. The way that women with children are first and foremost a mother is an idea we can thank societal constructions for. And what better way to confirm these constructions than Working Mother

Not only can you read about celebrity moms (they know best, right?) and write your own “Mom Blog”, but you can also read “Real Mom Stories”.  I understand that the intention of this online publication is to create a community for working mothers, and that is important, but…wait for the double sides sword…every step forward is a couple steps back. This publication only further confirms that these women are mothers first. Now, I am not saying that being a mother is not an important role, but I am saying that it is not the only role a women has.  A man is defined by his career. He is a lawyer, or a professor, or a doctor.  A women defined by her children. And if she has none? Well something must be wrong with her than. 

Progress is being made. It is not unheard of for a women to have children and a career, something that not long ago would be unattainable. But, why does a successful women still need to be defined by her children, in a way that no man is? 

The Working Women

Please excuse the awful music…

International Women's Day

This video is interesting to me for a number of reasons. First of all, the fact that there is an “International Women’s Day” dedicated to recognizing that women can work can be a little problematic. Why was there ever a time when we couldn’t? But that is a discussion for another day.

Regardless, this video does what a cartoon video can in four and a half minutes. It recognizes that women can, and do, work. Historically the majority of work done by women was in the home, either homemaking, or working as domestic servants, there was not a lot of work available to women in other fields. Weird concept for me to wrap my head around, as my mother owns a contracting company, but unfortunately this is the reality. Even now that more women are becoming professors, doctors and CEO’s, sexism still occurs in the workplace.  Take a look at this article. Three fourths less? Are you joking me? How about women get paid more, we are the ones that do laundry, cook and clean, right? Oh wait, I guess that doesn't count as work. Thank you society. 

Women are being paid less to do the same jobs as men. What about this makes sense? To me, nothing. It infuriates me that a female that holds the same position as a man brings home less dough. What also infuriates me is the confused looks I get when people learn my mother not my father own the contracting company. “Are you sure?” “Yes I’m f*%&ing sure!”

Our society is definitely making progress in terms of welcoming women into the workplace, but common, how come we weren’t always welcome? Being the double sided sword it is, my inner feminism still doesn’t understand why we were ever excluded. I have a hard time praising progress that should have been made a long, long time ago.