User:VickyZu101/Media and gender

History
Feminist writers, largely gaining prominence in the 1967s during second wave feminism, began criticizing the Western canon for providing and promoting an exclusively white male world view. These feminists typically perceive gender as a social construct which is not only reflected in artistic work but perpetuated by it. Until fairly recently, feminists have mainly directed their studies to gender representations in literature. Recently, a new wave of academic studies focused on gender representations in modern society and culture (such as in the film, advertisement and cultural industries).

Corrected the link to second wave feminism.

Gender disparity in media careers
Numbers of women in media professions, such as journalism, are growing; As of 2018, 41.7% of the newsroom employees were women. The proportion of women journalists in online-only news organizations even reached 47.8%. However, the media is and has been statistically dominated by men, who hold the vast majority of power positions. Few women have been in leading positions; they made up only 28.3% of the television news directors and 30.5% of the managing editors.

Today, many news sites are striving for gender parity on their employees. Also, a large number of international institutions and NGOs are advocating for gender equality in the media workplace. For instance, in 2018, UNESCO supported 42 media institutions and 16 universities to implement policies and strategies on gender equality. In addition, coherent with the strategy to empower women and girls through policy implementation, 31 institutions, community radio stations and national broadcasters adopted policies on gender equality in media.

Removed one sentence to the next section; added more statistics as evidence.

Under-representation and misrepresentation
In spite of their monumental achievements, women's representation in media remains drastically different to that of their male counterparts. Women are the focus of only 10% of news stories, comprise just 20% of experts or spokespeople interviewed, and a mere 4% of news stories are deemed to challenge gender stereotypes. Studies show that men are more likely to be quoted than women in the media, and more likely to cover "serious" topics. Women have been seriously marginalized in certain news categories such as politics, law, and business; only about 30% of the news reports about government refer to women, while less than 20% of the financial news includes female sources. Furthermore, the news media always cites more ordinary opinions from female witnesses or citizens but leaves the majority of insightful statements to men.

Added a source to expand the content about women's under-representation in news media.

Sexualization
Noticing the fact that women are more likely to be presented by photos rather than words in digital news, Sen Jia and his colleagues argued that women's appearance probably serves for visual pleasure. Besides, mass media has become a driving force to discrimination based on gender. Images and expectations of gender roles are highlighted through a variety of platforms and sources like the structure of language, activities, media, school settings, historical passages or art pieces, and the workplace. Sexualization of women, in particular, is heavily centralized in mass media. When these platforms hyper sexualize women, portray them in a lack of clothing, or depict women as subordinate to men, a women's self esteem, body image and emotional well being may be negatively affected. One of the earliest studies of role portrayal in advertisement was done in 1971 by Courtney and Lockeretz. These researchers discovered that the central four themes of female Stereotypes were that a woman's place was in the home, the second was women didn't make important decisions, third that women were dependent on their male counterparts and lastly that women perceived as sexual objects.Two other follow up studies done by Wagner and Banos, and Belkaoui and Belkaoui reached similar outcomes. The final two points highlight the angle that women are viewed in regards to their sexuality and bodies. For centuries, dating back to when women would pose for paintings or sculptures, the concept that a woman's nature lied within the ground of subordination and submission has been reinforced by media.

Added a source indicating sexualization in news media.

Domestication
As one study about gender role portrayals in advertisements from seven countries' shows, women are more likely to play the role of the housekeeper and men are more likely to play the roles of professionals. As a reflection of the real world, same stories have happened in the news media. Women are overrepresented as students and homemakers while underrepresented in most other occupations.  Even for professional women, their femininities are emphasized in news coverage relating them to topics including age, appearance, and family-career balance. The Sports news tended to focus on female athletes' look and personal lives instead of their capabilities and career development. Hanne Vandenberghe, a researcher at KU Leuven, found very similar patterns in news reporting outstanding women in government agencies and the technology industry.

Added a perspective of gender roles in newspapers.