What changes have taken place in the image and status of women in movies and magazines (newspapers)?

Changes in Image and Status of Women in Movies
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Changes in Image and Status of Women in Movies
Introduction
Over the past several years, the perception of women in various fields has gradually changed. This has in turn resulted in an increased visibility and hence roles of women in the public sphere. Just like in most industries where women are underrepresented, the film industry is not an exception. Mass media has typically been a representation of the society at large. It is a reflection of what the larger society is all about, and acts like a microcosm of the same too. For example, only 10% of women were portrayed in magazines and movies. Additionally, 5% of women were portrayed in various advertisement of companies. Women have not only been underrepresented but also depicted to be inferior to their male counterparts. Most of the movies produced before the year 2000 depicted women as submissive, weak, stigmatized, and marginalized. In recent times, however, several movies have tried to change the trend. By citing a few movies, this paper shall highlight some of the significant shifts in the image and status of women characters in recent times, especially in the dimension of gender inequality.
Gender Inequality of Women in Movies
The development and sustenance of egalitarian societies has always been the ideal model upon which several governments strive to achieve. The film industry constitutes part of the media which generally plays a crucial role in either promoting reform in this gender balance debate, or hampering it. The balance between men and women in the film industry still remains a challenge for many. Kunsey (2018) acknowledges that there is a serious gap in the balance between the two genders, even though there is a slight improvement over the past few years. Even though that is the case, a lot still remains to be done in order to really close this gap.
Over the past 3 years, there have been several movies written, directed and produced. However, from a sample of around 250 movies done by Thompson (2018), only slightly over 17% had women as either their directors, cinematographers or writers. It paints a stark picture f just what exactly ails the film industry when it comes to gender roles and inequality. There is still a serious level of suppression against women in the film industry, perhaps due to the fact that most of its positions are held or controlled by men. The perception around having women taking central roles in various movies has often been quietly derided by those at the helm.
Rise of women protagonist characters
The main goal of modern democratic states is building egalitarian society. Mass media has played a significant role in shaping the rights of men and women. Increasing the legal awareness of women is first step towards establishing an egalitarian society. Media has played an important role in reaching different spheres. These spheres include economic, philosophical, and psychological awareness of human rights. Different convention and conferences have publicized some of the stereotypes labelled against women today. For example women were portrayed in a narrow range of characters. Women were also associated with sex objects, household activities and sometimes they were not given any role to play.
Over the past few years, only few programs portrayed women as the main characters or experts. One the main reasons women could not be given any role is because there was a limited number of women in these dockets. Additionally, women were also misrepresented in the media industry compared to men. In magazines women were supposed to be beautiful, slim and young so that their standards could be accepted by the advertisement industry. If a woman could meet these standards, they were allied with sex objects. Scientists claim that masculinity and femininity are cultural constructs and not biological. How men and women are represented in society today depends on time and culture.
In some countries, represent 30% of the total employees in the media industry. Although men also take higher positions, things have changed and women have started to get represented in some higher positions. It is important to note that Russia and Uganda are the two countries where the role of men and women is equally represented in the media industry. However, the involvement of women in the media industry has not changed how women are viewed or depicted. Women are supposed to be given top position in the management. They are also supposed to be involved in the decision making of these organizations. If these things are not implemented, it media all the educated media executives and female journalists will continue being underrated in the industry.
Traditionally, protagonists’ roles in movies were male-dominated, and women could hardly feature. With the male dominance in protagonist roles, movies were generally perceived to depict women characters as a group that lacked the voice to air their concerns. Recent movies have, however, rectified this notion with a significant rise in women's protagonist roles. In 2019, for instance, the percentage of women protagonists in top gross films rose from 31% in 2018 to 40% (Lauzen, 2019). This significant rise in the number of women protagonists in movies has, in return, changed their image and status. A practical example is Carol Danvers, a character in Captain Marvel film, who, despite being a woman, confronts his enemies and ensures her team wins at the end (Deman, 2020).
With the tremendous changes that have taken place in the media industry, the contemporary society is close to achieving the goal of equality. In some countries like America and Europe where there is feminism, women have been able to attain equal rights with their male counterparts. These changes have been triggered by modern technology and emergence of different types of media. Today, people are consumers and producers of the media industry. Women have started to fight for the rights and that is why these changes are evident. Additionally, women have become more educated such that they can occupy the same job positions with men.
Women are portrayed as leaders.
Besides the rising number of protagonists’ roles amongst women, another factor in the movies that shifted the image of women is the inception of more women lead characters. The lead role has been an elusive factor for women in the film industry for many years. The elusive lead role positions among women have been perceived as a significant gender inequality aspect in the film industry. As a result, women have, therefore, been depicted as subordinate characters in the movie. However, in recent years, things have changed tremendously in the movie industry in terms of lead role ratio between men and women (Agarwal, 2014). The gap between men and women lead actors has remarkably reduced over the last decade. For instance, in 2019, 44.1% of top movie lead actors were women, an upsurge from 25.6% in 2011 (Watson, 2020). An increase in the number of women taking up leadership roles in improving women characters' reputation in movie...