Pop culture that keeps women down

By Sharon Mavin

Tomorrow is the International Women’s Day (IWD) As set by the United Nations, this year’s theme is "Equal rights, equal opportunity: Progress for all."

IWD is an opportunity to reflect on changes still to come and the need for continued activism in representing the interests of women around the world writes

The celebrations are supposed to mark economic, social and political achi

Singer Suzanna Owiyo has been vocal in celebrating women’s achievement with her music.

Masculine leadership behaviours are still the expected norm at the top of organisational and societal hierarchies. The upshot, then, is ‘feminine’ leader behaviours won’t get women to the top table, yet if women leaders are too masculine then they are vilified for not being ‘feminine enough’!

depiction on screen

When it comes to what’s acceptable in business and politics, people today are far more influenced by popular culture and the media than by reading business literature. How the popular media reinforce traditional stereotypes is evident in their treatment of women political leaders, whether it’s Hillary Clinton in the US (too masculine and not feminine enough until she cried on the campaign trail) or, in the UK, Harriet Harman (a ‘scary feminist’ who only cares about women’s issues and surrounds herself with other women MPs) or Caroline Flint (too attractive to be taken seriously).

Women leaders fare no better when depicted on screen. Take, for example, the bestselling book and Hollywood film of The Devil Wears Prada, which constructs the glossy women’s magazine editor and leader of a major organisation as the Queen of Queen Bees, more male than the men and a complete bitch to other women. The message here is clear – ‘look what you’ll turn into if you want to lead a major corporation’ –– and reinforces why it’s better for women to stay away from positions of power. In a nutshell, finding love requires sticking to the gender stereotype.

The hugely popular TV series The Apprentice constructs women similarly, with the media scrutinising women contestants primarily around their femininity, relationships and attractiveness rather than their business or leadership capabilities. Similarly, the American TV series Friends also evaluates the women characters against gender stereotypes, with Monica, ‘the competitive one’ (a masculine gender stereotype), constructed as hyper.

Societal discomfort

In Kenya Tabasamu, which is screened on a local TV station depicts women as conniving and using their ‘endowment’ to go up the career ladder or to get favours.

There remains societal discomfort with women who display masculine behaviours associated with ‘effective leadership.’ Competitive women challenge the gender stereotype of how they are ‘expected’ to behave. This message is reinforced in the popular media where competitive women are almost always portrayed as mean at worst or, at best, a little crazy.

As we celebrate International Women’s Day, we must address gender inequalities and increase women’s chances of gaining global representation in positions of power, and we can challenge media messaging about women’s unsuitability for leader roles. My research exploring the experiences of women in senior leader roles highlights how, in reality, there are many women who are as comfortable with their ‘natural’ masculinities as their femininities, and others who can adapt within a ‘masculine’ context.

Today, with more women in middle management positions than ever before, we have a pipeline of women who are motivated and competent for leadership positions – the challenge now is how to fracture traditional gender stereotypes and message positively to enable women to be accepted as powerful leaders, and for it to be natural and ‘every day’, for women to hold powerful positions in society.