Women Studies/Female Leader’s History in the Media
Female Leader’s History in the Media: Mariah
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Within women’s history there have been plenty of milestones to overcome in society and particularly in the media. One of those milestones was the right to vote. Due to the 19th amendment all women in America had the right to vote starting August 18th -26th, 1920. It took nearly one hundred years and a lot of fighting for women to achieve this right. Having the right to vote would be the first step for woman to gain more rights. Before the right to vote woman were only encouraged to stay in the home and were considered second class citizens. Women were locked up for their equal rights movements because the media and society considered those not feminine and considered it insulting for a woman to stand up for herself.
It took lot of effort to change the constitution, women had lobbied, marched, wrote, lectured, practiced civil disobedience and even went on hunger strikes in jail leading to force feedings. Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Stanton, and Susan B Anthony founded the woman’s national loyal league in 1863 to support the 13th amendment and full citizenship for blacks and women. Men did not take women seriously and didn’t acknowledge women at conventions or the rights they wanted. Conventions were held and soon set a revaluation and change for woman was starting to take place from 1840-1920 the image and motivation for a woman was changing. These movements would be the start of other accomplishments woman will have.
These movements would be more motivation to woman all over the world and woman like Mary Barra, the CEO of GM and the first female CEO of a major automaker, and to other woman in major corporations. Only 4% of women are chief executives in major corporations. There have been many of milestones for woman to have positions in workplace environments that are dominated by men. The more women come into power the more motivation it is for all women to step up and take more leadership roles. Woman like Mary Barra are always focused on in the media. When a woman in power makes a mistake the whole world will know about it. And this follows with negative comments and enhances stereotypes places on the woman in power.
A woman has to work harder to prove herself in higher leadership roles. A woman in power like Hillary Clinton and Mary are always known for their mistakes more than their accomplishments. Even if a mistake was made years ago the media will keep recycling it over and over to the public to ensure a woman in power gets a negative image. And this takes away the motivation for future women leaders, when you see a woman on TV trying to gain leadership the negative stereotypes and language are placed on that woman before she can even prove herself to our society. Woman leadership in history and the future will always face milestones and the media. It took hundreds of years for woman to be in the position they are today. Gender expectations are still a factor in why a lot of woman are not seen as leaders and are put in the media negatively. Gender expectations are another milestone that our society has to be overcome.