Beyond Connotation: Female Misrepresentation and Underrepresentation in Headlines
by Alexa Le
Photo: Unsplash
If you tend to pay attention to patterns, you may find yourself noticing a very important one: the difference in how women and men are described by headlines in the media.
As addressed by my previous article, the misrepresentation of female figures in the media is a problem that not only affects our culture as a society, but also the mindset that we carry with us as we move throughout our day.
This problem is nothing new. Most of the time, when women are mentioned in the media, they are closely tied to words like “rape,” “sue,” and “marry” (1). Any awards or groundbreaking discoveries are quickly eclipsed by language closely associated with stereotypes of women, affecting how women are perceived by our society. To be clear, that is not to say that any of the words mentioned previously are any less important; however, it becomes an issue when that is all women are represented as. For example, in the case of the word “rape,” it has been found that the headlines of those news stories almost always refer to women as either a “daughter, mother, or wife” (1), as if a woman’s life is not valuable unless she is defined by her role in another person’s life.
This is made more prominent when you realize that not only are women in the media very often misrepresented, but underrepresented as well. An article from the Harvard Business Review (2) addresses this issue masterfully, mentioning a 2015 report that states that only 19% of experts featured in news stories were women. Men are far more likely to be featured in important stories, emphasizing the harmful reality that a man’s opinions are valued more than a woman’s as an authority figure.
If we want to affect change, we have to change how women are perceived in the media. It’s important not to undersell just how critical the media plays a role in our culture, as our lives are driven by consuming media, whether that is for entertainment or informational purposes. The media can either reinforce gender stereotypes or help take steps to dismantle them, for ultimately it is not just one movie or one news report that makes or breaks this issue. Instead, it is an amalgam of exposure to ideas that will affect how we move forward as a society.