Media Representations of Women and the Feminization of Global Poverty - Essay Example

? 8 July Media Representations of Women and the Feminization of Global Poverty The global appearance of poverty is excessively and disproportionately representative of the woman population. In almost all forms of media, women are constantly being represented as subordinates. As a matter of fact, according to Mariana Alfonso (2001), she found out that in the United States, Hispanic women have lower wages rates than white non-Hispanic males and females. This is something significant in that the difference is nothing more than just race and colour. Statistics constantly brings in the fact that women are more likely to be poor than men. In fact, women are more susceptible and more exposed to hunger because of the universal subordination and gender discrimination they contend with in education, healthcare, employment, and in controlling resources and political authority. Although violence against women is existent across all economic groups, women who are suffering from poverty experience it more frequently and they have less possessions or means with which to deal with the situation. Poverty among women is a global truth that reveals itself differently from one country to another; nevertheless, the factors and figures in global gender discrimination are blindingly comparable: gender disparities in wages, work-related discrimination, dangerous employment conditions, and uneven necessities in household and childhood care among others. By and large, this social development in terms of gender has aided in the explosion of feminist movement. My case is not only a contention of how Hispanic women are being represented – and just because I am a Mexican – but it is about the subordination of women on the sole basis of gender and how this has caused social stratification and elitism. Rummaging through the vast array of literature, I have found a strong resemblance in Hua Mulan, a fictitious character who made a resounding message throughout the world by proving that women can do what men can do. Hua Mulan disguised herself as a man to be allowed to join the Imperial army in order to protect their community. Hua Mulan then became an icon not just within the context of the text in which she has been storied, but even in various forms of media. Her valiant determination to join the army despite her femininity – she’s short, skinny, and very demure – was an index to the changing roles of women during her time. Women during her time were expected to stay at home as wife or helper and nothing more. For someone who has no background or anything about the character and the film in general, Hua Mulan may appear to express connotations beyond Chinese traditions. Her figure encourages an act to decode the essence of translatability. Today, an increasing proportion of the world’s population suffering from poverty signified women. Women as an object of gender criticism, extreme subordination, and social stratification established the specious ontology of women, which happens to have defined the belief of the kind of society dominated by paternal mentality. This implies a striking reality that the feminization of poverty continues to become a concerning truth. The mainstream media has described women in myriads of way. As aforementioned, these descriptions have formed the false ontology of what is supposed to be the bearer of burden and icon that signified bravery and change. Violence According to various studies, a great majority of women are victims of human trafficking that is manifested in various forms such as prostitution, which is considered to be the most common and widespread form of human trafficking (UNICEF 11). This then contributed to the way women became interpretant of weakness. Worsening of living conditions usually forces children to quit school in order to help the family survive, placing them susceptible to exploitation and violence. For instance, some young girls in Zimbabwe are trading sex in exchange for food for survival due to intensifying poverty (Thomson, “Zimbabwean Girls Trade Sex for Food”). Violence against women is a global dilemma of endemic quantity. Anywhere in the world today, women represent the main casualties of physical and sexual violence. Greatly entrenched in prejudice and discrimination between genders, violence against women is one of the most pervasive forms of violation to human rights. Contrary to the famous belief that violence against women only exist in homes, this violence against women takes various forms: “domestic violence, sexual abuse and harassment of girls in school, sexual harassment at work, or rape by husbands, strangers, in refugee camps or as a tactic of war” (7). In the film Mulan, there was a subtle articulation of violence: in the case of Mulan, she was not allowed to join the army because she is a woman. Women in the early Chinese civilizations are seen to wear distinctive garments, unique to women: a sign vehicle that indeed early Chinese women have been subjected to extreme gender classification and elitist form of social stratification. Nowadays, the least effect of domestic violence is reduced efficacy in their jobs. If a woman is more exposed to physical violence, it affects her productivity at work, which can be manifested through excessive absences and poorer efficiency at work. Consequently, this forbids the possibility of receiving salary increases and they will have less chance for promotion; even worse, violence against women could cause women to lose their jobs thereby making them poor and financially incapable. Lack of Education The relationship between illiteracy (due to lack of education) and poverty cannot be discounted. To land in a more decent job and to have a better quality of living, every person, whether male or female, must have at least an access to education. Regrettably, a large proportion of women – and the female population in general – does not have access to education or may have been denied of such opportunity. Fifty-five per cent (55%) of the 93 million out-of-school children are girls (Soroptimist 3; Chant 201). Correspondingly, out of the 16% of the world’s population representing adults who have no access to education, approximately 66.67% are women (UNESCO 2; 3). It has also been observed that despite girls having access to education, their development is often obstructed by the teachers’ approaches and gender-biased textbooks that emphasize adverse gender stereotypes (2). In addition, poverty carries out a rather cyclic effect in that it aggravates gender discrimination and causes disproportionate access to education. Seen this way, girls and the female population in general are put in double threat as influenced by both gender and poverty (UNICEF 26; 4). Women Have Less Income than Men In 2009, the ITUC or International Trade Union Confederation performed a survey on 300 thousand individuals in 20 countries in order to find that the global gender wage gap or “the difference between male and female earnings expressed as a percentage of male earnings” is 22% (4). Surprisingly, in the United States, the wage gap is 19% and even if men and women have the same academic qualification and landed on the same job, the wage gap can still exist (4). In essence, women continue to receive lower wages than men even with the equal pay for equal work policy passed by the United States federal government. While wage gap is already on the rise in rich countries, the situation is even more difficult in developing countries. Full-time, high paying jobs are mostly offered to men than to women; thus, women’s access to decent jobs is more limited than it is for men considering that some countries in the developing world prefer male employees than female employees because women have lesser access to education; therefore, they are less educated. Because of this, a large majority of women are resorting to dangerous, low-paying and insecure jobs that afford them with little to no financial freedom and social benefits (5). Correspondingly, a large number of women are engaging in part-time jobs, which still do not guarantee financial security and prospects for promotion. Because women are normally expected to stay at home to take care of the kids and to do household chores, part-time jobs are the easiest resort for them to contribute to the family income. These responsibilities often preclude them from bending all their focus on landing a decent job. Also, the traditionally-shaped notion that women are not as capable as men and that they should only perform their function as housekeepers immobilize their income potential. Growing Number of Female-Led Households With the advent of equal rights movements, almost a third of households worldwide are supervised by women. In the United States alone, “approximately 84 per cent of the 13.7 million single-parent households are headed by women while just 16 per cent are headed by men” (8). Working mothers have more difficult time balancing their time with the responsibilities they have for their family and their work-related activities. Irrespective of whether the child receives financial support from the father or not, the single mother always takes care of the household necessities. Considering that single parents, which in this case are single mothers, do not have the advantage of a partner to divide family responsibilities with, they are constantly stuck in an extremely difficult situation in which it is almost impossible for them to have a reliable source of income. Female-led households with mothers solely taking the responsibility in maintaining the family’s financial security have been impacted by the recent global economic downturn. Because of this, more and more women are becoming poorer with each succeeding years. Conceptualization of the Feminization of Poverty Hua Mulan is an icon of change. She served as a figure that has proven the abilities of women. In this paper, there are many references to important social and economic issues like feminization of poverty and gender discrimination against women. This, for sure, is an important sign of how debasing the specious signification the world has described women through. Her story is significant in a sense women can do more than just becoming a wife or a mother. Today, the more common aspects or measurements of poverty such as educational attainment and lacking possessions serve as thresholds or standards that ease the determination of a woman’s qualification to poverty. In the film, Mulan has been given a sword, which means that a new development has been reached: there was a great change in the way society has viewed women. Mulan was a sign and icon of change. In this regard, my personal view regarding the representation of women in media goes beyond the interpretant of the images and pictures alone. The usual causes of women’s poverty have been specified and explained above. These causative factors clearly contribute to the feminization of poverty in that they largely contribute to reducing the financial capacity of women. For instance, domestic violence obliterates the efficiency of women in their job functions, inevitably causing them to incur more absences and even lose their jobs. Obviously, when they lose their jobs, it would make them financially less-capable or financially incapable at all. In addition, the traditionally-based gender discrimination always put women at a disadvantage and persuading the society to return women to their supposed “inherent roles” that is to take care of the children, husband and household chores. All of these contribute to the so-called “feminization of poverty” in which women are most likely to become poorer and largely represent poverty due to many disenfranchising social conditions. In a nutshell, there is a striking truth in the feminization of poverty as it has been the case in almost all countries worldwide. As long as the society continues to disregard social movements on equality of rights, the feminization of poverty will remain accurate. Works Cited Page Alfonso, Mariana (2001). Wage Discrimination Against Hispanic Females in the United States [PDF]. Web 26 November 2013 http://www.tc.columbia.edu/students/see/events/Alfonso%20-%2010-30-01.pdf> Chant, Sylvia. "Re-thinking the 'Feminization of Poverty' in Relation to Aggregate Gender Indices." Journal of Human Development 7.2 (2006): 201-220. Print. Moghadam, Valentine. "The Feminization of Poverty and Women's Human Rights." Social and Human Science July 2005: 1-39. UNESCO. Web. 8 July 2013. Soroptomist International of the Americas. Women and Poverty. Live Your Dream, 2011. PDF File. Thomson, Mike. "Zimbabwe Girls Trade Sex for Food." 12 June 2009. BBC. Web. 8 July 2013 United Nations. Highlights of the EFA Report 2009. UNESCO, 2009. PDF File. United Nations. The Beijing Platform for Action. n.d., New York. New York: United Nations, 1996. Print. United Nations Children's Fund. The State of the World's Children 2004: Girls Education and Development. UNICEF, 2004. PDF File. United Nations Children's Fund. The State of the World's Children 2009: Maternal and Newborn Health. UNICEF, 2008. PDF File. Read More