Gender Bias in Media: A Comprehensive Analysis of Impacts

This essay provides a comprehensive analysis of gender bias in media, exploring its prevalence and impact on societal perceptions. The paper highlights how media outlets, including major organizations like BBC and Forbes, often exhibit gender bias in their reporting, frequently featuring men as the primary subjects. It references scholarly works and studies, such as those by Jia, Lansdall-Welfare, Cristianini, and others, to illustrate the stereotypical representation of women in various media forms, including news, television, and film. The essay examines the underrepresentation of women, the roles they are assigned, and the perpetuation of gender inequalities. It also touches upon the influence of social media, the importance of media owners' responsibilities, and the need for more balanced and accurate portrayals of women to combat the negative effects of gender bias in the media.

Running head: GENDER BIAS IN MEDIA
Gender Bias In Media
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Authors note:

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There is an agender bias that is prevalent in society, and the media is no less. It is
observed that organizations like BBC and Forbes are particularly egregious as most of the time
in their stories, they refer the people as newsworthy as men, and nearly 81% of the time, they
play the story of men in their broadcast. The paper focuses on the prevalent gender bias in the
media. Prominent authors Jia, Lansdall-Welfare and & Cristianini, in their aticle ‘Measuring
gender bias in news images’ have highlighted how media is responsible for gender bias she
further mentions that Gender bias is carried out by media while reporting their female politicians.
The author has taken the reference of Belgium media and have shed light o this topic. This book
is anti-racist by author Tiffany and Jewel also establishes the idea how women are discrimised in
all the section intentionally or unitentiiannly. The Book can be traced in the OC Library. The
Columbia Journalism Review has surveyed in the year 2017, which has found nearly 80% of the
newsroom employees are completely unaware that to even report an incident of sexual
harassment that is prevalent in the workplace (The Atlantic, 2020). The women nearly represent
half of the society and the global population as well, but they are dramatically understated in all
their stories, which means that people do not pay to heed much to the issue (The Atlantic, 2020).
The president of the Women Centric Media Julie Burton said: "Inequality defines our media."
The paper focuses on gender bias in the media. The following section of the paper will discuss
the role of women in the media industry and will briefly explain how they are presented in
various forms of media with clear examples. There is a significant gender bias in the media.
THESIS STATEMENT
The role of media in influencing the world is significant as different people recognize a
different aspect of the lives differently in the media. Individuals in the society tend to believe

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what they continuously see and observe and gradually, they began to accept what they see and
perceive it as normal and believes that this is actually the way thing should be. Therefore, it is
the duty on the part of the media to show things differently and in the right way. It is important
and crucial on the part of the media to show the appropriate message (Beaulieu, 2017). They
should reflect the positive side of society and meet the expectation of society as with time,
whatever is played in media, it is believed to be real.
Several scholars and researchers have shown there is a specific way in which certain
section of the society is represented in the media. The representation is stereotypical in nature,
and the society, as a result, has classified it as female and female. While the male is perceived as
strong, powerful as well as who is intellectually as well as physically, it represented in the media
as it is expected from the society (Danescu-Niculescu-Mizil, & Lee, 2016). It is the ideal notion
that men are entitled to dominate the world so that they can conquer everything and emerge
victorious in the process. However, there is a stark contrast to the depiction of women in society
(Hayes & Lawless, 2015). They are expected to be soft, caring as well as emotional and support
the people around them, which predominantly includes their male counterparts. It is perceived
that females are subordinate to men, and their role in supporting them so that the men could be
comfortable around them (Amedie, 2015).
In the matter of gender, the role of media is very significant. It has influenced the
perception of the people by showing that there exists a big difference between men and women.
The media has depicted women as the weaker sex who has a minor role to play in society, unlike
their male counterparts who are always depicted as fearless and generally perceived as the
stronger sex. In terms of employment, most of the employees in the media industry, be it radio or
tv, it is seen that the percentage of the men in the employment has a higher percentage compared

4GENDER BIAS IN MEDIA
to the females (Jia Lansdall-Welfare & Cristianini, 2015). Most of the time, the job role offered
to the women in the media industry is either that of a junior or supporter role. It is rare in the
industry to see a woman who has occupied leadership or a senior position role in the media
house; the position is always filled by a male. In the training colleges of the media, it is observed
that the number of females is slightly above that of males. However, this is notwithstanding,
there is only one-third of the female employees, and this proves that there is a greater gender bias
in the media industry while completing the process of recruiting.
Another area is content. Most of the TV programmers and films show men as the
dominant characters while the films especially if we see some Asian countries like that of India
have from generation projected women as arm candy and cast them in the minor role while the
men in most of the cases have been awarded a titillate role in the films (Dekavalla, & Jelen-
Sanchez, 2017). However, things are changing, and women are gaining importance in the films,
but equality is a distant dream. There are shows like in the sex in the city, which has embraced
the sexuality of women and rejected the notion of patriarchy. In terms of the cost of the
production of the movies, it is seen that big hero projects have a higher budget compared to the
female-centric films, which have a low cost of production, thereby several compromises being
incorporated in making the movie (Hooghe, Jacobs, & Claes, 2015). Women violence is
common in the movie and while directing and writing film is only restricted to the men. The
women are depicted by the media as valuable in their youth as they can exhibit their sexuality
and beauty in the films. Their only assets are their sexuality; it seems according to the media.
This denies them a chance so that they compete with the men in the job field (Johns & Dye,
2019). The type of content that female actors are seen is mostly drama and romantic, while the

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men are entitled to be involved in actions. It is said that women are placed in the advertise to
attract the male gaze
In the advertisement, women are presented as homemakers and that are estimated to
know the requirement of the housekeeping as well as the family. For example, in a popular
advertisement which involved household items, for example, that of cooking oil or tissue paper,
there is always a tendency where a female will be projected, and they would be questioned and
asked to make an authority about the same (Niessen-Ruenzi, & Ruenzi, 2019). However, it must
be noted that she is not an authority because she is an expert, but because she is expected to
know things that are associated with the household pieces of stuff while on the other side of the
picture, it is seen that. Several sexist advertisements are being created even today, which
objectify women.
The content of the news also does not offer much help as women are focused on a few
matters, while men tend to be involved in varied topics. There is a male-centric news reporting
which takes place in society (Eagleman, Burch & Vooris, 2014).. It has been observed that police
view on the women is that they should dress accordingly and expose less in order to be safe in
the society. There is also less female coverage of female politicians compared to their male
counterparts. They start sexualizing women, and they often hold the women politicians
accountable for their family action while that is not the case in terms of their male counterpart. It
is observed that women are criticized by the media for certain activities while the men generally
escape such media trials.
In the music sector also the women's miss-representation is still prevalent. The voices of
the women are used mainly to strategically to sell the song. Their misogynistic lyrics are in
vogue. "Bitches ain't shit but hoes and tricks / Lick on these nuts and suck the dick." – "Bitches

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Ain't Shit" by Snoop Dogg "Snatch the bitch out her car through the window, she screamin'/ I
body slam her onto the cement, until the concrete gave and created a sinkhole" – "Love Game"
by Eminem (ft. Kendrick Lamar) are some examples. There are also several instances of
pornographic site of the women that is seen. The upliftment of women has occurred in the age of
social media. The voices of the social media are growing and is reaching more and more people
in the age of social media (Wagner, 2015). However, there is a limitation as well were some of
the male chauvinists have brought done some campaign in order to demean the women. The
media owner should be careful about the message they portray (Perrin, 2015). This will help the
women to either get empowered in society or they would be demeaned in society.
The media is generally regarded as influencing people on how the world that they exist
should see through the images as well as the messages that are produced by them. The
researchers about gender have argued that the media is always in the work of promoting the
gendered society by reinforcing the message, which is generally termed to as hegemonic
(Sharda, 2014). This inform the societal understanding which means that they are men or
women. While the social learning theorist, on the other hand, has demonstrated from an early age
that media plays an important role in socializing individuals and type them into gendered roles
(Ribeiro et al. 2018). However, it should be noted that the media representation is constantly
changing and there is a stereotypical construction of feminity as well as masculinity which is
existent in the diverse media bodies, which range from children's books, advertisements in the
online media as it has been reflected in the above discussion. It is said that the media re the
secondary agent in the process of socialization. A gendered media is responsible for constructing
differences between the gender inequalities, and thus by making the difference in the inequalities

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it seems natural rather than being created. The male-centric of the media is, however, promoted
and is generally ignored in society.
Media has been termed by several researchers as being gendered. it is being said a
gendered media is said to be one that is ideologically slanted towards a particular gender. It is
said that media are gendered as there are norms as well as reference points by which a define
earns her definition. The gendered media is said to be one which has a patriarchal design and
framework in the society. The men, as well as the women, have earned a different kind of
relation in the media; therefore, most of them are patriarchal in structure and therefore have in
patricenric in nature (Prates, Avelar & Lamb,2019). The media is said to be gendered because of
the prevalent male gaze in the media. As a result, the media is reflecting only an unrealistic
image of the women in society. The media text in so far is encoded with deeply in a sexualized
way, and women are said to be misinterpreted, as evident from the above examples.
Therefore, from the above discussion, it can be said that there is a significant gender bias
in society. As society is dictating, the media is presenting women as a part of the team in their
thoughts as well as their work. The media is taking an active rather than a passive role in society
and even if they are victims of the incident that is occurring in society. It can be clearly
understood from the above discussion that society is expecting women to be beautiful, but at the
same time, they expect them to be vulnerable and weak. The society always chokes them who
seem to be independent and different; they mark them and start to suppress them. The society, on
the contrary, expects men to be rigid as well as strong, which includes both physical as well as in
intellectual context. However, the media should act responsibly and work towards the correct
representation of the media. It must be mentioned as reflected in the above discussion the media

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is taking baby steps in doing so. However, the progress should be accelerated to achieve equal
representation of the women in the media.

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