Gender Stereotyping In The Mass Media

Chapter One: Introduction

1.1– Background Information
On the internet nowadays the term feminism are frequently used and stumbled upon. According to the Merriam- Webster dictionary, the term feminism is defined as the belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities. Some might say that the topic is irrelevant and "non-existence" because we are living in a peaceful community where everyone respects one another. However, the women in society differ. Despite many people 's desire to strive towards gender equality and destroying the misconception that "men" and "women" are to serve different roles in the society, it still exists and hugely evident, especially in the mass media. The mass media continues to stereotype women in

According to Fiske 's (2010) study, stereotyping is the application of an individual 's own thoughts, beliefs, and expectations onto other individuals without first obtaining factual knowledge about the individual(s) (as cited in Keene, 2010:3). In other words, gender stereotyping is overgeneralization about the characteristic of an entire group based on gender. When a person stereotype, he/she is grouping the individual into groups and ignoring the person as individual with their own characteristics and abilities. Although stereotyping would help in making judgements or fast decision in a new situation it may also cause a problem when the stereotypes are false and misguided, which may cause the person stereotyped to be offended. Thus, this shows that stereotyping can create problems in many situations, such as the workplace, school, university or social

Stereotyping in occupational status will result in disadvantage in women 's career. Gatton, DuBois, and Faley (1999) claims that gender stereotypes of occupations are manifested in the belief that certain occupations are ``women 's ' ' (e.g., nurse, teacher, secretary, etc.) occupations and others are ``men ' (e.g., automotive mechanic, engineer, medical doctor). Due to this type of stereotyping in advertisements, some women are forced to abandon their ambition and passion due to the community mindset that it is not appropriate and might be too dangerous for them.
Gender stereotyping in advertisements is an issue as it results in negative effects on both the society and the women in the community. In a way, stereotyping in advertisements describe on how women should be and how they should look. The society is affected because what people see in the media will influence their preconception, attitude, values and behaviours (Nassif and Gunter, 2008: 752). Thus, stereotyped advertisements will incorporate stereotypical values and behaviour in the society, especially for the young children who learns through what