Strategically Communicating

The dichotomy between the conversation about feminism and gender roles in Media and Society and the current presidential debate conversations is startling. As a college-educated woman, I’ve been a part of countless conversations about feminism, what it means, where it’s headed, the voice of anti-feminists, etc. I always liked to think that we, as a gender, have come a long way. Likewise, the text quotes, “The reality is that we live in a society and time in Western cultures where differences between men and women have actually become less and less marked over the past fifty years.”

But then I flip on the television and it feels like fifty years of fighting for gender equality never occurred.

Case in point. The Daily Show on Thursday covered the presidential debates discussion of women’s issues, and how women feel about the candidates. Multiple media outlets used the words “turn on” and “turn off” over and over when discussing how women feel about Romney or Obama. Samantha Bee’s subsequent commentary is so poignant, sadly, because this really seems to be the way the GOP believes that women think.

One thing to note – Samantha Bee and the pundits discussing the “women’s vote” are still only taking into account the vote of the upper-middle class white woman, highlighting the Euro-centrism still prominent in most political conversations in America.

How far have we really come in gender equality, if this is how our leaders and media talk about women?