Name: Bianca Grau
Community/State: Cooroy, Queensland
School: Noosa District State High School
Age/Grade: 15 Years, Year 10
Overcoming the odds – how can we push through barriers to achieve gender equality?
How to Achieve Gender Equality
In modern society women can push past the many obstacles present to achieve gender equality. To do this we need to utilise education, fight stereotypes, use social media, and present feminism positively.
The best and most effective way to overcome gender barriers would be to educate society through schooling. If we educated children from a young age that both men and women are equal, then there will be no barriers in the movement of equality. If we educate young people without stereotypes and with positive images of each gender, then in the future we will achieve gender equality.
Also we need to push through barriers such as gender stereotypes. These generalisations are highly damaging for both women and men. Children are treated differently, educated differently and have unequal opportunities (Our Watch Limited, 2019). This obviously needs to change and for women there are many possible strategies to combat these obstacles. One way to do this would be everyone becoming aware of gender stereotypes within film, on the internet, in magazines and on TV (Planned Parenthood, 2019). For instance, many Disney characters such as Anna from Frozen and Cinderella from Cinderella are portrayed with very little power, needing the help of men (Langston-Washington, 2017). It is important to register these images and stereotypes are not normal and as negative.
Furthermore, as women, we should employ social media to fight for gender equality. Since there were 3.48 billion social media users this year, we can reach them through positive gender advertising (Kemp, 2019). Positive influencers like Michelle Obama and Malala Yousafzai show how women are equal and deserve equality (IZEA, 2019). We need more of this, more well-known, inspiring and passionate women to break through gender barriers.
In addition, to achieve gender equality, women need to advertise feminism in a positive light. This may sound unusual however, some don’t like, may even hate, feminists. These people believe that feminism is a movement by females for females to plot stealing power men (SPSP, 2019). Feminism is a fight for equality. If this is humanised, then both men and women can support equality and push past the many obstacles united. We need to highlight influential feminists including Barak Obama (a male), Jennifer Lawrence and Beyoncé (Fisher, 2018).
Contemporary women can push past the many barriers present to achieve gender equality. To do this we need to use school education, fight stereotypes, utilise social media, and present feminism positively. Thus, creating a better world on it’s path to gender equality.
Bibliography
50/50 by 2030 Foundation. (2019). From Girls to Men: Socail Attitudes to Gender Euality in Australia. Retrieved from 5050 Foundation: http://www.5050foundation.edu.au/assets/reports/documents/From-Girls-to-Men.pdf
Fisher, L. (2018). 30 Inspiring Women Who Shaped Feminism. Retrieved from Harper’s BAZAAR: https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/features/g4201/famous-feminists-throughout-history/?slide=1
IZEA. (2018). Top Female Social Media Influencers. Retrieved from IZEA: https://izea.com/2018/03/27/top-female-social-media-influencers/
Kemp, S. (2019). Digital 2019: Global Internet Use Accelerates. Retrieved from We Are Socail: https://wearesocial.com/blog/2019/01/digital-2019-global-internet-use-accelerates
Langston-Washington, J. (2017). In Movie Scripts, Men Have More Power and Control. Retrieved from Futurity: https://www.futurity.org/movie-scripts-gender-bias-1605212/
Our Watch Limited. (2019). Defining Gender Stereotypes. Retrieved from Our Watch: https://www.ourwatch.org.au/Because-Why/Category/Because-Why/defining-gender-stereotypes
Planned Parenthood. (2019). What Are Gender Roles and Stereotypes. Retrieved from Planned Parenthood Federation of America Inc.: https://www.plannedparenthood.org/learn/sexual-orientation-gender/gender-gender-identity/what-are-gender-roles-and-stereotypes
Society for Personality and Social Psychology. (2019). What Does “Feminist” Mean to You? Retrieved from Society for Personality and Social Psychology: http://spsp.org/news-center/blog/feminist-define
Vermeren, I. (2015). Men vs. Women: Who Is More Active on Social Media? Retrieved from Brandwatch: https://www.brandwatch.com/blog/men-vs-women-active-social-media/