EXTENDED ESSAY- GENDER BIAS IN THE MEDIA
TOPIC: How does Media portray gender, and the effects it has on the 21st century individual?
By: Calvin Mends
INTRODUCTION:
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, gender refers to the state of being male or female. Gender bias is the unequal treatment in opportunities and expectations, either at home workplace or anywhere, due to attitudes based on the gender of a person or a group of people. Gender bias has increased significantly over the years. Even in the most developed countries, gender bias is a huge problem. Gender bias is the belief or attitude that one sex is of higher power than the other. When the topic of gender bias comes up, it’s usually within the context of women being the victims and that is going to be my main focus in this essay. Gender bias has a lot of implications on society which greatly affects the world as a whole and this is related to language because, language is the most common form of communication and it is a very powerful tool, which more often than not, is misused and misunderstood. The different media forms, as well as different media in countries, has an effect on our perception of gender.
A new study conducted by The United Kingdom’s Economic and Social Research Council found out that
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Gender bias in the media is increasing significantly, because almost all countries share the belief that women are not meant to work in the media and also most media coverage are about men; no matter how economically developed a country is. Even in countries like England and Sweden there are fewer females in the media industry and in the media as compared to other less economically developed countries like Ghana, and Nigeria; and no matter how progressive a country may seem in terms of gender equality, gender is still biased towards women in the media and the media