Social Constructions of Gender in Media, Workplace, and Politics

Social Constructions of Gender in Media, Workplace, and Politics
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Social Constructions of Gender in Media, Workplace, and Politics
Social constructs, images, and agents of socialization from the media, workplace, and politics shape our views on gender. While some create new perspectives, others seek to uphold ancient or historical stereotypes regarding gender. While the media, workplace, and politics have made deliberate efforts to reshape our view on gender, it is evident that stereotypes and biases still exist.
Religion and media are among the most common and powerful agents of socialization. The rationale is that they are part of people's daily lives, and they all seek similar objectives in social control. Religion is regarded as inherently conservative, meaning that traditional teachings are likely to persist to date. The role of gender, precisely the place of men and women in society, is among the conventional teachings that religion upholds today. Christianity and Islam see men as fundamentally different from women. This scenario explains a New York Post headline on June 17, 1991, that read, "God is a Man!" (Kimmel, 2017, p. 234). However, religion has not always propagated the view that men are superior to women. In some historical cultures, including Greek and African, goddesses and women's spiritual power were recognized. Therefore, society can argue that the rise of sky gods over earthly ones resulted in gendered stereotypes that were more culturally constructed instead of religiously made.
The New York Post headline indicates that the media can propagate religious views, which perpetuates stereotypes and other cultural constructions of gender. However, the role of the media is more expansive than just echoing what other agents of socialization say. For example, the media decides which social issues are covered and the degree to which they are covered. Hilary Clinton's campaigns and the young men who chanted "Iron My Shirt" (Kimmel, 2017, p. 311) are examples of the media's role in shaping views. Kimmel (2017) argues that the incident did not receive adequate media coverage. He compared it to a hypothetical situation where Obama gets racist comments, "Shine My Shoes" (Kimmel, 2017. P. 311). Such an incident would have resulted in every newspaper carrying a banner headline about racism; every TV and radio news show would lead the story, and every candidate, Democrat or Republican, would immediately condemn the behaviour as inappropriate and racist. In this case, the media combines with politics to dictate what social issues receive more attention. Politically, it would appear that the country agrees with the chants against Clinton, which creates an image of women as only valid for domestic chores.
In the workplace, social constructs of gender dictate how people treat women, including whic...