A short article on the representation of women in advertisements. There are actually so many advertisements that target women I found it hard choosing what to write on, but I found this was pretty effective in opening my eyes to the dominant ideologies in society.This essay is based on the last image below.

Typical Typical Typical

Womens Studies Critical Exercise

The perception of women in today’s modern world is now considerably more open and free than the 1950’s, yet there are still dominant patriarchal ideologies which exist almost unconsciously in almost all aspects of society. One example of this is in an advertisement from adiamondisforever.com – a website which sells diamond jewellery styled for elegant, modern women. Compared to the article by Belinda Probert on gender culture in Australia in the 1990’s, it is clear that women are now more than ever expected to be successful and economically independent– along with the underlying notion that they will also be married and have children. This message is subtly shown through the jeweler’s advertisement – which portrays a young businesswoman who has “power” from supposedly breaking away from patriarchal stereotypes. While there is the continuing aspiration for equality for women in all aspects on life, there are also contradictions in gender stereotypes today which affect women’s roles in the public and private life – something which questions a woman’s place in society. The expectations of women have definitely increased since the beginning of the women’s movement along with equality, but it is clear some dominant patriarchal view still exists today.

Belinda Probert’s article is useful in comparing the present day with the women’s movement in the 1950’s. While it seems that there have been some real changes in society when it comes to equality for both genders, it is clear that even today certain patriarchal ideologies exist about the roles of men and women. Today the roles and ideologies of women have changed dramatically since the fight for equal rights – now most women are expected to have a career and be economically independent. In fact the Australian gender culture shows today that working mothers are strongly endorsed by the public – with university numbers showing that more than 50% of the people enrolled are women. This fact is conveyed through the message portrayed by the diamond advertisement – that women can financially support themselves now, and they now have more power to do what they want. However the advertisement also disguises the fact that women generally still need children and a husband to have a strong identity – resulting in a problematic view of gender roles in society.

The jewellery advertisement clearly emphasizes a woman’s power in this world today – with the woman in professional looking attire further highlighting this point. The metaphor of the “left hand ring” is also used – showing the evolvement and change of feminism. The ad clearly refers to the time when the world was ruled by extreme patriarchy – the left hand ring indicating the “possession” of the husband, and the assumption that women stayed at home and looked after the children. This change in gender ideologies is reflected in the advertisement, where the woman can be seen to have multiple roles as a parent, businesswoman and housewife. These roles are also emphasized in Probert’s article, which states that today there is much more expected of women. Probert states “The Australian gender culture of the 1990s strongly endorses the notion of mothers working, in stark contrast to the 1950’s. But other critical elements of the gender culture are relatively unchanged.” This is true to modern society and this is also subtly reflected in the jewellery advertisement.

While the advert endorses power and success to women (“Women of the world, raise your right hand”), there is also major elements of society which contradict this statement. The façade of feminist power in the ad disguises the dominant ideology that women still aspire to be a mother and wife, even if she is a successful businesswoman. The ad is very subtle when it deals with this value; using the idea of feminist power as a means to portray the message that women today are “romantic, yet modern and contemporary”. Using metaphors, the left hand seems to symbolize feminist 1950’s values, and the right hand, contemporary values about women. However there also seems to be an underlying message that contemporary women should also be married and have children while managing their own aspirations, goals and careers from the ad and Probert’s article. The emphasis on diamond rings also reflects these values of marriage – that while women are able to work, there is still the expectation that they are to be married and have children.

Probert’s article deals with this issue, noting the increased expectations of mothers in today’s society. Her article also shows the contradictory values existing in society about motherhood – “”this group[single mothers] unlike any other, has been identified as incapable of making appropriate choices, and it is clearly the government’s preferred option to withdraw their right to be stay-at-home mothers at public expense.” This significant fact about Australian society shows that while married mothers can generally choose to either to have a career or be a housewife, single stay-at-home mothers are looked down upon and are expected to work. The contradictory values of motherhood in this issue emphasize the fact that while it seems much has changed since the 1950’s for feminism, the expectations of mothers are now contradictory and confusing. The advertisement clearly endorses married mothers; after all they are selling diamond rings, a lot of them for marriage. The issue of single mothers in society though is still one to be questioned. If there are these contradictions in society about these values, then there are still the constraints on mothers especially from these dominant ideologies.

From the aspects of these two articles, it is clear that there is still constraint placed on women today in society about motherhood, marriage and work. While most women today are now expected to work and be financially independent, there is clearly still a belief in society that women should also have an aspiration to marry, have children and bring them up. Using the disguise of power in the “right hand ring” in the jewellery advertisement, the dominant ideologies of motherhood and women are also subtly expressed along with the aspirations of feminist voices, creating major contradictions of the roles and ideologies of women in society. While the idea of feminism has changed a lot since the 1950’s, it still seems to have a long way to go when it comes to dominant patriarchal ideologies about motherhood and working women.

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