![]() _Tags: consumption/consumerism, discourse/language, gender, inequality, knowledge, marketing/brands, media, social construction, feminism, glass ceiling, glass escalator, media literacy, representation, role specialization, sexism, stereotypes, 00 to 05 mins Year: 2012 Length: 0:31 Access: YouTube Summary: We all work in an economy marked by occupational sex segregation. That is, men and women typically work in different occupations. American Men, for instance, are overrepresented as auto mechanics and airline pilots, while American women are overrepresented as preschool teachers and nurses. But why is occupational sex segregation a problem? When I bring this issue up in class, my students often counter rather quickly that segregation is merely the result of a gendered role specialization and doesn't inherently denote inequality. However, the fact is that men segregate into higher paid professions than women. Also, while women often report experiencing a glass ceiling, which refers to an invisible barrier to promotion, men who take positions in fields dominated by women report just the opposite. They face a glass escalator, or pressure to move up in their chosen professions (Williams 1992). In short, occupational sex segregation is a bad deal for women. It is less about role specialization and more about men retaining power and resources for the benefit of men. But why is occupational sex segregation so recalcitrant? Check out the commercial above from Best Buy, which aired during Super Bowl 46, and note the natural affinity it depicts between men (read, male logic) and technological innovation. In rapid succession, the viewer encounters distinguished, white men holding their high tech inventions. "I created text messaging," says SMS innovator, Neil Papworth. Only at the end of the thirty-second spot do women appear, and they are Best Buy's relatively low status sales representatives. Elsewhere on this site (here), I have argued that the symbolic domain of high tech is almost the exclusive provenance of men, and while men are overrepresented in ads that pitch items like smart phones and iPads, women are overrepresented in ads that pitch “domestic” technologies, or those that pertain to, say, cooking and other household chores (see here, here, and here). Insofar as the Best Buy ad succeeds, the approximately 100 million people who tune into the Super Bowl, will be persuaded that Best Buy is good place to buy a smart phone, but they are also left with an impression of the world they inhabit. "Why does occupational sex segregation persist?" my students ask. An important part of the answer is that advertisements reinforce the fiction of immutable differences between men and women, and by extension, they suggest that men and women naturally gravitate toward different occupations. The Best Buy commercial can be a useful reminder that advertising is a medium that excels at constructing the reality it claims to merely reflect. What is "natural" is itself a social construction. Submitted By: Lester Andrist
5 Comments
Then perhaps there needs to be more women in the field of cell-phones. This video isn't segregating anything.
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Joan
4/1/2013 03:31:26 am
You're missing the point here. The writer is saying that the lack of women in commercials like these reenforces a negative gender role for women which creates a feedback loop that in turn keeps women iut of jobs like these. I'm sure there are plenty of female technological innovators if The writers of the commercial had chosen to dig a little deeper or shift the design of their commercial slightly. The point is, they aren'tgiving women the opportunity to see themselves in the role of innovators and this is only one example of millions.
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I understand the point.
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Sarah
9/9/2013 02:23:28 am
My research methods professor (Kyle Green - University of Minnesota) showed super bowl commercials in class and had us read an article that he wrote about them. We didn't see this one but it goes along with what you are saying.
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It's more difficult than merely involving the marketing team, and it definitely need approval from less creative parties in addition to the marketing team. Both the sponsors and the media outlet that runs the advertising agree with this.
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