No matter how much Beyonce insists, girls don’t truly run the world.
According to the U.N., education is still unattainable for girls in various regions of the world, including those in extreme poverty. Women are subject to lower-level jobs, with a lack of benefits and, often times, a salary.
And even in developed countries like our own, the number of female leaders in business and politics is lacking.
Is there an underlying factor that keeps female power so close, yet so far?
On Nov. 10, the Alliance for Women in Media Foundation in partnership with the Women and Politics Institute at American University hosted a screening of “Miss Representation.”
The documentary, written and directed by Jennifer Siebel, “explores how the media’s misrepresentation of women has led to the under-representation of women in positions of power and influence.” It particularly focuses on the ways media affects women and girls’ ability to both see themselves as leaders and be seen as leaders in society.
I was fortunate enough to watch a screening of the film and was shocked by the blatantly obvious media distortion of women that never before bothered me.
However, what was more horrifying is how deeply ingrained this “acceptance” of women in the media is present in young girls.
At Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School in Anacostia, where I tutor for D.C. Reads, the resident hero among the seven-year-old girls is Nicki Minaj, a female rapper who consistently references to her “thick ass” and sexuality in her lyrics.
Her songs are constantly hummed and sung along to like a mantra at the playground. Nowhere in their curriculum are they taught about strong, influential women like Condoleezza Rice and Gloria Steinem, nor are they ever exposed to it in the average 11-hours-worth of media they consume a day, according to the nonprofit Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.
While in America women have made great strides in leadership over the years and have much to be proud of, the United States still places 90th in the world for the number of women in national legislatures, according to the documentary.
Moreover, women hold only three percent of management positions in mainstream media, and 65 percent of women and girls have disordered eating behaviors, according to the film.
Outside the developed world, the effects of gender inequality is reason enough for the U.N. to dedicate one of its eight Millennium Development Goals to fixing it. As MDG number three, gender inequality can be considered one of the most important goals that the U.N. and the world should achieve by 2015.
This is what brings us back to Beyonce.
While her “girl power” anthem may seem like feminist mumbo jumbo to most, I can’t help but applaud her. Sure, her facts aren’t completely straight, but she is providing women with the confidence to overcome gender inequality in a world where women who are given the opportunity to shine are doing just that and more, despite how the media portrays them.
As a nation, we can serve as an example for less developed countries. However, we stifle this potential when our most persuasive form of culture relays to girls and boys that a woman’s value and power lie in her youth, beauty and sexuality, rather than in her capacity as a leader.
Other countries like Brazil and Argentina are catching on, and even surpassing the United States in female power, electing female presidents and, not only growing as potential powers, but opponents to the United States.
So sure, call us feminists, tell us we’re bad at sports, that a woman could never be president and that we should be in the kitchen.
And then watch us prove you wrong. Girls may not run the world, but we will catch up, tackling the mainstream media as our first opponent.
Julia Greenwald is a freshman in the School of Communication.
