Figure 3 Results:
When asked which gender respondents felt got promoted more in the workplace, 82.07% believed male while 4.14% believed female. Interestingly enough, 13.79% preferred not to say. As you see in figure 3, there is an unspoken rule when promoting employees. Women are viewed as risky or too emotional. It is safer to go with a man.
This shows in our results more than we expected.
Figure 3 Discussion:
For centuries women have struggled with oppression, constantly being compared to one another and never having the upper hand. Iris Marion Young states in the article “Five Faces of Oppression” that
“Women’s oppression consists not merely in an inequality of status, power and wealth resulting from men excluding them from privileged activities” (Young 52).
Women have not had the same opportunities that are so quickly given to the opposite sex. Our study proved that women are still facing oppression today in our society. The majority of the respondents proved that society feels men are promoted more than women. In the article “Tournament Incentives in the Field: Gender Differences in the Workplace,” Josse Delfgaauw et al. explains the small number of women in higher positions is due to the occupational sorting from gender differences (Delfgaauw et al. 306). Compared to this study, our research seems to align perfectly. Men are promoted more than women. The reasons attributed to that should not be that women are compared to men.
Marvel on what the corporate world would be like if men were compared to women.
Figure 4 Results:
When asked if the respondents felt the media's portrayal of women has a negative effect on women's rights, 28.77% felt a lot, 27.40% felt a great deal & moderate amount, 15.07% felt a little, while 1.37% felt not at all.
Figure 4 has an array of results, the majority of them show that the respondents do think that the media has a negative effect on women's rights.
Figure 4 Discussion:
In Dr. Duchess Harris's book "Sexism in the Media" she claims “In the media, sexism can occur in many forms, such as the images used in advertising, the portrayal of female characters in the film, and the coverage of women in the media" (101 Harris). The media - whether it be TV, movies, books, or social media - has a huge and influential impact on society. The negative portrayal of women in the media can be dangerous because of how important media is in our culture.
Children in today's world use technology and media from a young age, so it is important that the image of women presented is one that is positive and truthful. It can create a toxic mindset of women if, from a young impressionable age, children see women as objects. The presence of women in media forms such as the news is often based on appearance. In the article titled "Sexism on the Set: Gendered Expectations of TV Broadcasters in a Social Media World" by authors Teri Finneman and Joy Jenkins, it is stated that
“Expectations for women's appearance in broadcast journalism can be so rigid that one Midwestern television station has an 11-page guide of do's and don'ts for its on-air female journalists (personal communication, 17 October 2016)”
Women's appearance is valued higher than if they can actually do the job. When used as just 'eye candy', women are objectified and de-humanized. The book titled “Gendered Media: Women, Men, and Identity Politics”, by author Karen Ross, discusses sexism in politics. It states that
"while all branches of the media are implicated, most commentators suggest that cable tv stations were particularly poisonous. For example, MSNBC host Chris Matthews described Clinton as a 'she-devil'" (Ross 103).
Politics are a very important aspect of our society, and women being denounced and criticized in this field is very dangerous. It also is the way we implement change, and when it is seen as a man's world, women are not able to make advances in society. Figure 4 displays how many believe and acknowledge that media has a large impact on the image of women in society.
Figure 5 Results:
With only having 16 of 149 respondents be male, and 131 of them being female, the fact 28.8% said being a feminist did not describe them was shocking to us. The term feminist describes a person to believe that in all aspects of the world women should be equal to others. It is hard to believe that the majority of the respondents did not feel that the term feminist applied to them.
Figure 5 Discussion:
Figure 5 states that the majority of the respondents said that the term feminist did not describe them or described them slightly well. In the article "What Is Feminism, And Why Do So Many Women And Men Hate It?" Kathy Caprino explains "Many people fear that feminism will bring about negative shifts in relationships, marriage, society, culture, power and authority dynamics, and in business, job and economic opportunities if and when women are on an equal footing with men" (Caprino).
Feminism is often seen as a hot word in politics and social media. Many people who actually have feminist values do not consider themselves one due to the false images portrayed in media and stereotypes. Being a feminist does not mean that you need to go to every protest and be incredibly active online to support it. It means that you believe that women should be treated as equals to all genders in all aspects of life. This answer was disappointing to us but further proved why we chose this topic for our project. We need to continue to educate and bring awareness to women's oppression.
Figure 6 Results:
When asked if respondents felt there were enough resources put in place to help homeless women transition back into society, 28.67% strongly agreed, 36.36% disagreed, 16.08% neither agreed nor disagreed, 16.08% somewhat agreed, and 2.80% strongly agreed.
We were surprised that 16.08% of respondents neither agreed nor disagreed that there are enough resources put in place to help homeless women. This proves a lack of knowledge and or awareness of this major societal issue.
Figure 6 Discussion:
It is shown in figure 6 that 36.4 % of respondents do not feel there are enough resources put in place to help homeless women transition back into society. In the article "Cycle of Perpetual Vulnerability for Women Facing Homelessness near an Urban Library in a Major U.S. Metropolitan Area" by Janny S. Li et al., it is stated that
"gendered vulnerability is an important theme in the issue of homelessness. Given the historical discrimination, marginalization, sexual harassment, and disempowerment of women, homeless women continue to face added vulnerabilities compared to men..."(Li).
There are several unique challenges homeless women face on a regular basis compared to men. Homeless women have to deal with the struggles of menstrual cycles, pregnancy, and fear of sexual assault without access to proper care and protection. It is mentioned in The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists
"Homeless women are at higher risk of injury and illness and are less likely to obtain needed health care than women who are not homeless".
It is continuously proven that homeless women often feel isolated, unheard, and un-helped. In the article "Differences between homeless women and men before and after the transition from shelter to community living: A longitudinal analysis" by Renne de Vet it is stated that
"Because women are worse off than men regarding many social quality factors before shelter exit, and their situation does not improve significantly relative to men after shelter exit, this could be an opportunity for shelter services to focus their policies on improving women's social quality, and indirectly of their children, during and after their shelter stay" (Vet).
As figure 6 clearly shows, society does not feel that there are enough resources in place for women to transition back into society. Focusing on their social inequalities could be a great start to a much-needed change.
Figure 7 Results:
Out of 149 responses, 98.7% were female responses while only 1.3% were male responses.
Figure 7 shows that 131 respondents were females and 16 respondents were male. This type of result was very disappointing due to the many different types of social media platforms we used. Our group's purpose was to educate and bring awareness to women's oppression. We would have liked to have received more feedback from males.
Figure 7 Discussion:
In the article "How Men Can Become Better Allies to Women" authors Brad Johnson and David Smith explain that
"We define male allies as members of an advantaged group committed to building relationships with women, expressing as little sexism in their own behavior as possible, understanding the social privilege conferred by their gender, and demonstrating active efforts to address gender inequities at work and in society" (Johnson et. al.).
Men need to use their position in the advantaged group to help support and empower women to make a change. This survey resulted in a perfect example of how men are not doing that. This survey was available to men and women, but the title and poster of the survey about women's oppression didn't seem to interest men as figure 7 clearly shows.