Women in 2013

Women in 2013

by Janae Rusin

Sometimes I think about how other women in the future will perceive the American woman now. This is what I think an sociologist 200 years from now will say about American women in the year 2013.

"I have looked at these women and I find them quite the conundrum. There seemed to be as a whole, a lack of self esteem that was perpetuated by the media and especially advertising which was controlled primarily by men. But the irony is that the women bought the products that these ridiculous companies made which perpetuated the cycle. If they would've halted consumption, they would have greatly damaged these propaganda machines.

For example, there was this company called L' Oreal that sold makeup. Makeup seems to be a type of face painting the women did at the time but the idea was to make it not look like you were painting your face. This was a very confusing time for the women. L'Oreal had a slogan, "Because you're worth it." The only assumption, then, is that if you don't buy this makeup then you are not worth anything. Instead of rejecting this silly notion that the dyes one puts on her face makes her substantial in life; there was actually so much demand that there were hundreds of these makeup companies and thousands of makeup products. This competition, both among women and the companies, worked well with the economic system of the time - capitalism. Women primarily controlled the finances of the household but held almost no positions in heads of companies. It's this type of counterintuitive thinking that baffles me of this time. Thus changing this propaganda (perpetrated primarily by males but sometimes by her fellow females - females in power tended to act the way males did) was to be at a later date when females had more responsibility thus more of a say in companies.

In addition to the face painting, the women wore these stilt-like shoes called "high heels." These really fascinate me because there is no utilitarian function for them whatsoever. They are a perfect relic of the time because they portray the need for women to fit in and look beautiful even at the cost of physical harm to their feet. These stilt-like shoes were flat at the toes  and raised in the back causing foot problems to be rampant for women. Although some women rejected them as footwear, the general consensus was that high heels were representative of a strong, fashion forward female which was highly coveted at the time.

Though the majority called for equal rights for women, there was a known problem called the wage-gap. For the same job, woman made about 30% less than men. Although this was fairly widely know, especially in the more intellectual and powerful circles, I can see very little was done. There were two possible options for change: from the ground up or from the top down. The most rapid fix would've been for the government to mandate companies to have at least 40% women on their boards and transition power to females instead of mostly males thus making a top down change. Other countries at this time had done that. But since the economic system in America was capitalism that was an extremely unpopular notion because the prevailing thought was to let the markets decide everything without government intervention even if it was unfair to a certain people group.

Before you get too appalled you must remember at this time, American had not even had a female President! There was still an undercurrent of thinking that women should not and do not deserve to be in power - a leftover relic from archaic Christian thinking which pushed women to be second class citizens in the church. Church attendance was quite high in America at the time, and most churches held the belief that women were not to lead the church based on a verse in the Bible over half the people who believed this could not even name.

Although most thought women to be just as intelligent as men, women were considered flighty, gossips and too emotional. And I found it did become a self-fulfilling prophecy. I recently came across a relic called a magazine targeted for women that had no substance in current affairs. They mostly contained these paid messages called advertisements. These were part of the propaganda machine that promoted these makeup companies and fashion clothes and high heeled shoes. And guess what was the non-paid content of this magazine? Articles and pictures of "beautiful" women in makeup, expensive clothes and high heeled shoes! Women were consuming these products at an alarming rate indeed because they of course were seeing from every possible media source. But I very much want to take these women by the shoulders, shake them, and tell them to wake up from their cycle of meaninglessness. Yet I must remember how perspectives change with time.

The most sad aspect that I researched was the rate of eating disorders among women. In the media advertisements of women, models were used instead of real women who used the products. In a movement I have a hard time understanding, the type of woman used in advertisements was always skinny and usually in an unhealthy manner. For the most part, healthy body types were not represented, the emphasis was almost always on how thin one was. Since these women were bombarded with this "perfect" body type, they wanted to be thin too. So, instead of healthy eating, they dieted to the extreme. This was yet another topic the magazine would write about - how to diet effectively - another example of both creating the misinformation then reinforcing it. For the most part, women created and wrote the magazines and other information but don't forget the companies behind this all - the paid advertisers - were mostly all run by men.

Thus although women contributed to their own plight in 2013, they could've effectively ended it by stopping or curbing consumption of products, especially superfluous products. Since capitalism was the economic powerhouse of the time, reducing or ending demand would have drastic effects on the supply. The companies and advertisers needed to be stopped but they only would when they had a reason to stop: when their demand dried up.

Looking back we now know how it all ended. When Janae Rusin toppled the whole machine in 2014 when her daughter was two and she didn't want her to live in such a depressing place for women. Now we all have her to thank."