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Documentary Viewing

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Servus Credit Union Women's Network recently held a viewing for it's members on the Jennifer Siebel Newsom documentary called "Miss Representation".  We had a terrific turnout from our network members and started a great conversation around women's portrayal in the media.  This has been the third time I've viewed this film, but it never gets old.  The first time was at an International Womens Day event, the second I watched it at home with my family and most recently with our network. 

I've had time to reflect on the message of the film and thought about how media impacts our roles within the business world.  It would be easy to say that the lack of women in senior roles or leadership positions lays solely at the door of the media, but that would be blatantly false and unrealistic.  Within the documentary the director contradicts herself by quoting Marian Wright Edelman "You can't be what you can't see".  She then has Condaleeza Rice stating that all of the women pioneers, including Sally Ride - the first American woman in space - didn't have another woman to look up to.  That they simply had a drive to do something they were passionate about.  We need to stop waiting for other women to break down the barriers that we see or perceive are out there and start taking responsibility for what we see as failures within the corporate world. 

While we may not be getting the help we need from the media in showing our young women and men what 'real women' look like or have the ability to be, we have to take responsibility for our own actions.  Ultimately, it's my responsibility to show my daughter that her appearance - while important - isn't more important than her intellect, or her personality. Or that the women she watches on Jersey Shore are most definitely not to be emulated.  I don't necessarily believe that not watching certain shows will wake up  media into changing their programming. What this film does provide however, is an awareness. I feel having an awareness of what's being portrayed is almost more important. It allows us to have these conversations, to steer our children (both male and female) in the right direction and provide the guidance that we should be offering and not leave it up to the TV to do that.  Perhaps, by building confidence and allowing them to see that women are just as powerful as men we'll start to see more women within leadership positions. 

Anyway, that's enough proselytizing from me!  Check out the film, it's a great conversation starter.  You can purchase the DVD on Amazon for about $20.

Tags
Challenges Facing Women in Leadership Positions, Impact of Women in Society


Comments

Paddy Storey

I find even the Disney and Family channel shows cast the same net.  I really enjoyed watching the video and thinking on a lot of the statistics.  I have been a lot more critical of what I am watching on TV since that point.  I also can't wait to go check out Gravity with Sandra Bullock as the lead to support a feminine lead role movie. 

Some of the stats are truly scary and as I look at my 11 year old daughter who is developing physically and has suffered from an onslaught of fat comments in the past 3 years because of her height and early development, my stomach turns at the thought of her cutting because of some pre-conceived notion of perfection that the world has been given :( 

I hope people keep tuning in to documentaries like these and that strong women stand up and let the world know that we want to be conveyed in a different, more positive and realistic light.  I know that I will be doing my part.