What is it about?

We investigated adolescents’ attitudes toward media images of women in non-appearance-focused (CEO and military pilot) and appearance-focused occupations (model and actor). Both boys and girls reported that women in non-appearance-focused occupations were good role models at higher rates than women in appearance-focused occupations. Girls reported greater likability and similarity to the self for women in appearance-focused occupations compared with women in non-appearance-focused occupations, whereas boys showed the opposite pattern. Boys rated women in non-appearance-focused occupations as more competent than women in appearance-focused occupations, whereas girls showed the opposite pattern.

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Why is it important?

The findings highlight the conflicting messages girls receive in the media about careers and success for women. Girls know they should look up to female doctors and scientists, but they also know that women in appearance-focused jobs get rewarded by society. It is, therefore, reasonable that they would prefer women in those jobs. But the study also shows that teenage girls, as well as boys, value women in roles that are not appearance-focused and generally find those women to be better role models. That should encourage movie, television and advertising executives to showcase a much wider range of working women and move beyond the “moms and models” that are the most common examples of women in media.

Perspectives

To me, these findings underscore that we need to see more diverse images of women in media. Both girls and boys need to see women working in a variety of occupations in the media, so they can envision themselves/women in these roles.

Dr Elizabeth Daniels
University of Colorado at Colorado Springs

Read the Original

This page is a summary of: Model Versus Military Pilot, Journal of Adolescent Research, May 2015, SAGE Publications,
DOI: 10.1177/0743558415587025.
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