Sexism and the role of womens groups

Jeswan Kaur | January 28, 2011 Womens organisations in Malaysia are not doing enough to change chauvinistic mindsets. COMMENT Last October, the local Mandarin daily Kwong Wat Yit Poh, as part of its coverage of the Asian Games, carried a picture of women swimmers with this caption: Makes you unable to restrain yourself. The writer, in assuming that all his male readers shared his prurient thoughts when looking at a picture of women in swimsuits, insulted both men and women. But it was a womens group, the All Womens Action Society (Awam), which complained about it in a letter to an online news portal. Indeed, if the women of this country are to see a change in their lot, it is up to them to do the work. They certainly cannot depend on government agencies, not even the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry, which has remained silent in the face of sexist media portrayals of women and displays of bigotry by male public officials. All this despite Malaysia being a signatory to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (Cedaw). In 2009, the director-general of the Labour Department, Ismail Abdul Rahim, revealed both his ignorance and his sexist attitude when he ridiculed the need for a Sexual Harassment Act, saying it could lead to a dull and rigid environment in the workplace. It would be a waste of time to talk to such a bigot about Cedaw, which seeks, among other things, to safeguard womens dignity at the workplace. Perhaps he was just lucky not to have been maimed by womens groups. But we may well ask: Where were the womens groups? Ismail is just one of the many chauvinistic high-powered figures dispensing their pea-brained thoughts to the Malaysian public. With so many of them running around scot-free, it is no wonder that media organisations run riot showing women as sex objects. For instance, they have no qualms carrying advertisements showing women as lusty or sexstarved. One example is the Super Power coffee commercial that shows a husband taking his wife to a genie, seeking power to copulate satisfactorily. Another advertisement, for the Orang Kampung Kacip Fatimah, shows the husband all too impatient to get home from work. He runs up to his bedroom to join his wife, who has just had a drink containing kacip fatimah, a traditional herb taken by women for its aphrodisiac effect. Then there is the Ombak Besar advertisement that talks about bigger breasts for women. In a country where the government can push through any new law it likes, why are such lewd messages allowed? Isnt the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry offended? Or is there a gag order barring it from taking these television stations to task?

Even perfume advertisements, both on television and in magazines, unabashedly use women to sell their products. Likewise, neither Malaysia Airlines nor AirAsia has ever failed to flaunt its female cabin crew in announcements of new fares. What happened to the male stewards? Changing mindest Womens groups must always remember that they exist to protect and defend womens rights at all costs. Writing letters to editors is not enough. It is a shame that not a single womens organisation marched up to Ismails office to rebuke him for his atrocity. Educating the media is difficult, but it is not an impossible task. Perhaps the best strategy is one that brings about a change in the mindset of editors. This could lead to a smart partnership between the womens groups and the media establishments. There is much work for the womens groups to do against the prevalent sexist mindset. Nowadays, not even the movie theatres are spared. In a recent Malay movie, Cuti-cuti Cinta, there is a scene in which the hero points to the female leads breasts and says, Ni apa? Nasi lemak 50 sen? This piece of dialogue went uncensored, but not the fleeting sight of Sharifah Amanis belly button in Dalil Cinta, which was aired by TV3 on Nov 28. What criteria are the censors using? Womens groups should worry about such trivialisation of women, their bodies and their concerns. In 2008, when a restaurant employee accused former minister Jamaluddin Jarjis of sexual harassment, what was the reaction of womens groups? Nothing. In less than 24 hours, the complainant withdrew her statutory declaration, saying she was used to Jamaluddins rough ways and jokes. Jamaluddin got away without the slightest reprimand from any womens group. When it comes to defending womens rights, womens groups cannot just pick and choose their issues. When advocating womens welfare, they must not allow themselves to be cowed by the threat of being blacklisted because of the sensitivity of the cause being championed. It is no crime to march in the streets or to government departments to demand that women be treated with the same respect accorded to men. While womens groups are busy dealing with issues like amendments to the Penal Code on rape and looking at ways to empower women, these will be good only if the chauvinists and bigots be they politicians, bureaucrats, editors, film-makers or owners of media organisations are challenged and persuaded to change their sexist mentality.
https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/opinion/2011/01/28/sexism-and-the-role-ofwomen%E2%80%99s-groups/ **********************************************************************************
Is it Morally Right for Firms to Abuse Women when it comes to Marketing/Advertising and who to blame for the ideal image of a woman in our society? The adverts are carefully crafted bundles of images, frequently designed to associate the product with feelings of pleasure stemming from fantasies and anxieties (Craig 1997). Advertising can also be defined as a paid for mass-media communication, and a means of managing and controlling the consumer markets at the least cost (Webster). It is clear that advertisers seem quite willing to manipulate these fantasies and exploit our gender identities to sell products. Gender is a social construct, a dichotomy that exists in all societies. It is used to describe the socially constructed differences between men and women, referring not only to individual identity and personality, but also at the symbolic level, to cultural ideals and stereotypes of masculinity and femininity and, at the structural level, to the sexual division of labor in institutions and organizations (Online Dictionary of the Social Sciences). The definition of gender encompasses a great deal. Temperament, abilities and skills, activities and behaviors, ideal types and accepted and unacceptable deviations from the ideal, sensuality and culture based essence of what it means to be male or female, are all part of

the gender constructs of a given society. Therefore, marketers perform their activities differently when their targets are male than they do when the targets are female, and consumers responses often differ on the basis of gender. Sales personnel learn that alte rnative methods may be required when a potential customer is male rather than female, for example: the use of color in promotion, advertising and packaging sends gendered messages, perhaps the most obvious of which is the association of bright, bold colors with toys for boys and pastels and purples with toys for girls. In todays business world, women are used as an object to attract... [continues]

http://www.studymode.com/essays/Advertising-And-Exploiting-Women-1654371.html ********************************************************************************** 0 - The Use of People in Advertising 7.1 The Use of Women in Advertising (a) Advertisements must not project women as an object for sex or be shown to merely satisfy men's desire and satisfaction. (b) Advertisements must portray positive images of women.
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http://www.cmcf.my/onlineversion/part-3-advertisement **********************************************************************************
POTRA YAL OF WOMEN IN 'NOMEN'S MAGAZINE ADVERTISEMENTS: COMPARISON BETWEEN HER WORLD AND WANJTA By KALAIYARASI KA THIRA VELOO September 2001 Ch airman : Associate Prof. Musa Abu Hassan, Ph.D Faculty : Faculty of Modern Languages and Communication
Gender stereotyping is one of the dilemma that still exists and is prevalent in the advertising industry in Malaysia. Advertisements tend to represent women in limited' roles. Advertisements Jenerally depict women as homemakers or mothers or show them as sex objects or sexually provocative figures. Seldom wornen are shown in work settings, business roles, or in position of responsibility and authority. Since women are always portrayed as decorative objects by media, women's magazines should take the lead to prevent this culture from being practiced continuously.

The overall objective of this study is to do a comparison between Her World and Wan ita advertisements on the portrayal of women for the year

1997.

Data was collected using content analysis. They were advertisements in Wanita magazine and 344 advertisements in Her World magazine. Descriptive statistics and chi-square test were used to analyze the data. The result showed that, most of the advertisements in Her World and Wan ita were in bleed pages and in full color, placed at the upper half of the magazine. The result also indicated that advertisers preferred general settings with at least one female portrayal to promote their product. Both magazines were very keen in portraying women in characterization stereotypical positions. Besides this, casual wear was the most frequently used attire in both Her World and Wanita advertisements. Both magazine also emphasized more on emotional appeals to gain attention of the readers. In terms of advertising execution, both magazines preferred factual message to place their women portrayal advertisements. The results also indicated thaI Her World advertisements emphasized more on personal care products whereas Wanita advertisements focused more on cosmetics advertisements. The Chi-square test results indicated that there were significant differences in the portrayal of women between Her World and Wanita in terms of advertisements placement, color of the advertisement, role of women portrayal, advertising execution, types of attire and also the types of product.

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http://psasir.upm.edu.my/9928/1/FBMK_2001_1_A.pdf *********************************************************************************

Malaysia: All women in advertisements to be covered head to toe

THE Alor Setar City Council recently implemented a ruling requiring all nonMuslim models to be decently attired on billboards. Advertisers who ignore the ruling would be fined RM300 and have their "offensive" billboards removed.

Having worked in the Malaysian advertising business all these years, I cannot believe we have allowed such a thing to happen. Was the 4As consulted on the move? What about the rakyat? Does freedom of expression mean anything? The council has warned advertisers and billboard operators to follow the ruling or face the consequences. which many suspect, may go beyond the simple removal of a billboard. The ban will soon include all forms of advertising, including leaflets, posters, print and TV ads. All models, regardless of race or nationality, will be covered from head to toe. A new ruling will censor all forms of visual communication, including books, magazines, TV shows, movies, stage plays and cultural performances. Our wives and children, regardless of race, religion or nationality, must comply with a strict dress code. We will lose our cultural identity and become a grey, faceless and homogeneous society. Will we still have freedom of expression and a sense of individuality? Is this simply about choice of clothing? Or is it about control and manipulation? What if it doesn't stop there? Our advertising industry is worth RM15bil, and growing at an average rate of 8% every year. It provides employment to some 30,000 people. The total value of the top 30 Malaysian brands, according to 4As, is worth over RM80bil. If we allow what happened in Alor Setar to spread, we can say goodbye to these numbers, and goodbye to progress. The same group of people are killing our industry state by state, first Kelantan and now Kedah. The imposition of certain dress code and conduct will eventually kill creativity and the economy.

Do not think that it doesn't affect you because you don't work in advertising or its related industries. If you choose to keep silent, there will be another new law or ruling which will affect you and your family. A CONCERNED AD MAN Kuala Lumpur
http://www.european-freedom-initiative.org/index.php/world-news/world-news-asia/665malaysia-all-women-in-advertisements-to-be-covered-head-to-toe **********************************************************************************