In recent years, the movement to utilize business as a means of positive change has become a growing trend among major corporations, particularly in the efforts to promote healthy body images and self-confidence. We saw it in 2010 with the launch of the Dove® Campaign for Real Beauty, and again this spring as American Eagle released its #aerieREAL advertisements. Now, the buzz-worthy crusade for honesty and self-esteem seems to have ignited a chain reaction, and booming Proctor & Gamble brand, Always®, is certainly making waves in this current progression.
Social media networks were humming with activity earlier this month as men and women across the country shared the Always® #LikeAGirl Campaign video with their followers. Featuring commentary from twelve individuals–males and females of varying ages–the three-minute footage poses the question, “What does it mean to do something ‘like a girl?’” Lauren Greenfield, the video’s director, asks her interviewees to display what it means to run, throw, and hit “like a girl,” noting the distinctions between the weak and floundering actions of the older female interviewees and the bold, enthusiastic motions of the younger female cast members. While the older generation of women tends to associate the expression, “like a girl,” with negative meanings, the younger girls appear to be relatively oblivious to the phrase’s derogatory connotation. In contrast, men of both generations express the notion that the phrase, “like a girl” is inherently insulting, echoing a stigma that insinuates that they are stronger than their sisters and female classmates. Boys insult other boys by comparing them to girls, and these boys then insult girls by using this same remark. Women even humiliate one another with this expression of “female weakness,” thus supporting the campaign’s message that by the time young women reach puberty, damaging insults and ideologies have already taken a serious toll on their self-esteem.
Says Greenfield, “When the words ‘like a girl’ are used to mean something bad, it is profoundly disempowering. I am proud to partner with Always® to shed light on how this simple phrase can have a significant and long-lasting impact on girls and women.” Unquestionably, the campaign brings to light a point which ought to be obvious: that doing anything “like a girl” is far from bad, that being a girl is not bad.
Ideologies such as the ones exposed in the #LikeAGirl Campaign are just a few among many that promote harmful gender stereotypes. A girl is frequently told to, “think like a man,” and “man up.” She must act like a lady. Yet, to run, throw, or hit “like a girl” is a crime. There is an evident double-standard, one in which she thinks she must “beat the boys” or be considered “less than the boys,” but never equal. She must be “tough,” or “girly,” not both.
When we fail to question these flaws in thought, they only continue to exist. In June of this year, TODAY Show contributor, Matt Lauer asked new General Motors CEO, Mary Barra, if she could manage to run a company and be a good mother at the same time. “You’re a mom, I mentioned, two kids,” began Lauer, “You said in an interview not long ago that your kids told you they’re going to hold you accountable for one job and that is being a mom. Given the pressures of this job at General Motors, can you do both well?” Lauer most likely did not intend for his inquiry to seem sexist, but after Barra and countless other women in the workforce have been asked that same question for years, it comes across as a question of overall female capability. It strikes a chord.
The bottom line is that people cannot be separated into a dichotomy of identities. We’re not just pretty smart. We’re pretty AND smart, and if we believe we can, we will influence the world for the better. Do we honestly need a multi-million dollar corporation like Dove®, American Eagle, or Always® to tell us that? Is that what’s required to change our mentality?
As much as one might like to point the finger at the patriarchal society which dominated the United States throughout much of its history, or some of today’s modern “bros” who tell idiotic “women in the kitchen” jokes at parties, males are not solely to blame for the propagation of these sentiments. The issue lies within society as a whole, a society which includes both you and me. As women, we have to admit that we make up half of it. What have we done to first change our own ways of thinking? What have we done to look beyond ourselves in order to address the inequality within our neighborhoods, our schools, our country, or the countries outside our borders?
President and CEO of the Global Fund for Women, Kavita N. Ramdas remarks, “Feminism… is not a struggle against a distinct oppressor–it’s not the ruling class or the occupiers or the colonizers–it’s against a deeply held set of beliefs and assumptions that we women, far too often, hold ourselves.” Eventually, the infamous oppressor (no matter the situation–whether it be it racism, sexism, or ageism), no longer needs to beat down the oppressed, for the oppressed has been conditioned to believe the oppressor was right all along. Ramdas, who has made it her life’s work to promote leadership and direction for women around the world, reiterates what Mahatma Gandhi identified as a critical component of the nature of any social movement: the idea that in order to change our world, we must first change ourselves.
And so, in reality, anyone who says he or she truly supports women’s rights must admit that he or she ultimately stands for all human rights. It’s not conditional. We don’t get to fling arguments back and forth about who has it worse: men or women, women in America or women in Sudan. Each group faces its hardships, and the intensity of the struggle which one party faces does not negate the fact that another party is still struggling. The fight for equality is not a competition, but rather a journey we all trek through. We’re all in the same boat, and we owe one another a certain loyalty for that. We have to collaborate, we have to stop pointing fingers, and we have to act. What will rebuild a house after a fire, shaking our fists at the ashes to curse the flames, or laying the groundwork for a new foundation? As young people–young women (and men) with innovation, with ambition–we can help lay that new foundation for society. The only thing left to decide is whether or not we’re willing to be the ones to do it.
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