ENGLISH 1 CLASS ASSIGNMENT

Even though it is commonly believed that people only need educational qualifications to
run for office, I would argue that women also need to fit the beauty standards set by
the media to do so.

53% of women under the age of 13 and 78% of the women under the age of 17 are
unhappy with the way their body looks so when women at such young ages want to
pursue their dream of running for office, they need to have a mental breakthrough and
go through a tough process of accepting and feeling confident in the way they look or
spend a huge amount of money undergoing facelifts, Botox, etc. to live up to the
beauty standards that have been set by the media when an average facelift costs
around 11,000 dollars.

Women find a lot more negative social media coverage and are constantly questioned on
their character and the clothes they wear rather their decisions and opinions on policy.
Hilary Clinton was constantly heckled and the statement “Iron my shirt” was made
when she was delivering her speech. The media has always portrayed men as the
power holders and women are always side-lined and that’s why women always have
to do extra to show their prowess in the field.

Women are shown to have no control over their emotions and are shown as weak
politicians when they cry whereas men are shown to be strong and empathetic when
they do. There is a clear double standard in this regard because of the gender roles
assigned to them by society and how it is brave for a man to show emotions but when
a woman does, she is called weak and not in control of her emotions.

In conclusion, women face a lot of issues and have to go through a lot more hurdles to run
for office and it is an extremely difficult decision for them to make majorly because
of the media and how they have assigned specific qualities and personality traits to
different genders and how they have portrayed them to the world.