March 8th was International
Women's Day. This is a day to celebrate the accomplishments of
inspiring women, the on-going march towards fairness and gender
equality, and to spread awareness about challenges and injustices
suffered by women worldwide.
Is this the message consistent with the
image below? The image was re-tweeted by one of my cousins. At first
I thought, “Oh, that's nice!” But then I looked at it a second
longer and felt a slight churn in my stomach. I realized that these
images are not representative of the message of International Women's
Day. The whole point is that girls and women acknowledge their own
potential. When I showed the image to one of my
friends, she said, “Oh look! Girls can be either a mom, or a
grandma!” The more I shared the image with friends, the more I got
the same reaction. One comment was, “It looks like it was made by
Disney – and not in a good way.”
We will never be able to close the gaps
in gender inequality without educating all people about the implications of the messages that are
posted/shared/retweeted/favorited.
When I am teaching my grade 9s this
summer, I will use this in a lesson for our media studies unit to include the
importance of using one's critical thinking skills before sharing or
re-tweeting. I encourage teachers, parents, and anyone who has young
people in their life to have a meaningful conversation about the
implications and intents of the messages that are posted and shared
using social media. Critical thinking is not a skill that develops on its own; it requires practice and guidance.
