A recent Tide commercial reinforced the stereotype that young girls should wear pink, not cargo shorts.
Within one week, I had the misfortune to witness two instances of the kind of gender stereotyping that made me realize we haven’t really come a long way, baby.
Unable to fall asleep, I tuned in to the Tonight Show on September 9. Bill Maher was being queried about the chances of Sarah Palin running for president. In response, he referred to her as a “daffy broad,” which in no way reflected a political point of view but rather a derogatory attitude toward women. I could understand his subsequent retelling of her disastrous interview with Katie Couric to highlight a point about her intellect, but what I was hearing that night was two men exchanging insulting words and laughing about someone simply because of her gender. This is not the first time that Maher has used a sexist term in referring to women. He has called them boobs and twats in the past. Some people might forgive him because he is a comedian, but his remarks were not part of a stand-up routine.
A few nights later, a commercial for Tide detergent was aired on television. It portrayed a very demure, cardigan-dressed mother primly watching her daughter play with blocks. In a sad voice, she tells us how she tried “the pink thing” in vain, but all her daughter wants to do is wear her cargo shorts. The expression on the mom’s face and tone of voice suggest that her daughter has descended to the seventh level of hell because she has not conformed to an acceptable female stereotype. It’s sad to think that major corporations are fostering such ideas in their advertising while we are clamoring for the advancement of women in all professions and life choices.
It’s long past the time for the media and corporate America to realize that women will no longer accept gender discrimination.
This post was written by AAUW Director-at-Large Sandy Camillo.
AAUW Dialog 
Dear Ashley & Erin,
It seems that we have to be alert to how insidious this type of gender stereotyping can be. I appreciate your comments and hope that together we can unite to make a difference for ourselves, mothers,daughters and granddaughters.
Best regards,
Sandy Camillo
I agree, I saw that Tide commercial as well and was pretty shocked that in this day and age they would be sending a message that girls need to wear pink and play with Barbies instead of wearing cargo shorts and playing with blocks. I guess maybe I shouldn’t be shocked…
Sandy – Media bias against women seems overwhelming. As the mother of a 5 year old daughter, I am regularly appalled by gender stereotyping and even hate speech aimed directly at women that appears in commercials, songs on the radio, t-shirt slogans, and even children’s books! I am so glad you wrote this blog post to remind all of us that we can speak out and take action against harmful messages in the media. It is a relief to me that AAUW has tools to help members get active to fight this bias http://www.aauw.org/act/issue_advocacy/grassroots.cfm. I’d encourage everyone who posts to this blog to also submit their letters to the editors of their local papers. Our voices need to be heard!