The image of women and men in the media has been the subject of a study on the perception and influence of stereotypical roles in video games and song lyrics; Luxembourg's Minister for Equal Opportunities, Lydia Mutsch, stressed the societal context and challenges of the digital era that led the Ministry to initiate this research project with the University of Luxembourg.
One of the key missions of the Ministry of Equal Opportunities is to deconstruct gender stereotypes that can hinder women and men to live their life choices and set their roles in society. The fight against stereotypes is also included in the government programme, and anchored in the National Plan of Equality since 2006 and regularly appears in the European political agenda.
In public surveys carried out by Luxembourg's Ministry of Equal Opportunities on the perception of equality in Luxembourg, more than half of people think that the media reproduce traditional clichés. Field surveys of university project on entertainment media have confirmed that entrenched stereotypes still exist.
In public surveys carried out by the Ministry on the perception of equality in Luxembourg, more than half of people think that the media reproduces traditional clichés. Field surveys of a university project on entertainment media have confirmed that entrenched stereotypes remain.
The study by the University of Luxembourg has highlighted that in games we have stereotyped behaviour and essentially masculine connotations to protagonists. The entertainment industry seems to create games for boys without essentially highlighting a character set that can appeal more to girls. In addition, when female characters appear, they are often sexualised.
The game console reflects and reproduces stereotypical societal norms
Video games have an influence on the development of media skills of children and adolescents who spend a lot of time in front of screens and gaming consoles. Indeed, it is through play that young people learn to control electronic media and these skills will be essential to their professional development in the digital world. According to recent surveys, there is a significant difference in favour of boys when it comes to the time spent with video games, which could also curb media skills acquired by girls.
On the labour market, women are still largely under-represented in the new technologies sector. According to a report by the European Commission, only 9 out of 100 App developers are women and only 19% of managers in ICT are women while they are at 45% in services in general. Among the developers of video games, there are also very few women.
This leaves a gap between the experiences of women and men and conveyed via virtual images.
Photo by MEGA: Minister Lydia Mutsch
