When a woman hits 50 she is in a danger zone. The ageism is not just restricted to actresses and journalists. It appears that when a woman gets older and wrinkled, she has to disappear from the screens. She is not attractive anymore and it is widely known it is the audience preference. But is it?
The last few years have been genuinely exciting for all kind of women in television. The viewers of prime time television can see them more often than ever before and I am not only talking about the presenters, journalists and actresses but there are more singers, editors, experts and sports journalists. Women are taking jobs that were created for men generally. But what we are missing are older women. We are lacking in seeing women over the age of 50 on screens. Where are all the older women? It seems that they just disappeared.
When Madonna fell from the stage, everyone was tweeting about her. She is old, still famous, still on the television. The reason why everyone was talking about it was mostly her age. She is old and she is not acting appropriately. She is dressed like a young lady, she is acting like her skin is still sharp and shiny and the way she is lifting her skirt is definitely not what a mature women do a lot. That is what the audience is thinking, right?
If another younger singer would fall from a stage, everyone would say it was just a bad luck. Or they would not notice. But because of Madonna´s age, she shouldn´t dance anymore. She is acting like a young woman and it is not what is expected from her. She should not be on television and acting like she is vital and in a good condition. But oh my god, she is still in a good shape and she is dancing better than Jessie J!
It is the problem of the society. We do not want to see old women on screens. We are living in a fictional world where old women are not part of our society. Few older women are anchoring broadcasts, while men are allowed to age and get fat and bald as well. They are exceptions of course. They can be old and famous at the same time.
The television should reflect the society. Not only Twitter was full of Madonna but immediately after the show, evening news had a whole report about her performance. Is this even news? Why do we have to care about old successful lady who fell from a stage?
However, it is not the audience preference. “They are out of step with what viewers actually do want,” says Miriam O´Reilly who sued BBC in 2009 and won the ageism case.
Three out of ten women during peak time on BBC are older than 50 years old. Often we see a man standing side by side with a young attractive woman. It is completely fine because that is how we see it in a society.
Miriam O´ Reilly also said: “Women hit the danger zone because women disappeared in their 50´s and the reason is that TV executives do not believe that to have a successful programme having older female faces on TV will attract viewers.”
But all of these women are still beautiful and attractive. They are still amazing journalists, singers, actresses and they are doing their jobs perfectly. Women can be great experts and no one should care if they are old or not.
“My news director told me the audience didn´t like me because I was too old, too unattractive, and not sufficiently differential to men,” says Christine Craft, former television US news anchor.
It is not right how older women are treated in television and creative industry. They are part of our society and they belong to our world. Every woman would like to see herself reflected in television and she would like to think that she is treated like every other person on this planet.
In the latest report from the House of Lords we heard that women in general are still badly treated in the television. There are many ageism and sexism cases in all creative industries and it seems there is only one way of changing it: wait for the next generation to come.
But is it really the only way?
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