Gender Stereotypes In Ads Must Go, Says Sheryl Sandberg at WEF

Gender stereotyping has projected women as inferior to men since centuries. These illogical notions about women play a monumental role in distorting people's perception of women. The issue was brought up by Facebook's COO Sheryl Sandberg at a panel in Davos, Switzerland, where the annual World Economic Forum is being held this week.

Sandberg blamed gender stereotypes in advertising for being the root cause of the prevalent gender gap. According to her, people learn what they see and reinforce the same in their real lives.

Also Read: 9 Quotes By Sheryl Sandberg That Will Inspire You

Sandburg enlightened the audience with some statistical figures -- only 2% of ads show intelligent women, 3% show women in positions of power and 1% women have a sense of humour. These astonishing figures show the extent to which patriarchy and male chauvinism have become a part of our psyche.

Ironically, there are a lot of women who believe that they are not fit enough to lead a high stakes project. This nullifies all concerted efforts that feminists have been making to wipe out the tag of being referred to as the "weaker sex".

She substantiated the need for doing away with these stereotypes by giving the example of Unilever which has resolved to eliminate all sexist stereotypes from its advertising after realizing that these show women in poor light. Since then, Unilever's stereotype-free ads resonate with the consumers and helps them shed their archaic mindsets. Sandberg believes that doing this will make us more successful.

Well, we couldn't agree more!

Also Read: Why Sheryl Sandburg Can Lift You Up On A Monday Morning

Charvi is an intern with SheThePeople.TV