Over generations, women’s lives have been created for them by  the men surrounding  them, but no more. The organization UN Women which focus on human equality and empowerment, created an entire campaign to bring to light how women  are still deprived  because  of their gender. The image chosen focuses on discrimination against women  naming  the image “Women Shouldn’t.” Women ‘s voices  from all around  the world  have been  silenced  and as time passes women  are trying to end gender   inequality.

The image “Women Shouldn’t” is focusing on the basic rights that are taken away but that women should have. When seeing the image the viewers can see the strong focused  eyes the  woman has. When seeing the strong force in the woman’s  eyes there is a story to be told and that  the young lady has been through discrimination,  but  it has only empowered  and given strength to do better then what people expect. This is a look so strong that viewers should  feel that they are her that  she is touching someone emotionally  or one’s soul, that you  have experienced  the same struggles  as the woman  is dealing with. All of that  is shown by just  looking at her eyes, two round  things    in one’s face that  is telling the audience who see this  image to help  inform    those who don ‘t know about women issues in today’s society.

UN Women then took the strong independent  woman  and silenced her by  having her mouth  covered with a search engine  with the top searched  discrimination  in the year 2013, describing what women shouldn’t do. The woman’s  face is covered by a description of  the forced  silence women are living under. Women’s voices are silenced because of gender or race because some let that get in the way of listening and believe that what will be said is irrelevant. The focus of the image is on the woman’s face front and center, nothing else because using the “grid can lead to focuses of certain areas of the image” (Bang). The dark background giving light to her face another way to bring light to women’s issues today. The clothing worn is white, showing the purity of the woman and not taking attention away from the face. Then there is the makeup, which is so light and simple yet so strong and powerful. People will just want to stop and stare and read what the ad is about. The image shows the force and the strong power a woman has to do whatever it takes to show those who doubt her for what is within. Women have been suffering from gender inequality and the images are to show that there have been enough of that and that there needs to be change.

The campaign by UN Women has a series of different images of different subjects that are discrimination toward women. The image “Women Shouldn’t ” focuses on discrimination toward women. Their strong, loud voices have been silenced and locked away to never be heard from others, but people need to understand that women have a voice for a reason. Women  in past generations have been fighting to earn respect for the work done in the past years, to prove to those that doubt their abilities, and to show their strength, yet that never ends up being enough and they are still deprived from what is deserved, every voice no matter the situation. Women should have everything a man has, gender does not mean someone is not important, doesn’t tell you the capability, or what can be accomplished, because one can never know what that one person can bring to this world. Discrimination is a serious problem and many don’t believe it because they haven ‘t been what some others have gone through, but this advertisement is here to show all people that even in 2015 women still have to fight to be treated the same as any other man.*

The advertisement created by UN Women had to make sure that it would get the message that women of all races are still being discriminated against. In creating these ads UN Women showed the audience a sense of ethos, pathos, and logos. The use of ethos is the use of credibility there is to persuade someone. The United General Assembly created UN Women “The United Nations Entity for Gender equality and Empowerment of Women, to reach gender goals and empower women” (unwomen.org). Then there is the use of Pathos, which is the method of using the image to try to get emotions out to of the targeted audience. The ad is trying   to get people to see that it does hurt to be discriminated  against and be held to expectations that are impossible.. “Based on the searches dated  March  9, 2013 the ads exposed  negative  sentiments  ranging  from stereotyping  as well  as outright denial  of women ‘s rights (unwomen.org).”   UN  Women  wants people  to see how  it feels to be silenced  even today in 2015. Women are still fighting to be treated  fairly, get the same pay  as men, and to be respected   like any other person. Placing the search engine shows some if the top discrimination against women and placing them over the mouth to show that whatever people say about women is overshadowing the power women  have. Then there is logos using logic to try to  convince people. And UN Women is using logos by researching and finding out some of the top discrimination against women.  UN Women  has an entire page  dedicated  to a series of images created for this advertisement. For the image chosen it specifically talks about discrimination and the top results that came out in the “dated 9 March, 2013” (unwomen.org). UN Women  wants  people to see that even in 2013 women still aren’t taken serious and are still seen as incapable of doing some activities because they are women.

UN Women wants to show the world how women are discriminated against. I showed the advertisement to two people, ,  Itzi Munoz and Joselyn  Barrios, and asked  them questions based on the image. When interviewing the first person, Joselyn Barrios, I asked what was the first thing that was seen the person responded with “the person ‘s face and her mouth being  covered.” (Barrios) When asked how she felt about these types of discriminations, Barrios responded with, “There is so much more work to be done to elevate the status of women” (Barrios). This is true; the interviewee knows that these types of discriminations exist   and that it is harder for women, but she herself as a feminist is doing something to change these views by furthering her education. When being interviewed Barrios’ hand movements showed that she thinks strongly about women, knows that this is a problem, and wants change for her and for all women.

Then there was the second interview with Itzi Munoz who you could see thought strongly about women issues. The body language and hand movements showed that she was including herself with all the discrimination because it doesn’t just affect one, it affects all. When asked what was the first thing seen when the picture shown the Munoz response was “The emotions of their faces really jump out at one. They seem very sad yet angered and on top of that they have their mouths covered. (Munoz)” And when asked how she felt she responded “sad” because “we know these awful things are happening everywhere and yet it’s so easy to forget   when you are not living through this situation (Munoz).” This makes so much sense because when people do not see a problem they believe there is no problem but there are always real world problems. As feminist she is educating herself and others to make sure that everyone understands that women discrimination is a real problem. When interviewing the two ladies they had similar response on how they are trying to change these views and believe that is one of the best ways to end discrimination, people need to educate themselves and that, that knowledge is spread.

I, myself am an eighteen year old woman who considers herself a feminist and am furthering my education on women issues to make sure that everything I learn is correct and can be spread across to many. When I first saw the picture that is showing a woman being silenced it made me feel upset. I don’t like to be told what I cannot and should not do because of my   gender. I always knew that certain people believe this, but it being 2015 and women are still struggling really does hurt. It hurts because there has been so much change yet women are still seen as lesser then men. Women’s voices matter and should not be silence based on who we are. Someone shouldn’t be deprived of anything because  of  gender. The image wants people to be able to see how big of an issue it is by focusing on what really matters, equality. When it comes to voting everyone should vote because every single person who is voting opinions matter.

Gender shouldn’t stop someone from receiving the same equal rights, from being able to vote, from working, or boxing. Women have been silenced for too long. Women have been denied the right to do certain activities because it is only for men or we don’t know what we are doing, but how would  people  know what a woman  can do if women  aren’t given  the chance to   learn. Women shouldn’t be silenced because every voice counts and shouldn’t be disrespected because everyone should  be  treated equally. *

Women are people, and every person was born with basic rights. Those rights shouldn’t  be taken away from someone because of gender; gender doesn’t define a person’s ability and knowledge. Women shouldn’t have to worry about living a life where they  know  they won’t be able to do certain things. We are all capable and willing to do whatever it takes for the discrimination to come to an end. Women have been silenced long enough and will fight for  gender equality.

Work Cited

Bang, Molly. Picture this: How Pictures  Work. New  York:  Seastar. 2000.  Print.

Ogilvy, Memac. Mather Dubai. “UN Women ad Series Reveals Widespread Sexism.”

unwomen.org.  21, Oct. 2013. Web.  5. Oct. 2015.