Video on female gender stereotypes sends a message but are you even listening? - Alvinology

Video on female gender stereotypes sends a message but are you even listening?

Local insurance company NTUC Income has released a video targetted at modern Singaporean women and the stereotypes they face.

The message seems to champion a new generation of women and their changing needs, as illustrated in the video by a young girl who grows up in a world shaped by traditions and expectations.

Posted on the Facebook, the video has received over 1,000 shares and over 110,000 views.

The two minute-long video titled “Times have changed” features a young girl who faces stereotypes throughout her life but adopts a different approach when she grows up. Sung by Singaporean singer-songwriter Tanya Chua, Income said it is dedicated to today’s women.

The story opens with a young girl dressed in a pink tutu, who is told her by mother, to sit with her knees together. She then goes on playfully chasing her brother, ended up getting dirty and with one of her sleeves torn.

Her mother scolds her for her unladylike behaviour while the lyrics sang “girls played house and pretended to be a mum or a wife.”

The pink tutu wearing girl grows up to be 10 years old who is then told to “help with the dishes” even though it was “against my (her) wishes”. In the same scene, her brother is seen leaving his cup to her to wash.

The story develops further into her teens. The scene opens with her checking her weight on the scale and then looking into the mirror, observing her body because she was told she “was fat”.

Dressed in a denim skirt and a pink sleeveless cropped top, she picks up a cardigan while the lyrics sang “nice ladies don’t dress like that”, leaving the house covered up while her parents watch TV.

Out at a cafe, she is seen pursing her lips admiring at cakes before tucking into a salad.

“Blah blah blah,” Chua sings.

The story then depicts another stereotype that women must marry before 30 because they “had an expiration date.” This is illustrated by the same pink tutu wearing girl who has grown up to be a fine lady dressed in a pink dress now seen a wedding looking envious at the married couple and perhaps, maybe, feeling self-pity.

Then, she is introduced to a man who she marries and has a daughter with.

In her adulating years, she’s seen dressed in office wear feeding her daughter because she’s told “to be the best mother, do well at my (her) job and focus on my (her) daughter.” While her husband walks away to answer a phone call after snapping a photo of their daughter.

“That I still should look like I’m 30,” Chua sings.

Plot twist. Dun-Dun-Duuuun!!!

The storyline takes an unexpected turn with the pink tutu wearing girl who is now 40. We are introduced to her daughter who is seen in a rugby sports attire, looking tough and gritty – also with one of her sleeves torn.

The scene closes with the mother-daughter pair (of the 21st century?) walking off happily to the lyrics “I’ll raise her to make her own rules and be whoever she wants to be.”

 

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