Sound

Working in premier we made the sound cohesive and flow together, by adding music to our video it brought the whole thing together and creates an extra dramatic effect.

Web Imagery and grid structure

creating a grid like layout and adding imagery we were able to make the page look a lot more interesting and unique 

Website Alignment

After fining the right colours I edited the layout and had some issues with alignment and videos overlapping etc. 

Website Colours

After critique we were told our colours where to dull and not in your face enough, we also were recomended to make or website similar to the video so they work together as a whole.

Statistics for Homepage

I used Illustrator to create some graphs for the home page of our website  about women in leadership in New Zealand. They rely on statistics from the 2012 New Zealand Census.

Governance: Woman's Participation in New Zealand

Employment: Women's Participation in New Zealand

Employment: Female Directors of New Zealand Top 100 Companies

Links to Social Media

I used Illustrator to create little logos for links to tumblr, Facebook and Twitter from our website.

As our issue is a social issue, it is important that there are platforms for communication and interaction about our issue.

Tumblr

Facebook

Twitter

“Women are not ambitious,” and other myths

I wrote some myths for an extra page for our website:

“Women are not ambitious.”

This is a pervasive myth that hurts women’s abilities to own their goals and work toward them. Women comprise of 64% of the New Zealand’s university graduates. They outnumber men in almost every field, including law, accounting and medicine. However, women’s skills are not translating into significant labor market improvement. This means women’s skills are under-utilised in the economy, representing a loss of opportunities for women, their families, and the country as a whole.

Women are under-represented in leadership roles in New Zealand. Women’s participation in leadership varies by sector, being extremely low in the private sector, low in some areas of the public sector, high in the community sector. The percentage of women often decreases as the seniority of the positions increase.

“Women need to keep themselves out of power.”

Women are taught that leadership doesn’t align with what it means to be “feminine” and exhibiting stereotypically “female” behaviors like being nice, quiet, polite, agreeable, and liked by all. They are taught to keep them selves out of power, taught not to push, or make waves. Men are taught to be aggressive.

When analyzing the effects of age, a striking trend appears: as girls get older, they are less likely to engage in some forms of leadership. Fully one-third of girls who do not want to be leaders attribute their lack of motivation to fear of being laughed at, making people mad at them, coming across as bossy, or not being liked by people. Thirty-nine percent of girls report having been discouraged or put down, usually by peers and classmates, when they were trying to lead. 

In professional life women are treated differently that their male counterparts when holding or applying for governance roles. Nowhere is this clearer than in politics, where pretty much any woman in power is called a bitch. If Hillary Clinton and Angela Merkel had a dollar for every time they were called "bitches," they'd have enough money to pay off the national debt in both of their countries.

Women are more inclined to view leadership roles in a negative light- as having a negative impact on ones personal life, lifestyle, and publicly. They are more likely to see head roles as unattractive as they increase in public exposure and personal risk.

“All women leaders are bitches.”

The ideal qualities of a feminist and our definition of a bitch match up. Some feminists self-identify as bitches, and use it in their writings. In 1996, feminists Lisa Jervis and Andi Zeisler founded Bitch magazine and, when asked how they chose the title, Zeisler explained: “It would be great to reclaim the word ‘bitch’ for strong, outspoken women. Elizabeth Wurtzel echoed the sentiment in her 1998 book Bitch: In Praise of Difficult Women, where she aligned bitchiness with feminist goals: “I intend to do what I want to do and be whom I want to be and answer only to myself: that is, quite simply, the bitch philosophy.”

We want the insult to become a rallying cry, a signal to women that these things that have hurt us can be changed for the better. All these things women have been insulted for have now become a goal. If “bitch” is to become a flagship for women leaders, it first needs women to wear its badge. Women can self-identify as bitches to indicate they are strong, assertive and independent. We want women who have previously shied away from the word “bitch” to start to embrace it.

“We don’t need more women leaders.”

A leader is defined as a person who leads or commands a group, organisation or country, these are the people who have the highest potential to make a difference in our society. Women need to feel empowered to make a difference in the world by leading. The first serious rise in the usage of bitch began at 1920 – exactly the same year as another feminist milestone – The United States Suffrage. Use of the insult has grown so dominant that it finally forced the literal meaning of the word, that of female dog, out of common circulation. What remains problematic is the way “bitch” relates to power dynamics.

When women have too much power, they’re called bitches as a way to knock them down a peg.  It is clear that “bitch” can be used refer to a woman-laying claim to their own power. It is necessary for women to gain a sense of pride in many of the things their opponents criticise them for: assertiveness, strength, independence, and a willingness to fight for their own definition of happiness. Women’s visions for the world, their communities, their organisations and their families are powerful and uplifting.

“Women have already attained equality.”

“Stereotypes and discrimination continue to pervade leadership culture today, and this cannot continue.” says Cate Bell, Auckland University President-Elect 2014

Women are more educated than ever but we are not seeing the same positive returns on their education as their male counterparts. Income pay differentiation remains a problem for women in leadership roles, and many women find that the high demand of leadership roles makes them incompatible with motherhood. It doesn’t help that some women with children feel it is their sole duty to opt out of the workforce. This is not a women’s problem, it’s a fundamental flaw in our society. It decreases our productivity, dampens our country’s potential, and weakens families. 

"Bitch" has come a long way, sure, but perhaps the reason it hasn't been truly reclaimed is because conditions for women haven't really changed, either. Words only make sense in context. When we see the day when the context is changed, then the core meaning of the word will change, too. If there ever comes a time when women aren't made to feel ashamed of their sexuality, when they don't have to fight for fair wages or the opportunity to speak in a meeting, when they don't constantly fear the possibility of violence or sexual assault, and when women feel that they have some say in the society that we live in, then "bitch" will shed that last layer of stigma for good.

Text For Home Page:

 Opener:

Does the word “bitch” automatically represent a woman? And, if so, does it automatically indicate a woman who is self-centered, unlikable, rude, and independent in an “obnoxious” way? Or, is it possible that when a woman is referred to as a “bitch” that it can be seen as a good thing? What if, instead of being harmful and degrading, what if “bitch” indicated a strong, self-confident woman and was a term of empowerment?” 

 Small action big impact:

The problem with the word bitch is that is used against women who are trying to lead and who are portraying leadership qualities that are not deemed to be feminine. We want to reclaim the word bitch for assertive, independent women. We strongly believe that the lack of female leaders is one of the most enduring forms of inequality in the 21st century

 Call to action:

We want to change the way gender stereotypes relate to power dynamics. We define the word “bitch” as any woman who is not afraid of taking charge and commanding a group, organisation or country. She will be assertive, no-bullshit and authoritative. She will not be quiet about her opinions and she will not be liked by all, but she will push boundaries and make waves.

Blurb for video:

Who doesn’t run the world? Girls.

The problem with the word bitch is that is used against strong women in a negative context. We want to reclaim the word bitch for assertive, independent women. One day our generation is going to govern our population. Watch our video to find out how the word bitch affects women, and how we might all benefit from more women in leadership roles in New Zealand and abroad.