Free Essay: Contemporary and Past Position of Women in the Fashion and Design Industry

Women get little or no recognition for their work in fashion and design despite their extensive involvement in that field for ages

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People tend to ignore women's contributions, and the existing acknowledgements are either marginalized or casual

The selection of the kinds of designs to elevate are certainly deliberate and well-calculated

The few women who receive recognition in the fashion or design literature depend on patriarchy in that the either ride on their father's or husband's name to reach such heights

Additionally, some women use feminist product to scale the fashion heights

The fashion industry has a lot of prejudices and biases against women that are deeply embedded in the professional structure and the modes of activities

The Role of Patriarchy

Patriarchy, connection to a male figure, defines the position of women in virtually aspect of life, particularly the professional aspect

The society even defines women based on behavior in which certain mannerisms and roles are deemed appropriate for either gender

In design, patriarchy seemingly defines the role and position of women

A patriarchy, people value men's activities than women's engagements since such a society perceive male roles as cultural and not natural

The child bearing and nurturing of children makes women roles more natural than cultural, meaning that such roles will occupy less positions in ranking

The natural inclination means that women are more adapted to certain roles that include knitting, weaving, and pottery, making them suitable for domestic tasks

Biology thus defines the roles of women not only in the domestic context but the same extend to the professional aspect that include fashion and design

The fact that most products by women in the domestic context represent use-value rather than exchange-value further devalues women's work in the industry

Patriarchy and capitalism interact to create value based on sex or gender but not the quality of the products

Stereotypes about Women in Design

The industry perceives consumers that entail organizations, retailers, and advertisers in the fashion industry as being female

Women have less skills in relation to men in certain aspects of design

The delineation of women roles as being housewives, which then is transferred into the professional framework

The sexual division of labor that then push women to the periphery of design as a profession

The stereotypes propagated by the advertising companies that further present the women as mothers, cleaner, nurses, and cooks serve to worsen an already bad situation

In essence, the woman is either the sexist object in advertising, a subject of patriarchal assumptions, or the misrepresented consumer

Solutions to Gender-Based Discrimination in Design

Design historians should acknowledge the role of patriarchy in defining the roles of women in the fashion and design industry

There should more acknowledgement for the work done by women through documentation in the history books

The historians need to analyze and subsequently challenge the ideological nature of terms used such feminine, decorative, and delicate to define the work by women

The design historians should acknowledge sexual division of labor that patriarchy connotes

The historians should acknowledge that competition does not arise based on gender design, but rather such female designs mainly serve to fill the gap left by the male designers