On International Women’s Day, the image and video bank has released the results of its trends and consumer and market research program, VisualGPS, which show the high percentage of women who feel discriminated against because of their age, after the 60s.
8 in 10 Latin American women (80%) say they are perceived as “very old”, while men this statistic only represents half (49%).
According to experts at leading research source VisualGPS, “biases in the most popular images and videos used in advertising and media continue to affect women from all walks of life.” Data shows that in Latin America, discrimination increases with age and women tend to be more affected than men.
Regionally, all age groups and genders feel they have been discriminated against because of their age. But baby boomers (born between 1946 and 1964) are the most affected, according to the research. In Argentina, 56% of the people who make up this generation, which currently includes a large part of the population over 60, feel discriminated against because of their age. AND Argentinian baby boomers (71%) are the ones who expressed feeling more discriminated against because of their age than men (61%).
The VisualGPS interactive platform, which captures more than 2.7 billion search trend data on its website, analyzed the images and videos most used by brands and companies in Argentina for the term “woman “, and the results were convincing: the vast majority of the most popular visual content features young adult women. Few images show women over 60.
According to Tristen Norman, Director of Creative Insights for the Americas “visual content has the power to create or break stereotypes. Authentic visual content makes people feel seen, included and accepted, so it’s never been more important to produce and promote images and videos that truly represent middle-aged women who are disrupting and redefining what looks like aging. women lead multi-dimensional lives, but that’s not always reflected in the visual content we see on a daily basis. It’s time to challenge limiting and damaging visual stereotypes of middle-aged women and expand visual representation to show their real, active lives.to inspire more women to take action,” she concluded.
Regarding the trends observed in research, on women over 60, there are few images and videos that depict them in their professional or commercial occupations and instead they are placed in domestic life, in guardian roles. For example, medical care, care of children, their partners or in service professions. This is compounded by gender stereotyping of women of all ages, where they are more likely to be shown doing household chores, such as cleaning or shopping, before men, according to the same report.
To drive a more authentic portrayal of women, especially women over 60, the imagery experts at iStock recommend asking yourself these questions:
Do you portray women of all ages as capable and competent in everyday life scenarios of all kinds?
Do you represent a multidimensional experience of aging for all individuals, including women? Do you focus on what older people can’t do, rather than what they can do?
Do you prefer certain scenarios for certain age groups (e.g. young people engaged in leisure activities versus older people receiving care or medical attention, etc.)?
Do you show happy, active and fulfilled women over 60?
Do you think that in addition to receiving care, older people, including women, could take care of their children and/or parents?
Do you have an overview of the types of relationships people of all ages can have (e.g. LGBTQ+ spouses/partners, friend groups, platonic partners, intergenerational relationships, etc.)?
Do you represent older people as well as other intersections of their identity (e.g. race/ethnicity, gender identity or expression, body type, religion, etc.)?
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