SOCIO-CULTURAL CONSTRUCTION OF FEMALES

Text topic: Women's Expertise Potential in Cultural Activities

Text author: Оља Арсенијевић, Љиљана Љ. Булатовић и Горан Булатовић

Cultural, social, political, legal, ethical and other value standards are very susceptible to changes in socio-cultural environment. These transformations are most visible in the cultural patterns, fiction literature, media and education. In our view, media and education play a crucial role in the creation of constructs - construct of femininity included. In the introduction part, analysing recent literature we discuss contemporary transformations of archetypical concept of femininity. We examine two spheres which have, in our opinion, the most important influence on the socio-cultural construction of females - the media and education. The second chapter of the article explores the impact of media on the construction of femininity. Images of women in the media are the result of general social climate. The latter may change by constant focusing on such topics aimed to result in sensitization of public, among other a seemingly small, but important thing in this process - the use of gender-equal language. The third part deals with the impact of education on the construction of femininity. Education is in fact an expression of the social system. It entails equality of opportunity to change the position that individuals acquire by birth or inheritance. We're talking about European and international recommendations for the introduction of gender equality in education. We give examples of good practice of gender equality in education in schools and colleges in Serbia. In the concluding remarks we summarize the findings presented in this paper.