ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses three problematic dimensions of the image of the ‘21st century woman.’ First, it looks at the uneven march of progress toward gender equality, where gender subordination remains, and is distributed differently on the basis of class, nationality, religion, ethnicity, gender identity, and sexualities, among other axes. Second, it addresses ways that characterizations of women and gender equality tend to essentialize an image of ‘a woman’ who is engaged in the process of gender equalizing. Third, it argues that the image of ‘the woman’ in 21st century carries with it a heavy weight of representation and expectation that harms women in a number of ways, including but not limited to being expected to do and be more than men are, and an instrumentalization of women’s success that subordinates women to the goals for which they are being provided equality.
