Gender inequality and sexism in songs

Gender inequality is a big problem worldwide. Some people think that gender equality is reached. Others can think: "What more do you want? There have been lots of changes." It's true. We've achieved fantastic things talking about this topic. I'm a man (that's evident, haha), but when I see gender inequality on TV, when I see gender inequality in couples, I think: "How can he/she bear that? I couldn't bear it."

So, for those of you who think that gender equality is reached, and for those who believe that there's still inequalities;  for everybody, let's watch this music videos.

DAYS OF THE WEEK

In this song, TV's clowns (Los payasos de la tele), sing: 

"Monday before lunching, 

a girl went to play,

but she couldn't play, 

because she must iron"

The singers repeat everyday of the week saying that the girl couldn't play because she must do the housework, and finally on Sunday, she went to pray. No day says that a boy sweeps,  whashes the dishes, etc. 

So, this song shows gender inequality in the 70's. The housework is reserved for girls, and boys don't do anything.

THE BOY DOES NOTHING

Click in the image to watch the video.

This song sung by Alesha Dixon is a dialogue between a girl and another person. This person asks her if his boyfriend does the housework, and she constantly repeats "no". Finally, she searches for a boy who do the same things that girls. I let you the chrous of this song:
"Does he wash up? Never washed up 

Does he clean up? No, he never cleans up
Does he brush up? Never brushed up
He does nothing, the boy does nothing"

LA MUDA

Click here to listen to the song.

Lots of reggeaton songs have chauvinist songs. An example of them, is La Muda sung by Caly & El Dandee. They show women as servants of men, that always agree with them. Let's see the lyrics of the song:

"I want a beautiful girl that never said anything,that when I go alone in the night, and I return in the morning, said nothing. 
That althought she doesn't like that I had (drank), she said nothing."

When I write the perfect, I'm using the subjunctive: so when I say "that never said anything", I mean "que no diga na'".

BLURRED LINES

Look at this feminist parody, "Defined lines"

Blurred lines is a very famous song. It's sung by Robin Thicke, and the chauvinist message of this song is treated from the point of view of the woman as a sexual object. The video you have above is a feminist parody. Let's read a part of the lyrics of this song:

Obviously, the verb that rhymes with "hug me" is "f*ck me". If you want to see the original song, click here.

I NEED AIR

Finally, I want to put a song against sexism. It's sung by the famous Pastora  Soler, and the song is called Necesito aire (I need air). It tells the story of a girl  who was with a man, and she was always taking care of him. One day, she  decides to live her life because she realises that we should enjoy it, so she goes to  parties and to have fun... I wish every abused woman has this life philosophy!.  Here are the lyrics of the song:

Click in the image to see the lyrics bigger.

Before finishing, I want to sorry if the translation of the lyrics is wrong. Some of the songs were in Spanish, and there were difficult expressions. If you don't understand something, you've the original lyrics in the case of Spanish songs, and fantastic translations in the case of English ones. Moreover, I tried to put feminist songs to show the two sides of the coin; but it's almost impossible to find something. I promise you I tried, but I only found some parodies as the Blurred lines one.

And then, I want to give my opinion (post a comment with yours if you want). In my opinion, the lyrics of that songs are wrong, obviously; but that doesn't mean that song itself isn't good. I like Blurred lines, for example, and I won't stop listening it for that reason. Of course, I don't like the lyrics, but I know that the message isn't a beautiful one althought the rythm is good, so I don't find a reason to stop listening it... do you? It also depends of the lyrics: La Muda is the most denigrating song of the five I've mentioned.

LET'S TRY TO STOP GENDER INEQUALITIES IN SONGS AND MEDIA!