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\title{The Portrayal of Women in Facebook Memes}
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             \author[1]{Nowshin Jahan  Etee}

             \affil[1]{  Stamford University Bangladesh}

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\date{\small \em Received: 8 December 2019 Accepted: 4 January 2020 Published: 15 January 2020}

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\begin{abstract}
        


Facebook has become an integral part in this age of social media. Both the young generation and older adults nowadays use Facebook for social interaction. Facebook has become a global platform where anyone can create a Facebook account and share their ideas, thoughts, activities, and feelings. Moreover, they can share their photos and videos on Facebook. Sometimes they share photos with some written text to satire or to make fun of other people. These elements spread around the social networking sites and float from one person to another. People usually recognize them as memes. People use memes to get shared and liked by others. But sometimes these memes carry wrong perceptions and messages which can create false consciousness among the people. The notion of gender is culturally and socially constructed. Social media sites for long are reinforcing the concept of gender stereotyping through its content. These sites are invisibly controlling people?s life by transferring the stereotyped ideology. Some Facebook memes are portraying women in the way gender roles have been represented until now in social media sites.

\end{abstract}


\keywords{facebook, memes, portrayal, stereotype, framing, gender advertisement.}

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\let\tabcellsep& 	 	 		 
\section[{Introduction}]{Introduction}\par
ocial media is a global platform where anyone can share their thoughts and feelings through photos, videos, etc. However, this can create some problems as there is no gatekeeping or filtering system to eliminate false or wrong perceptions. So the messages we get from various social media like Facebook are sometimes disseminating false ideas among people, which includes gendered behaviors and stereotypical portrayal of women. Facebook memes are playing significant roles in escalating this situation. We can see gender advertisements not only in mainstream media but also in social media. A popular form of social media is Facebook, where memes are directly or indirectly patronizing gender discrimination. Memes are made of photos, which also includes some texts. Photos ensure the longevity of impression in people's mind, while language plays a very important role and acts as a persuasive element in memes. Language can shape the perceptions of people. Language shapes people's thinking and influences their behavior. In this study, selected memes used not only photos of women but also gendered language to portray women's femininity. Gendered language is that which encourages bias towards one gender while at the same time establishing such bias further. This study finds out 15 frames which were established in the selected memes to portray women. These frames reveal the flawed and stereotypical portrayal of women in Facebook memes. 
\section[{II.}]{II.} 
\section[{The Concept of Meme}]{The Concept of Meme}\par
Usually, memes are an image, short video, or piece of a text that is typically humorous or funny and which is copied and spread rapidly by internet users, often with slight variations. Merriam Webster Dictionary defines a meme as "an amusing or interesting item (such as a captioned picture or video) or genre of items that is spread widely online, especially through social media." At first, English Ethologist Richard Dawkins coined the term "meme" in his 1976 book The Selfish Gene  {\ref (Knobel and Lankshear, 2007:200)}. Dawkins referred to the meme as "a unit of cultural transmission or a unit of imitation"  {\ref (Dawkins, 1976:206)}. He used this word to explain how ideas and thoughts replicate, mutate, and evolve. \hyperref[b6]{Distin (2005)} defined memes as units of cultural information. He regarded the human mind as the mechanism where memes evolve and spread. Meme came from the Greek word Mimema which means, "that which is imitated." Later this word was abbreviated as 'meme' due to its similarity to the word 'gene.' Gene is a unit of heredity, simply known as characteristics that are transferred from parents to children. Similarly, a meme is regarded as a unit of cultural transmission. Gelb defined the meme as "selfreplicating ideas that move through time and space without further effort from the source"  {\ref (Gelb, 1997:57)}. Memes have been said to "replicate at rates that make even fruit flies and yeast cells look glacial in comparison"  {\ref (Dennett, 1993:205)}.\par
Today, the memes we use in our popular culture is the internet memes. The term "Internet meme" refers to the phenomenon of content or concepts that spread rapidly among internet users. \hyperref[b1]{Bauckhage (2011)} said that Internet memes propagate among people through email, instant messaging, forums, blogs, or social networking sites. These memes could be an image, video email, or anything. But the most common meme is an image of any person or animal or cartoon sites are promoting the quick proliferation of memes. However, memes have also moved away from political and cultural topics to the topics that are related to popular culture or sarcastic life observations, making them related to people, funny in nature, and easier for them to spread across the web. 
\section[{III.}]{III.} 
\section[{Women in Facebook Meme}]{Women in Facebook Meme}\par
From the very beginning, people made memes to make fun or satire life observations. People share those memes on social networking sites. Thus memes float from one person to another. But not all memes get longevity on the internet. Only those memes run for a long time, which could draw the attention of the audience by its content. At any given moment, many memes are competing for the attention of the host; however, only memes suited to their socio-cultural environment spread successfully, while others become extinct \hyperref[b3]{(Chielens and Heylighen, 2005)}. These memes can invisibly control social life by transferring the stereotypical hegemonic ideologies. Stereotypes are beliefs about a social category, especially those that differentiate genders. Stereotypes become problematic when they lead to expectations about one social category over another or restrict opportunities for one social category over another  {\ref (Garu and Zotos, 2016:761)}. We can see stereotypical behavior mostly in gender. Gender stereotypes are beliefs that certain attributes, such as occupations or role behaviors, differentiate women and men  {\ref (Ashmore and Del Boca, 1981)}.\par
This article followed Facebook memes that have used photos of women or text about women to portray them or their femininity in stereotypical ways. Femininity and masculinity are concepts that are constructed socially and culturally. Now memes are reinforcing stereotypical notions of femininity and masculinity through Facebook, which is a very popular social networking site. \hyperref[b17]{Shifman (2013)} analyzed the characteristics of video memes on YouTube video streaming websites. He identified several common features such as ordinary people, portrayals of flawed masculinity, use of humor, simplicity, repetitiveness, and whimsical contents. Our society has fortified some specific gender roles for men and women, and our mainstream media, including social media, is trying to enforce those stereotypical ideologies and values. Thus people are practicing behavior according to those gender roles and creating flawed perceptions among people about femininity and masculinity. Several authors attempted to identify influential members in a community so as to contain the spread of misinformation or rumors  {\ref (Budak, Agarwal, and Abbadi, 2010)}. In this article, the contents of selected memes show that still today, women are portrayed with stereotypical concepts of gender behaviors. This study tried to find out the dominant frames that were used to portray the characteristics of what we can regard as the femininity of women in Facebook memes. These memes are created and shared by both men and women. So it can be said that this study revealed what people generally think about women or the portrayal of women in our society.\par
IV. 
\section[{Theoretical Framework}]{Theoretical Framework}\par
Social media has been playing a vital role in disseminating information and knowledge in society. Moreover, social media can regulate the socialization process of people. In this study, 'Gender Advertisement' theory is used as a theoretical framework to disclose the portrayal of women in Facebook memes. Usually, gender advertisement refers to the images in different advertising that depicts stereotypical gender roles \hyperref[b11]{(Goffman, 1979)}. 'Gender Advertisement' theory is generally used to analyze the portrayal of women in the advertisements of mainstream media, including social media. Facebook memes are not direct advertisements. They are rather a humor oriented media contents. But gender advertisement theory can be used to analyze the portrayal of women in Facebook memes. Canadian born American sociologist Erving Goffman introduced gender advertisement theory. In his book Gender Advertisements (1976), he described how western media portray masculinity and femininity. Goffman analyzed different advertisements and found a huge contrast between the depiction of men and women in the media. Generally media depict men as confident, comfortable, aware of their surroundings, physically active, rational thinker, serious, and adventurous. On the other hand, women are depicted as vulnerable, sexy, and sexually available, soft, careless, fragile, seductive, powerless, dreamy, and childlike. Goffman argues that these characteristics are not biological or natural traits; rather, these traits are culturally imposed on men and women as their masculinity and femininity. This study followed gender advertisement theory as Facebook memes are also advertising gender-related false concepts in society.\par
V. 
\section[{Methodology \& Sampling}]{Methodology \& Sampling}\par
This study followed Erving Goffman's frame analysis method to find out the frames used to portray women in different Facebook memes. Frame analysis can reveal the implicit aspects of any visual content. Usually, framing means choosing some elements of any content and highlighting them. This incident can happen deliberately, or it can happen unintentionally. Generally, framing occurs as an unconscious act of people. It can also happen because of social, cultural, or political orientation and attitudes, beliefs, ideology, and values of people. Thus they make that information or angle more Erving Goffman is considered to be the architecture of frame analysis. Goffman says, "Frame analysis maintains that we all actively classify, organize and interpret our life experiences to make sense of them"  {\ref (Goffman, 1975:21)}. Gitlin suggests that "We frame reality to negotiate it, manage it, comprehend it, and choose appropriate repertories of cognition and action"  {\ref (Gitlin, 1980:6)}. It means we frame any issue or event to fulfill our purpose. Jim A. Kuypers says, "When we frame in a particular way, we encourage others to see these facts in a particular way. Framing, in this sense can be understood as taking some aspects of our reality and making them more accessible than other aspects"  {\ref (Kuypers, 2009:181)}.\par
According to Entman, "to frame is to select some aspects of a perceived reality and make them more salient in a communicating context, in such a way as to promote a particular problem definition, causal interpretation, moral evaluation, and/or treatment recommendation for the items described"  {\ref (Entman, 1993:52)}. In short, frame analysis helps to identify the various frames used to present specific characteristics of any content. In this regard, frame analysis is very much related to this study as selected Facebook memes are using certain frames to portray femininity.\par
This study selected 15 memes that were published on different Facebook pages or shared by people on their Facebook wall. These memes were chosen based on their contents. The selection process of the samples followed a purposive sampling method. Usually, purposive sampling means intentional selection of information that can demonstrate any distinctive theme, concept, or phenomenon. In this method, the subjects are selected from the population-based on their ability to meet certain specific characteristics or quality (Senam and Akpan, 2014:472). 
\section[{Meme 01}]{Meme 01}\par
Image: Meme 1 shows that there are two signs, which are known as the signs of Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. Bluetooth is a wireless technology that is used in mobile devices to share data over short distances. Bluetooth can share data in one device at a time. On the other hand, Wi-Fi is also a wireless technology that uses radio waves to provide wireless high-speed internet facilities. Numerous devices can use one Wi-Fi connection to get internet facilities.\par
Text: Under the sign of Bluetooth, there is a text which indicates men. "Men are like Bluetooth: he is connected to you when you are nearby but searches for other devices when you are away." However, under the sign of Wi-Fi, there is a text which indicates women. "Women are like Wi-Fi: she sees all available devices but connects to the strongest one." 
\section[{Meme 02}]{Meme 02}\par
Image: Meme 2 has two sections. In the upper section, there is a simple switch, and a lady's finger is turning this switch on. In the lower section, there is a large panel of different types of switches, and three men are talking among themselves. Another man is sitting in front of the panel and working on it.\par
Meme 08: Image: Meme 8 shows a giant shark came out of the water and is going to swallow a girl. While the shark is about to eat the girl, the girl is taking a selfie with her phone.\par
Text: There is a text in this meme, which says, "Wait a minute, I need to post this." 
\section[{Meme 09:}]{Meme 09:}\par
Image: In this meme, a girl is sitting on a bed and with great surprise and excitement looking at her bed where different types of cosmetics and makeup materials are placed before her. 
\section[{The Portrayal of Women in Facebook Memes}]{The Portrayal of Women in Facebook Memes}\par
Text: In this meme, there is a text above the photo, which says, "Every girl's wish!". Image: This meme used two photos. Above, there is a girl in a pink dress, looking very happy. She is pointing at her wedding ring in her finger. Below this girl's photo, there is a photo of Gollum, a fictional character from the famous novel 'The Hobbit' by J.R.R Tolkien. In this meme, Gollum is looking at a ring with great pleasure.\par
Text: The texts used in this meme are, "How married women think they look on Facebook" and "This is what married women look like to single people." 
\section[{Meme 14:}]{Meme 14:}\par
Image: Meme 14 has used a photo of Hollywood actor Leonardo DiCaprio. It seems he is at a party. A glass of wine is in his hand, and he is making a toast with his glass. 
\section[{The Portrayal of Women in Facebook Memes}]{The Portrayal of Women in Facebook Memes}\par
Text: This meme used two comments. These are "Men age like wine" and "Women age like cheese." 
\section[{Meme 15:}]{Meme 15:}\par
Image: Meme 15 has used a photo of Hillary Clinton, the former first lady of USA. In this meme, Hillary Clinton is hugging a person meanwhile making a face at someone else.\par
Text: There is a text in this meme that says, "Strong independent woman, who got where she is by marrying the right guy." change the behavior and mentality of people. There is no doubt that Facebook memes have a socio-cultural influence on society. But some of these memes arguably encourage stereotypical ideology for women. They reinforce the age-old belief that a woman is supposed to act like the way they are usually portrayed. Humor has been used as a tool against oppression since ages (Kulkarni, 2017:13). People find relief in humor. But when someone uses humor to propagate false concepts about a portion of society, it simply can be regarded as a tool of oppression. There is no doubt that Facebook memes are helping in opinion formation. They persuade people and can make or change perceptions about certain things. But not all Facebook memes are unacceptable as many of these memes provide us with laughter and joy. It becomes alarming when substandard memes catch our attention, and we get influenced by them. In this study, selected memes were shared by many Facebook users. Though these memes may look very innocent and sometimes very funny or satirical, they are humiliating a portion of society, especially women. These memes are not only disgraceful for women, but also they are creating flawed perceptions of femininity. They are promoting imposed gender roles or gender behaviors for women. Erving Goffman showed that advertisements portray women with some specific characteristics in his book Gender  {\ref Advertisement (1976)}. This study tried to find out the frames used to represent women and their femininity with the help of Goffman's gender advertisement theory.\par
In this study, meme 1 shows two signs popularly recognized as Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. On the other hand, meme 2 compares men and women to a switch and a whole panel of switches. Both of these memes objectified men and women. Though women were bluntly represented as commodities or sex objects in media for long but memes are portraying both men and women as objects. The question appears when the texts are taken under consideration. These memes put a judgment on men and women's characters in front of the audience. Meme 1 says men are like Bluetooth. They will be with their loved ones when they are nearby. But they will try for other women whenever they get a chance or when they are not together like the Bluetooth connection works. On the other hand, women are compared to Wi-Fi. Women have their interest only in influential and powerful partners like the Wi-Fi connection works. They will wait and look for men who can at best fulfill their demands. Only then will they get attached to men. The frame found in this meme is, "Women search for powerful partners, and they are very greedy in nature." Meme 2 compares men to a simple switch. It means men are easy to read. Anyone can get along with a man without any difficulties. But women are not as simple as men. They are very hard to understand. It will take huge efforts to understand what is going on in women's minds. The frame used in meme 2 is, "It's hard to get along with women." In meme 3, there are two shopping patterns which indicate how men and women do their shopping. Red marks show the time and quantity of shopping for men and women. The shopping pattern for men is short and simple. It means men are very organized and specific about what they need. They just go shopping, buy necessary things and finish their shopping as early as possible. They don't waste time. On the other hand, the shopping pattern used for women is very complicated to understand. There is no comprehensible way to find out where it started and where it ended. It simply means women are shopaholics, and they become confused when it comes to shopping. Again, they don't want to come out of the shops early. Women have no headache about wasting time. They will look at every item in the shop several times and will still be confused about whether to buy it or not. Thus they misuse time and do lots of shopping. The frame used in this meme to portray women is, "Women are confused about shopping, and when they go shopping they do it to a great extent." Meme 4 has used a photo of Angelina Jolie, who looks a little bit annoyed. The text in this meme means arguing with women is like wasting time because, in the end, men have to go by women's will. Same as people have to do when it comes to installing any software. It requires clicking on the 'agree or accept' button; otherwise, software won't be installed. Women are like software. They don't bother about others. They try to establish what they want. At first, men may try to express their opinion, but women are ignorant about others' right of expression. That is why men have to surrender to women's will. This meme establishes the frame, "Women are not reasonable, and they make men do whatever they want." Meme 5 represents the same theme in a different way. In this meme, a couple is talking to a lady who is asking the husband if he feels domination by his wife. The wife replied to her that he does not feel any dominance. It may look humorous, but it is portraying women as oppressors and men as oppressed. It seems men are helpless in front of women's dominance. Women dominate their husbands everywhere. They regulate their husbands like machines. The frame established in this meme is, "Women are dominators of their husband."\par
In meme 6, a couple is walking inside a shopping mall, and some shopping bags are in their hands. The man is holding the woman's hand. A text is used to make this meme humorous. The text indicates that men hold women's hands in shopping malls not because they are romantic; rather, they are concerned about spending money. They hold the woman's hand to prevent them from going for further shopping. This meme humiliates women as they have no sense of wasting money. It is not true that every woman spends or wastes money on unnecessary shopping. There are many women who do not like excessive shopping. But this meme is establishing a myth that women are fond of shopping, and they have no control over it. If there was no man to prevent women from wasting money, they might buy the whole shopping mall. But there are many men who do excessive shopping too. They do waste money on unnecessary things. However, this meme shows only women as having an extravagant personality. The frame found in this meme is, "Women do excessive shopping." Meme 7 tried to draw attention by using a photo of Gigi Hadid and Kendall Jenner, two renowned models. This meme used their photo to establish a concept that women tend to compete with each other over who is more beautiful. There is also a text in this meme, which recommends women having jealous personalities. It means women envy each other. They can't deal with other people's success. They tend to ignore other if any problems come out between them. Women don't take any steps to exterminate problems; rather, they just ignore each other. This meme also indicates women don't have the diplomatic ability to solve issues. The frame established in this meme is, "Women are jealous of each other." In meme 8, there is a girl inside the mouth of a shark. The shark is about to swallow her, but she is busy posting this incident on her Facebook account than trying to save herself. This meme mistreated women very much. Though it looks humorous, it portrayed women as Facebook addicts. Men or women, anybody can be addicted to Facebook, but nobody will act like this meme in real life. The message this meme is trying to give is Facebook is the center of women's life. Women use Facebook all time, and they share every incident of their life on Facebook. Even if they are about to die, they will share this on social media like Facebook. The frame used in this meme is, "Women are ostentatious in nature."\par
In meme 9, a girl is sitting on a bed, and a lot of makeup products are placed in front of her. She seems surprised, and very excited. This meme demonstrates having so many makeup products is every girl's wish. But this is simply not true for every girl. It is just a stereotypical concept. There are many women who don't like to wear makeup. They love their natural beauty. Having makeup products is not a wish for most of women. They may desire to have a proper education, a satisfying job, or a healthy life and a loving family. There are many more important things in life that a girl can wish. Where men are busy with serving the nation and the world, women do not just sit and do makeup. They also work hand in hand with men in every sphere of life. This meme tried to impose a notion which is not right for most of the women. The frame used in this meme is, "Women wish for insignificant things in life." There are two women and a cartoon character of a man in meme 10. The text used in this meme says women who have straight hair long for having curly hair and those who have curly hair wish to have straight hair. On the other hand, men don't bother with straight or curly hair. They will rather be happy if they find some hair on their scalp. It may seem funny but this meme sets the notion that women are not satisfied with what they have. They hanker after things they don't have. On the other hand men don't want many things in life. They are content with what they get. This meme denies the idea that not only women but also the whole society is changing their age-old perceptions about women. Women are embracing themselves as how they are. Some women may desire to have curly or straight hair, but as it was said earlier, it is a stereotypical notion that women are not content with what they have and desire to have things what they don't have. Moreover, there are many men who can long for straight or curly hair. But this meme made this idea as a part of femininity. This meme set up the frame that, "Women are not content with what they already have."\par
Meme 11 has used a photo of a woman who is smiling. She is wearing a low cut t-shirt. This meme used a text, which means this woman wore that t-shirt to get attention from a man by showing her cleavage. However, she is trying to attract men by her body, but claiming that men will be attracted to her because of her personality. This meme certainly disgraced women. First of all, women draw attention from men by showing their body is a stereotypical concept. Women may wish to have attention but not by this. This meme is humiliating for women. It seems women don't have any talents or personality to attract people. Only what they have is their attractive figure. Again, there can be many men who may want to draw the attention of women. But this meme made women as its tool to make it humorous. The frame established in this meme is, "Women desire to attract men not by their personality rather by their physique." The same concept can be found in the following meme. In meme 12, there are two pictures of a woman who took photos on a mirror showing her hair cut. She is asking people, "How is it looking"? But this meme tried to draw the focus not on her hair but her hip. It seems this woman is trying to show her hip or her hip is more attractive than her hair cut. This meme indicates that people will notice her hip at first whenever they will look at her picture. It is disrespectful for women. This woman may not want to focus on her hip. But she is portrayed in this meme as if she wants this. No one should judge a woman for her skin tone, body shape, or even for her hair style. The frame used in this meme is, "Women want to attract attention by focusing on their specific body parts."\par
Meme 13 has used a photo of a married woman who is pointing at her finger ring and another photo of a fictional character known as Gollum, who is looking at a ring on its hand. This fictional character looks very old, concepts and can create feelings of hatred towards women. The frame found in this meme is, "Women are dependent on men to achieve success in life."\par
It has been widely recognized that the media can play a substantial role in promoting and disseminating information and are key players in the social and economic development of women  {\ref (Mishra, 2015:123)}. Thus Facebook can play a role as an agent of social change or can be the reinforcer of the status quo. Memes are setting ideology by presenting misinformation against women which may bring a horrendous impact in the society. If this goes on day by day, our society would plunge into such a state where no women will be appreciated for their achievements. People will forget to think rationally and start to satire and laugh at women. Women are an integral part of our society. If we leave behind women, we will not be able to develop our society. 
\section[{VII.}]{VII.} 
\section[{CONCLUSION}]{CONCLUSION}\par
Facebook memes not only impart joy and laughter, but also sometimes some statements which convey hatred, sarcasm, viciousness, and vulgarity to women. It is high time we think about the harmful influence of such memes on the thoughts and attitudes of people. Some memes are purely humorous, and those don't have hidden motives. But some memes make indecent remarks and unpleasant comments about female bodies and the clothes worn by them in the disguise of humor. This study found that Facebook memes portray women within some specific frames. But those frames are not applicable for entire women folks. Not all women are very complicated to understand, they may not do lots of shopping, they may embrace their hair or any body parts as they have, they may not freak about makeup products or social networking sites, they may not be jealous to other women, they may not dominate their partners, they may not present themselves as commodity or sex objects. These memes are establishing myths that are misleading and fabricated. Memes are using humor to conceal the disrespectful portrayal of women. Women worth some dignity like men. There are many women who are doing a wonderful job in their respective fields of work. They are working on upholding their nation and country. It is high time we give women their due honor. whimsical, and ugly. This meme compared married women with this fictional character. Married women may think they are still beautiful, but this meme says single people think women who are married look very old. Married women lose their beauty, glamour, and charm. That is why married women should not share their photos on Facebook or any social media. The message this meme is giving is unsubstantiated, hostile, and nonsensical for women. Marriage is not a certificate of measuring age. Women suddenly do not become ugly or get old after their marriage. And certainly, not everybody thinks married women are ugly or aged. The frame this meme is trying to set up is, "Women lose their beauty and become old after getting married." Meme 14 applied the same view, where a photo of Hollywood actor Leonardo Dicaprio is used. The text used in this meme claims that men age like wine, where women age like cheese. This meme made a remark which is extremely offensive, malicious and unpleasant for women. First of all, this meme objectified women. Then it claims as cheese gets rotten, women also lose their qualities with time. But men flourish themselves and gain qualities with time. Same as wine which is considered most expensive when it gets old. This meme holds grudges, contempt, and disrespect for women. Age is just a number. There are many successful women who achieved their success after getting old. Rotten cheese may not have any use, but many aged women are serving the world along with serving their family. Women are playing active roles everywhere in every age. But it is a stereotypical concept that women are of no use when they get old. The frame used in this meme is, "Women become useless when they get old." The last meme selected in this study is meme 15. This meme shows Hillary Clinton is giving hugs to a person. The text used in this meme says women who claim themselves as strong and independent achieved their position by getting favored from men or by getting married to an influential and rich man. This meme means women don't have any quality to achieve significant positions. They are vulnerable, weak, and incapable of achieving higher positions. So, women seek men's support to fulfill their dreams. This meme used Hillary Clinton's photo to draw attention towards her husband and former president of the USA, Bill Clinton. It indicates Hillary Clinton got her today's position because of her husband. She married the right person who promoted her to this position. This meme neglected Hillary Clinton's years of work and dedication in politics. It is very typical not to acknowledge women's dedication and efforts. In our society, women are not appreciated for their success. They rather face questions and criticism. People tend to pass bad comments on them. This meme reflects this exact notion of criticizing women for their achievements. The statement used in this meme is misleading and fictitious which may lead people to believe in stereotypical\begin{figure}[htbp]
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