Today, I will be discussing the Mail Online’s headline “Mothers rule The Apprentice: Lord Sugar set to pick a winner between four women and one man – and three of them are working mums”.
Jumping straight in, can it be noticed how the Mail Online had to mention that three of the contestants in The Apprentice are “working mums”. It’s hard to agree with the Mail Online at times, but yes, in fact, these three contestants are working mums – and with images provided of the three with their families, we can finally trust the Daily Mail’s word for it. Despite this, it is still noticed how these three women, regardless of their hardworking ethic and business success, are still mainly labelled as this nurturing caregiver.

In the article, it is mentioned how being separated from their children would be “the most challenging aspect of the competition”. This further expects these women to be sensitive and weak as they lose connections with their family for the competition. Do men and women really differ with their emotions to such a great extent?

Frances Bishop and Grainne McCoy, two of four female contestants left in the running for Alan Sugar’s £250,000 investment, who were also labelled as “working mums” in the Daily Mail’s headline, are further portrayed as family orientated rather than business woman through family pictures placed within the article. This idea of being the woman in the household being a homemaker and a breadwinner is a recent acknowledgement for many homes in the UK; family households are now predominantly seen to contain both partners to work and take care of the home and/ or children. So why is the Mail Online still enforcing this ideology of women being the only nurturer in the household?
Jessica Cunningham is quoted in the article, saying “It’s always hard being the breadwinner, because you have got three people who rely on you”. This persistent picture the Daily Mail are painting is that women are not capable of taking on such a responsibility; it is a man’s job. However, have the Daily Mail forgotten the 1:4 male, female ratio for this week’s Apprentice semi-final? Are we still to believe that men are the only ones who are capable of running a business, earning a living and having a family?
Not only is the stereotypical nurturing characteristic heavily portrayed in this article, but Jessica Cunningham’s image within the article is seen as raunchy and revealing as she wears a black leotard, with flawless skin and voluminous hair. It is questioned in my view what relevance this has towards the article. This being the forefront photo for the article throughout the whole of today signifies to me, the female body is certainly just to be looked at for the readerships pleasure, during in this sexualised attention. It can be viewed that this is seen to be empowering for women, having a good bod whilst running a successful business and making a tonne amount of money – but again, where is the relevance for this?

The Daily Mail have clearly objectified the women’s body and have belittled their ability to have control over their successful businesses. Taking their personal lives out of the context of the article, making them fragile and more family orientated, has been portrayed negatively by the Daily Mail as this interferes with their ‘business’. It is still shocking how they persist through the headline, article and images that women are still to be placed within the home.
How dare these women leave their children with their families for 10 weeks for a fantastic career boost.