Sheryl Sandberg’s LeanIn.org
Sheryl Sandberg’s LeanIn.org Wants to Change the Way Women and Families are Portrayed in Stock Photos
Here is a photo of a working mom that I found on Creative Commons, which allows us to use images for free because they are fair use. We often use images from Creative Commons and I like them because they have a much different (authentic) feel than stock images do. This photo is a different kind of image than what you’d generally find on stock photo sites of a working mom: A woman in a business suit with a briefcase, maybe laughing in front of a bowl of salad.
According to the Times, the three most searched images in Getty’s image database are “women,” “business” and “family,” and Sheryl Sandberg’s LeanIn.org recently announced a partnership with Getty to offer a special collection of images that represent women and families in more modern and empowering ways.
“When we see images of women and girls and men, they often fall into the stereotypes that we’re trying to overcome, and you can’t be what you can’t see,” Ms. Sandberg said in an interview.
The new library of photos shows professional women as surgeons, painters, bakers, soldiers and hunters. There are girls riding skateboards, women lifting weights and fathers changing babies’ diapers. Women in offices wear contemporary clothes and hairstyles and hold tablets or smartphones — a far cry from the typical stock photos of women in 1980s power suits with a briefcase.
I can’t post any of the images here because the licensing fees are a little high, but you can see the collection here. Does it better represent modern working women and their families to you?
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