The Portrayal of Feminism and the Negative Attributes Towards Gender Roles as
Seen on Television
Mary Stufano
CMC 200
Ted Gournelos
October 18, 2012

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Abstract
This literature review looks at the idea of the female lead in television and the different roles that she takes on. It includes a brief history of the female lead and how her role has changed, and maybe even adopted more stereotypical roles by many television shows. There is also a contrast in the weak versus the strong female, and what makes them so different. With the world changing, women have acquired more rights and can be viewed as more as equals than ever before, which is where post feminism comes into play. This made an impact on television as well. Finally I discuss how the woman is seen on reality television. This should show the woman in a positive look and how they are really seen in today’s world. But this concept of reality is blurred today, and women are often seen to look in a different way than is expected by social norms.

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Introduction to History of Women as the Female Lead on Television
Throughout history women have struggled to be seen as equals to the male sex. Now in the 21 st century women are treated more equally then ever, but today there are still influences that take the gender roles and stereotypes that are not promoting the advancement of women. Media is a major source for how women are seen by the public, because it is all around us. Media consumes our culture, and a large portion of this comes from television. “Television, as an industry and as an object of study, has been gendered from the start. In postwar
America, it arose as a medium that addressed primarily women, who were in charge of the domestic sp here and its consumption patterns” ( Aniko ́ Imre 2009 ,
392). By showing on television that women fulfill the daily roles of cooking, cleaning, and caring for their entire family, this sets the presence for what we see as the role of women in reality. These shows have been part of our daily culture since the 1950’s are still prevalent today. “Though gender studies has developed in an effort to acknowledge the pleasures of popular culture, it is important to question and critique both the celebratory and the misogynist aspects of contemporary cinema and television directed at women” (Tasker 2006, 174).
There have been many female leads in history, many of which are as familiar to today’s youth as they were to the people of the time when they first aired. The first lead lady to enter our lives was Lucy (I Love Lucy 1951 –1957), who was a comedic housewife in the 1960’s. Then came the supernatural females with strong feminist themes, as they were able to laugh at and control men (Bewitched 1964
–1972; I Dream of Jeannie 1965–1970), to Mary Tyler

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Moore, the 1970s disconnected woman (The Mary Tyler Moore Show 1970
–
1977), then the even more feminist woman Maude (1972 –1978), Murphy Brown
(1988 –1998). The post-feminist woman arrived in the 1990’s with new personas including Ally McBeal (Ally McBeal 1997
– 2002), Buffy Summers (Buffy the
Vampire Slayer 1997 – 2003), Carrie Bradshaw (Sex and the City 1998–2004), and Bree Van de Kamp (Desperate Housewives 2004-
)”
(
Aniko ́ Imre 2009
). All of these women who star in these shows are all strong female leads who often are outspoken and powerful in different ways, and seem to push the boundaries on the female stereotypes. However, some of these shows portray these women doing just the opposite. They were also seen as being women of the home, family and fashion and the women are mostly confined to these areas physically and as far as character development.
Female Lead: Strong vs. Weak
The first real sitcom with a female lead was I Love Lucy
. “The lead character of I Love Lucy , the zany Lucy Ricardo, is foremost a wife (and by the second season a mother), who, despite her antics outside the home, is consistently returned to that role by the conclusion of each episode” (Lisa Hill
2010, 163). Bewitched (1964-72) and I Dream of Jeannie (1965-70) followed soon after and were also seen as being women of the home and almost contained to these spaces. “However, while conceding to conventional gender roles, the shows from the second half of the 1960s began to empower their leading ladiesalbeit with magic.” (Lisa Hill 2010, 163).

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Women then continued to be placed in the home with this idea of her being the suburban housewife throughout television. “In the later part of the twentieth century, the housewife has transformed from the responsible, middleclass Donna Stone and Samantha Stevens (magic aside), to the working-class
Peg Bundy in Married…with Children (1987-97) and the ironically self-proclaimed
“domestic goddess Roseanna Conner in Roseanne (1988-97). All these shows had such great success because they are relatable and demonstrate common themes and elements seen in reality. “By the late 90’s, the image of the empowered woman once again morphed to encompass progressive facets while remaining saturated in sex and stereotypes” (Cato and Carpentier 2010, 272).
This implies the idea of the real woman, did not in fact really start to change at all because the stereotypes remained in place.
Post Feminism on Television
Postfeminsm developed from the third wave feminists and their spunky lifestyle and their individual way of life (Scott 2010). Postfeminism is defined by female empowerment, women seen as sexualized images, and women having many more choices (Cato and Carpentier 2010 ). “Women in the last three decades have become more likely to be single, professional, and educated, three key features that distinguish them from the 1950s suburban housewives”
(Elizabeth Kaufer Busch 2009, 88). Compared to women in the past, today many women actually do enter the working field and help their husband provide for their family. In many cases this is primarily due to recent economic hardships and money is much tighter for many. Single women can be seen as a powerful force

Mary Stufano 6 in the HBO hit show Sex and the City (McRobbie 2008). “The pilot episode features four women pledging to stop looking for Mr. Right and start having sex like men: without feelings, sentimentality, or commitment. (Elizabeth Kaufer
Busch 2009, 93). This would never have been appropriate or accepted back in the 1950s, and this is a prime example of how this decade is pushing down previous walls of gender roles and allowing for women to be more like men in many different ways. Examples of this involve anything from having unemotional sex to being in the work place to having short hairstyles.
These walls started to be pushed down slowly and throughout time.
Restrictions on women and antidiscrimination legislation have been approved.
There are also ways to help women like daycare for children while both parents work, as well as maternity leave for working mothers, and even paternity leave.
There have also been more choices for reproduction including birth control, condoms, abortion, and fertility treatments (Elizabeth Kaufer Busch 2009). All of these huge topics of interest during their time of occurrence can be seen discussed in a variety of shows.
The television show which has been often promoted as a prime example of post feminism is the award winning HBO show, Sex and the City.
Other examples include Ally McBeal, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Desperate
Housewives. These shows all have female leads at the center of the storylines.
The downside to shows having female leads is that the shows are regarded as
“chick shows” automatically by society.

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“The equivalents of superficial female chatter and glossy women’s magazines are not worthy of serious considerations of national cultural value” (Aniko ́ Imre
2009, 401). As a result of the female leads and female concentric subject matter, the main audience is women, when in contrast women and men equally watch shows even where the main characters are men. This is another example of a major gender issue that is experienced by the audiences of television shows.
Girl power is a theme that I think tries to be seen in both Sex and the City and Desperate Housewives. Each show has four main women who are best friends and are able to bond about almost everything. In Sex and the City a lot of what the women have in common is that they are all single and they don’t want have to depend on men. They all have solid careers, and have money to buy luxurious things, and go to fabulous places, so they don’t feel like they need to depend on men, until later into the show ’s seasons. “In the case of Desperate
Housewives , which is primarily concerned with a feminine and familial discourse, social and political change in terms of gender and the representation of women is particularly relevant and evident, as it is a show that could have arisen only in a postmodern, post feminist world” (Lisa Hill 2010, 166).
The typical woman dreams of being married, and having children and raising them in the normal traditional way that our society has created. Any other way their life goes is considered to be sad or not the way the world should be, or so the world used to think. Today there is the career woman, or the single woman for examples, and it is becoming more common but not quite accepted.
“Although the single woman has emerged, she is hardly a celebrated model of

Mary Stufano 8 power. Rather, she tends to be seen as an overworked victi m of globalization, who has no time to build meaningful connections with men, which would lead to a fulfilling life as a mother” (Aniko ́ Imre 2009 , 402).
Like in Sex and the City the women eventually all realize they want to be with a man and are all eit her married or in a relationship by the end of the show’s seasons. In Desperate Housewives the single mother Susan who got divorced does not like that her life has turned out this way. Susan Mayer’s main goal is to find a husband and not live her life without a man to take care of her and love her. Because of this need, she often puts raising her daughter Julie as her second priority.
( Elizabeth Kaufer Busch 2009). “Whether we ask the Ally
McBeals, Carrie Bradshaws, or Bridget Jonses, their collective point is clear: single women are distresses, lonely, and miserable” (Elizabeth Kaufer Busch
2009, 87).
This dependence on men is showing a weakness in women for not being able to live or provide on their own. “Decades ago, Betty Friedman’s The
Feminine Mystique uncovered the suburban woman’s plight, the so-called
“problem that has no name,” and its root cause: powerlessness created by women’s lack of real liberty or independent choice” (Elizabeth Kaufer Busch
2009, 87). Women depend on men in our society, or so our society has decided for us.
Even today a lot of the issues seen with women is that these gender roles are still extremely similar to the idea of the 1950s housewife. At least this is how women are often portrayed when they are leads in today ’s popular culture
(Elizabeth Kaufer Busch 2009, 87). Bree Van de Kamp in Desperate Housewives

Mary Stufano 9 is a character that is the epitome of a stereotype. “
Bree Van de Kamp is the
Martha Stewart figure who chooses to play the role of the happy housewife heroine” (Elizabeth Kaufer Busch 2009, 95). She has a perfect lawn, always is dressed to perfection, and is there with baked goods for any occasion. She also never goes without a smile even when she is suffering on the inside. Her character is chilling at points because of her perfection she portrays. By examining the characters in television I think it is possible to see if post feminism is really helping our society through television.
“The presence of female subjects on television does not equate with the presence or vision of a liberatory feminism, which rejects racism and ethnocentrism; sexism and patriarchy; heterosexism and homophobia; and class exploitation” (Rebecca Brasfield 2007,
138).
Reality Television
Reality television doesn’t ever seem to portray women in a positive light.
From Snooki getting drunk on the Jersey Shore , to the women of The Real
Housewives of Orange County fighting, women never seem to be doing acts that are benefiting to their stereotypes. Women are seen often looking stupid as well
(Hendershot 2006). The idea of high and low class is seen a lot too. Most everyone on reality television is very wealthy but they are seen doing acts that aren’t considered high class. They often come across trashy and low class, which is not the case (Holbrook and Singer 2009).
A lot of shows revolve their storylines around establishing the traditional female roles, especially their domestic stereotypes. This includes cooking,

Mary Stufano 10 cleaning, and caring for their husbands. Some however are trying to change this and make women seem much more independent and not need to fall into this stereotype (Cato and Carpentier 2010). An example includes the Kardashian family. They are a group of strong women, who run their business, and have rose to fame all with this sense of unity, family, and female empowerment. But they also depend on men a lot of the time. Kris needs her husband Bruce for support, and their daughters focus on finding marriage, love, and having children as many of the episodes plots (Kingston 2010). Love and the idea of women needing men to be happy is a common theme in many reality shows. This is not what post feminism however is about, and in fact television is doing the opposite by not showing women as independents at all for the most part. Although women are now seen as being an equal sex, women are still not seen as equals by their portrayal on television. Many shows cause women to fall back into the stereotypes that were formed years ago, and even lessen their roles as equals today.
“On my honor I have not given nor received nor witnessed any unauthorized assistance on this work.” Mary Stufano

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