The Portrayal of Feminism Gender Roles on Television
Mary Stufano
CMC 200
Ted Gournelos
November 20, 2012
“On my honor I have not given, nor received, nor witnessed any unauthorized assistance on this work.” Mary Stufano

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, to maybe even adopt a more stereotypical version of femininity or domesticity. There is a contrast, many scholars argue, between the “weak” versus the
“strong” female. With the world changing, women have acquired more rights and can be viewed as more equal than ever before, but post feminism especially on reality television, according to many scholars, emphasizes sexualization, trashiness, money, and perfection through cosmetic enhancement. While women are more equal then ever, their image on television is changed negatively.

Introduction
Throughout history women have struggled to be seen as equals to the male sex. In the 21 st century women are treated more equally then ever, at least officially, but today there are still influences that emphasize reactionary gender roles and stereotypes that do not promote the advancement of women. Media is a major source for how the public sees women and how they develop a sense of self (or what they “should” be). Media consumes and creates our culture, and a large portion of this comes from television, which, “ 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 sphere and its consumption patterns” ( Imre 2009 , 392). By showing on television that women fulfill the daily roles of cooking, cleaning, and caring for their entire family, this sets an expectation for what we see as the role of women in reality. These shows (mainly dramas and sitcoms) have been part of our daily culture since the 1950’s and are still prevalent today, especially with the recent turn to “reality television.” This isn’t to say that we should not consume and enjoy such textx. However as Tasker (2006) argues, “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” (174).
There have been many female leads in TV history, many of which are as familiar to today’s youth as they were to audiences when they first aired. One of the first lead ladies to enter our lives was Lucille Ball’s
Lucy ( I Love Lucy 1951–1957), who was a comedic housewife in the 1950’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 Moore, the 1970s disconnected working woman ( The Mary Tyler Moore Show 1970–1977), then the even more feminist women
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 ). Other examples of women being dominant on television are the female crime fighting women who kick the butt of men each week in
Charlie’s Angels
(1976-1981), and the loud, obnoxious, woman Rosanne who dominated over her husband in Rosanne
(1988-1997). All of these women are strong female leads who are often outspoken and powerful in different ways, and seem to push the boundaries of the female stereotypes.
They were also women of the home, family and fashion, and the women are mostly confined to these areas both physically and as far as character development.
Female Lead: Strong vs. Weak
The first 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” (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.” (163).

Women then continued to be shown in the home with this theme of the suburban housewife being seen. “In the later part of the twentieth century, the housewife has transformed from the responsible, middle-class 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)” (Cato and Carpentier 2010, 272). 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” (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 out of the third wave feminists and their spunky lifestyle and their individual way of life, but is not a true feminist political movement of its own
(Scott 2010). Postfeminism shows signs of female empowerment, women seen as sexualized images, and women getting to make more choices (Cato and Carpentier 2010).
Since the political and social gains for women were already there women then could focus on “girl power” for themselves. “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” (Kaufer Busch 2009, 88). Compared to women in the past, today many women actually do enter the working field and support themselves. Women however today that do get married are still working and helping

provide for their families as well. In many cases this is primarily due to economic hardship since money is much tighter for many as the middle class shrinks and requires dual incomes. Single women can be seen as a powerful force 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 (Kaufer Busch 2009, 93). This would never have been appropriate or accepted to be seen on television back in the 1950s, and this is a prime example of how this decade is pushing down previous walls of gender roles and allowing women to be viewed 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. Whether or not this is true progression for women is another question.
These walls have been pushed down slowly throughout time. Removal of restrictions on women and passage of antidiscrimination legislation have been approved.
There are also ways to help women with children like daycare while both parents work, as well as maternity leave for working mothers, and even paternity leave for some workers. There are also more choices for controlling reproduction including birth control, condoms, abortion, and fertility treatments (Kaufer Busch 2009). All of these huge topics are discussed in a variety of shows. Even though these topics were from battles seen during feminism, traces of them are still seen on television and in the real world today.
The television show which has been often promoted as a prime example of post feminism is HBO’s the award winning,
Sex and the City.
Other examples abound, however, including the Mary Tyler Moore Show, Ally McBeal, 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 have a main following by women, however men are still part of the audience. “The equivalents of superficial female chatter and glossy women’s magazines are not worthy of serious considerations of national cultural value” (Imre 2009, 401). As a result of the female leads and female centered 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 each of these shows, but Sex and the City and Desperate Housewives stand out because of their attempt to be “real
.
”
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 to 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. “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” (Hill 2010, 166).
However gender politics are not discussed as often, and feminism becomes about money and sex.
Women often dream of being married, and having children and raising them in the
“traditional” way that our society has created through social norms and what we see in the media. Any other way their life goes is considered to be wrong or not the way the world should be, or so the world used to think. Today there is the career woman, and

single woman for example, which are becoming more common but not quite accepted as traditional yet. “Although the single woman has emerged, she is hardly a celebrated model of power. Rather, she tends to be seen as an overworked victim of globalization, who has no time to build meaningful connections with men, which would lead to a fulfilling life as a mother” (Imre 2009
, 402).
Despite its supposed progressive political politics, in Sex and the City the women eventually all realize they want to be with a man and are all either 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. Her 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.
( Kaufer Busch 2009). “Whether we ask the Ally McBeals, Carrie Bradshaws, or Bridget
Jonses, their collective point is clear: single women are distressed, lonely, and miserable”
(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” (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 (Kaufer Busch 2009, 87).
Bree Van de Kamp in Desperate Housewives 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” (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 (2009- present), to the women of The Real
Housewives of Orange County (2006- present) 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 economically, 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, 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 risen to fame all with this sense of unity, family, and female empowerment. But they also depend on men a lot of the time. Their rise to stardom was due to the sexualization of Kim by her release of her sex tape. Kris needs her husband
Bruce for support, and their daughters focus on finding marriage, love, and having children as many of the episode 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.
Methods
There are two parts to this analysis, where I looked at four shows for concentration. The shows are, Desperate Housewives , the Real Housewives of Orange
County , Sex and the City , and Modern Family . These shows are all modern day shows, and portray women in todays time period, and are meant to portray women as they are seen in society today. These shows range anywhere from a half hour to an hour.
Also they range from sitcom, to drama, to reality, but they all have female leads, and similar themes. They also were all on the Nielsen Ratings for the highest watched shows.

The first part was an in-depth textual analysis. For this I analyzed the pilot episode for the four television shows. After looking at the pilot episodes in great detail, I decided to choose a scene from each one and really break the scene down and examine it.
For my content analysis I watched the first and last episode of the first four seasons for each of the shows.
I recorded down a list of topics on a chart on excel to keep themes and notes together in an organized way. Topics included if women were seen cooking, cleaning, or doing chores in the home. If women were seen working, if women were seen as being single, and if women were seen as being single parents were other topics. A woman dominating over men in any aspect was another. Women in little clothes, women in expensive clothes, and women in house clothes were other topics. Marrying rich, and women seen having sex were also topics.
Original Research 1
The first is Desperate Housewives , which is a cable drama. The ABC show, created by Marc Cherry, examines the role of the housewife in modern day suburbia. It also takes a look at four different types of women, including the “stepford wives” housewife, the divorced single mom, the woman who gave up her career to raise her four kids, which she never wanted to do, and the hot rich wife who doesn’t have to lift a finger. The scene I chose to analyze is the opening scene when a neighbor, and best friend of the four main women, Mary Alice Young discusses how her usual day, turned so unusual and newsworthy. The scene starts at 05 seconds and goes until 1 minute and
20 seconds. She begins by saying she made breakfast for her family, and she is seen

dressed up, but with an apron on, and serving her son and husband waffles, juice, and other breakfast foods while they read and relax at the table. She then says she performed her chores, and is seen doing laundry. She says she completed her projects and is seen in house clothes on her perfect lawn with a white picket fence, painting a bench. She then says she ran her errands, and is seen picking up dry-cleaning. She continues by discussing how she did all of this every day as a routine and did so until her life “gleamed with perfection.” She continues by saying that this is why this day was so astonishing because she takes a gun from her hallways closet and shoots herself in the head in the middle of her perfect living room. The idea that she had this perfect life, and fulfilled all her womanly tasks yet still was greatly unhappy makes this important. This questions whether being this perfect wife and mother in suburbia, is really enough.
Sex and the City , a HBO comedy-drama, created by Darren Star, shows many different versions of the modern day women. The show focuses around four main women living and working in New York City. The idea of working I think is important to how we have changed in society since women now work so much in the real world, and it finally is being seen more on television. The themes however are still the same sometimes. The scene I analyzed is during Miranda’s birthday dinner which starts at 6 minutes and 45 seconds and ends at 8 minutes and 50 seconds. Carrie begins by saying its “another 30 something birthday with a group of unmarried female friends.” Samantha discusses how you can complain about being single and try and find a man or you can just have sex like a man, without feelings or emotions to go along with it. The character
Samantha does this all the time, and is a very strong, and a more masculine character, mainly because her openness about sex, and her enjoyment of it all the time. She tells

stories of her ex hookups and how she was able to sleep with them and then leave and not want or need any emotional attachment. She continues by saying “this is the first time in the history of Manhattan that women have had as much money and power as men, plus the equal ability to treat men as sex objects.” Miranda thinks that when this happens men will get confused and not know how to perform because they are used to women wanting more then sex. Carries and Charlotte then question about romance. Samantha then says
“who needs it?” Carrie asks them if they are giving up on love. She says that once the right guy comes along that they will forget about all this and love the romance aspect of the relationship. Samantha says that the right guy is a “delusion” and that they need to start living their life. The theme of needing a man is prevalent in this show, which is a step back from feminism. In post feminism all the equalities are already set, and women are now able to focus on “girl power.” In this scene Samantha and Miranda are trying to embrace this, while Carrie and Charlotte are still trying to live their lives with the goal of finding love, and needing a man to be happy.
The Real Housewives of Orange County , a cable reality show on Bravo, created by Scott Dunlop. She show takes place in Coto de Caza, California, and looks at four housewives in a rich and pretentious gated community in Orange County. The scene I analyzed was when Kimberly is seen in the kitchen cooking for her kids while it voices over saying that her husband works all day at a fortune 500 company. She then continues to show us how she spends a lot of time trying to look good for her husband by working out all day, and getting huge breast implants. She says her job is being a “trophy wife.”
The women in this show, have so much money and live in a wonderful place, and are almost all plastic due to the amount of cosmetic surgery they have had to look better for

themselves, but mostly for their husbands. However they are often seen being lonely and not really having the life they always wanted when they are just at home with nothing to do and their husbands are out working all day, especially in the case of Jo, the new housewife. The theme of catering their lives to please their husbands, and that they stay home while the husband provides is a main theme of the show.
Modern Family , a sitcom on ABC, created by Christopher Lloyd and Steven
Levitan, shows a look into a family that includes a stepfather, so it isn’t the traditional family by any means. This show will give a contrast to the others because the “modern family” doesn’t have the normal motherly feel. It also centers around two other families, one being a gay couple with a baby, and the other being traditional, which includes a working father and a mother who stays home with her three kids. The scene I looked at is where the traditional family, which includes the parents Phil and Claire who have been, married 16 years, and their two daughters, and one son. The scene I looked at starts at 14 minutes and 25 seconds and ends at 15 minutes and 45 seconds.
The scene begins with Claire in the kitchen cooking with her hair up and messy, and her wearing baggy house clothes. She seems stressed out, especially when her children start to yell and fight while she is trying to cook. The youngest daughter Alex comes to her mom upset about her older sister Hailey not letting her hang out with her.
Hailey is upstairs with a boy for the first time. Claire at first tells Alex to respect their privacy but then wants to know what they are doing up there. She responds by saying they are in her bed watching a movie. Claire gets nervous but continues cooking and baking a cake for a party later, and Alex begins to help. Alex then asks if Hailey were to get pregnant if they would try and cover it up by saying she had mono and then say the

baby is Claire’s. Claire assures Alex that Hailey won’t get pregnant. She says her sister
Hailey is a good girl, just like she was at her age. She then gets concerned and leaves the kitchen to go check on them.
This idea that this young girl already knows about sex and is able to talk about it with her mom is progressive because the subject is no longer something that can’t be addressed on television. This whole thing seems progressive, but the whole scene is in the kitchen while the women are cooking, which takes it a step back at the same time.
Throughout the episode Claire is only seen on the kitchen, or with a laundry basket in her hand, which makes her fall back into the stereotypes of being a housewife and having all the household chores to take care of for the family always. This family dynamic is one that is seen so in real life and in the media, with kids fighting and dads working and moms doing chores; this show is realistic in the way it deals with real life situations.
Original Research 2
The first episode of Modern Family showed the mother of the traditional family,
Claire, looking very domestic, with her hair up, and big comfy clothes around the house while she was constantly doing chores. After that episode though she was seen wearing her hair down and makeup done nicely always. She still wore house clothes but they are much more tight and often jeans, but she is still seen doing all the household chores like cooking, cleaning, and housework. I think this is important because it set the stereotypes in the first episode but then continues the stereotypes after but tried to make it be seen in a somewhat more glamorized way.

In Modern Family, Gloria goes to the mall with her brother in law Phil at the mall in the season two finale. Phil runs into his old college enemy so he pretends that Gloria is his wife, which would make him jealous since she is a symbol of sex appeal in the show.
He shows her off while she is trying on very tight and very low cut dresses in a store.
This scene is an example of how Gloria’s body is used. Every scene she is wearing some sort of tight or revealing outfit that most often showcases, or shows a lot of her boobs.
Women’s bodies are seen being exploited on television a lot. Another example is in the
Real Housewives of Orange County. There are times in every episode of the show that the camera will do a close-up of a different woman’s boobs. There is no point to doing this, and it never goes along with the plot, but this brings up again the idea of the male gaze on television. This show always mentions too that 85% of the women in Orange County have had plastic surgery on their breasts. This gives viewers this idea that by hearing this, and seeing their breasts, that women should look like this as housewives.
In Sex and the City, every single episode shows at least one sex scene. This show doesn’t leave much to the imagination because it contains nudity and all, both male and female, which I think says a lot because it’s not just women being exploited. However, in the show they try and portray the four main women as being strong and independent, but they are actually weak and dependent on men. Every episode they are seen complaining about being single, and never finding a man to marry them. They also get depressed over breakups and dating, and over analyze every detail involving men. In the season 2 premiere, Miranda gets upset and leaves lunch with her friends because all they ever do is talk about men. However by the end of the episode they are all friends again and discuss how they all actually do need men in their lives. This is a step back for feminism because

the show basically tells the viewers, that being single is not fun, and that women should be looking for their “soulmate” (which is discussed in season 4 episode 1) and can’t be independent or happy without a man.
Desperate Housewives shows a women cleaning, cooking, or doing chores, sometimes all the above, in almost every episode. This is not showing a good example for what women should be doing, but rather gives a almost creepy resemblance to what we saw back in the 1950’s on television. We see however women needing men in all 4 of the main characters lives. For example in the season 4 premiere Carlos asked Gabby to run away with him and leave her unhappy marriage with her husband of one day Victor and return to her life with him. She is all for this because she is so unhappy and has already cheated with her ex. However when Carlos runs into some issues with not being able to dump her neighbor because of her suicide attempt she refuses to still leave her husband because she “would rather be unhappy then single.” This message is not a positive one to be sending out for women to see. If you are unhappy you shouldn’t stay with someone just so you aren’t alone, or so that they can support you. Also in the season 3 premiere when Mike is still in a coma after six months, Susan starts dating another man, even though her and Mike were about to be married, and she knew he was her true love.
Instead of waiting and trying to continue her life, she falls into the arms of another man because she is lonely and needs a man.
In the Real Housewives of Orange County , Lori wants to get back to her old life, and is able to do so by quickly becoming engaged to a broker named George. You are then seen her being spoiled with cars, jewelry, and vacations, rather then working, and raising her family like you saw before her proposal. Housewife, Vicki owns a business

and works at home, and housewife Jeana is a real estate agent, and they both work while still raising their kids and having a family. They are seen doing some domestic housework as well, but more in the earlier episodes. Characters like Jo however are portrayed much different. In season 2 episode 1, Jo is seen getting ready for a Playboy party with a friend which involves just watching them try in very revealing a see through lingerie for the audience and her boyfriend. She is also seen using her boyfriend to try and become a singer in the season 1 finale. She never does any housework, and never spends time with his children. Instead she goes out and parties and sees her friends and uses his money. This lifestyle is not what people should think is ok, and especially not glamorized for women to see on television, and aspire to be life.
Discussion
By the end of my research I found some interesting themes throughout the shows.
In Desperate Housewives , every single episode I watched showed one of the main women in the show cooking, cleaning, or doing chores. Also six out of the eight episodes also showed at least one sex scene. In Modern Family, seven out of the eight episodes showed the mother, Claire, doing some housework herself. The only episode she didn’t was when she was on vacation. Every episode also showed Claire in house clothes, and
Gloria in tight, revealing, and presumably expensive clothes. In Sex and the City , there was a sex scene showed in every single episode, and usually more then once. However every single episode had single women in it. The main women also never once cooked, cleaned, or did chores in any of the episodes. In the Real Housewives of Orange County , the main women of the show were only seen cooking, cleaning, and doing chores in the

first episode. Six out of the eight episodes showed a woman working. For a show about housewives I found this to be high, even though in almost every case it was the same two women who worked. Other prevalent themes were marrying rich, wearing little clothes, and wearing expensive clothes were also seen in just about every single episode.
This all means that women are being displayed in all different scenarios, from different backgrounds, places, and statuses but have similar attributes being shown.
While these shows all revolve around women, men are still a huge part of the show, and what majority of these women want, need, and are searching for. While some of these shows display women doing stereotypical jobs around the house like how women used to only be perceived, women are also being exploited in other ways like sex scenes. More so now then ever there is sex all over the television. Whether its through these scenes, or through women just wearing much less clothing, women are being seen in a different light. Whether though stereotypical household chores, or through sex, women on television are not supporting feminism and helping to break down these walls. Instead they are seen doing the opposite, and leaving room for controversy. There dependence on men is also seen whether its in The Real Housewives of Orange County , where they marry rich to have a “perfect” life, or in Sex and the City , where they constantly search for a man, and complain about the single life, or in Modern Family , where Gloria marries rich and gets help raising her son, or in Desperate Housewives , where all the women rely on their husbands, and boyfriends to provide them happiness.
I found a lot of this extremely interesting because I did research on television shows of the past, articles discussed how women used to be seen in such a way, and that feminism and equality for women nowadays has brought about and has continued to

bring about positive images for women. I watch a decent amount of television, including following a few of the shows that I did research on, and I never noticed a lot of the themes that were so prevalent. Seeing a woman folding laundry, almost every scene of an episode wasn’t something that is always noticed when just watching a show for pleasure.
However after analyzing shows for this project I have begun to notice more examples like this, and think more critically about what is being portrayed in certain shows. My original research about women on television in the past made me assume at first that women were going to be seen positively on television today. However this was not the case once I began watching. I think the results I found were very supportive of this.
This also brings about a lot of social implications that are so prevalent in today’s society. Women are obviously allowed to vote now, can work the same places as men, and are said to be equal to men now. This I think is still an issue that is being dealt with.
Women will never be quite equal as men if they aren’t being seen in the correct way through the media especially. The media is such a strong influence on how we allow our world to be seen, and how we carry out our actions. If it seen normal for women to always be cooking and catering after men on television, then that is how people will respond to it, and will continue to make this a social norm. Breaking past this will be hard, but I think our world will eventually get better in our women’s rights. Women have made such progress in the real world that eventually television will completely catch up, and more strides will be taken in the virtual and real world.
I think that the changes in this experiment could have been to add more shows to the group that was analyzed. I think other genres on television could also help make a stronger case because it shows all areas on television. Four shows don’t completely show

how all shows portray women, and all the different types of women in the world. Maybe looking at shows of women of different ages too, whether its teenage girls like in Laguna
Beach, or elder women like in the Golden Girls.
I think adding shows that aren’t primarily about women also could help. In a show about a male main character, women may be seen in a different way in those scenes. I think looking at more episodes could help too, because although I found strong themes in the amount of seasons I watched, having more evidence could argue a stronger case overall. However I think this textual and content analysis of these four shows went very well, and the evidence I found is very supportive of my argument. I think looking at the pilot and finale episodes of the first four seasons was more effective then looking at one whole season was more effective because it covered a larger amount of time where social changes could have happened, or made an influence on the shows.
Conclusion
By the end of this process, I learned a lot about how television constructs the modern day woman. Even though barriers have been broken down about gender and women have more rights now then they ever have before, women are still seen as below men on these television shows. Women are seen still doing their stereotypical roles like cooking, cleaning, and doing household chores, which is almost an identical resemblance to how women were seen back in the 1950’s and so on. Women are also seen catering to every need of the men in their lives when they are off work, but also when they are at work. Plastic surgery is glamorized in some shows even. Women are also working out and trying to look perfect for their men. Women are also seen needing a man in their life

to be happy. Single life is seen as a bad thing, with the ultimate goal I as finding a man and having a family. Women however are making some progress by in some shows there is a woman seen working, or a woman seen being more masculine of a character. I think television will continue to progress though. Even though the experiment showed that television isn’t showing women in the most positive light, there is still a glimmer of hope in certain episodes that show progress.

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