Women in Television Drama

Paper Summary:

This paper reports that research findings indicate, especially in the 1970s, that women were under-represented and constrained to the narrow mold of housewives and mothers, both in daytime and prime-time television drama. The author points out that the women's movement has had a noticeable effect on the depiction of women; however, there are still traits of under-representation of woman, even in the 1990s and 2000s. The paper relates that researchers disagree as to whether the daytime portrayal of women is relatively more positive in daytime drama than in prime-time drama; however, the researchers do concur that, in both these time periods, women are portrayed as being incompetent in keeping the patriarchal system from interfering with their lives. The paper includes many quotations several of which are embedded in the text.

Table of Contents:
Introduction
The Early 1970's
A Turning Point: Cagney and Lacey
Discussion
Conclusion

From the Paper:

"With the overt manifestations of women's movement, questioning conventional cultural perceptions of femininity in various spheres such as labor, family, sexuality and economy, prime-time network television began its quest to respond to these new discourses. In the late 1970s, prime-time television "was generating portrayals of women that drew-in various ways and to varying degrees-on the new feminist consciousness, particularly that of the U.S. liberal women's movement." "Cagney and Lacey" provided a sharp contrast to the conventional images of women on television and met the multidimensional character imposed by the woman movement's discourses."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Bowrie, A.(1998, March 2). Hey Ally, ever slain a vampire? Newsweek, 131, p. 60.
• Brown, M.E. (1994). Soap opera and women's talk:The pleasure of resistance. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
• D'Acci, J.(1994). Defining women: Television and the case of Cagney & Lacey. Chapell Hill: University of North Carolina Press.
• Downing, M.H. (1974).Heroine of the daytime serial. Journal of Communication, 24, 130-137.
• Downing, M.H. (1980). American television drama-men, women, sex, and love. In B. Dervin & M.J. Voigt (Eds.), Progress in communication sciences: Vol. 2. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.

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