Women In Television Research Articles

Feminism Ain’t Funny: Woman as “Fun-Killer,” Mother as Monster in the American Sitcom

Whether America has realized President Herbert Hoover’s 20th-century vision of a “chicken in every pot”, there is a television in nearly every home. Powerful and accessible, television programs, whether explicitly, convey values and messages to viewers and, thus, can play a role in reifying the status quo or affecting social change. Given comedy programming’s roots in radio and Vaudeville, it is no surprise that a recurrent theme in situational comedies is the “war between the sexes”. Despite a surfeit of studies examining specific programs, however, there exists no comprehensive project exploring how gender depictions have changed since television’s proliferation in post-WWII America. This time span is especially important because it is bisected by second wave feminism. Regarding gender, TV shows need not fortify traditional ideals. But how far has television come? Findings from a pilot study employing a Grounded Theory analysis of selected US sitcoms from 1952 to 2004 suggest that, regardless of the progressive nature of some programming, the most-watched sitcoms reaffirm mainstream stereotypes of women. What has changed, however, is the hierarchical relationship between the sexes. While sitcoms have modified roles of women in an effort to keep up with changing social norms, they have failed to meaningfully alter traditional masculine narratives. What has been won is a superficial role reversal: Where once television women were childlike subordinates to their male counterparts, now men are depicted as irresponsible children women must mother and discipline.

Gender Disparity in Video Game Usage: A Third-Person Perception-Based Explanation

This study took a close look at the mechanism behind gender disparity in video game usage by examining two perceptual variables: perceptions about others' video game usage and perceived influence of unrealistic video game character images on others. Both men and women perceived that young women play video games far less frequently than young men and also considered themselves less influenced by the unrealistic images than others. In addition, women, in comparison to men, perceived the video game images to have stronger influences on others. Furthermore, regression analyses revealed that perceived frequency of other women's video game play and perceived influence of the images on other women explained women's actual time spent on video games, but not men's time spent on video games. A discussion of these findings was provided, along with suggestions for video game developers, parents, educators, and video game researchers.

Correlates of socio-economic inequalities in women's television viewing: a study of intrapersonal, social and environmental mediators

IntroductionSocio-economically disadvantaged women are at a greater risk of spending excess time engaged in television viewing, a behavior linked to several adverse health outcomes. However, the factors which explain socio-economic differences in television viewing are unknown. This study aimed to investigate the contribution of intrapersonal, social and environmental factors to mediating socio-economic (educational) inequalities in women's television viewing.MethodsCross-sectional data were provided by 1,554 women (aged 18-65) who participated in the 'Socio-economic Status and Activity in Women study' of 2004. Based on an ecological framework, women self-reported their socio-economic position (highest education level), television viewing, as well as a number of potential intrapersonal (enjoyment of television viewing, preference for leisure-time sedentary behavior, depression, stress, weight status), social (social participation, interpersonal trust, social cohesion, social support for physical activity from friends and from family) and physical activity environmental factors (safety, aesthetics, distance to places of interest, and distance to physical activity facilities).ResultsMultiple mediating analyses showed that two intrapersonal factors (enjoyment of television viewing and weight status) and two social factors (social cohesion and social support from friends for physical activity) partly explained the educational inequalities in women's television viewing. No physical activity environmental factors mediated educational variations in television viewing.ConclusionsAcknowledging the cross-sectional nature of this study, these findings suggest that health promotion interventions aimed at reducing educational inequalities in television viewing should focus on intrapersonal and social strategies, particularly providing enjoyable alternatives to television viewing, weight-loss/management information, increasing social cohesion in the neighborhood and promoting friend support for activity.

Using video narratives of women's lived experience of breastfeeding in midwifery education: exploring its impact on midwives' attitudes to breastfeeding

Strong evidence supports the health benefits of breastfeeding contributing to the public health campaign to improve initiation and duration of breastfeeding globally, yet breastfeeding continuation rates are persistently low in the UK. Inadequate support from health professionals appears to be an underlying feature, aggravated by a dearth of professional education that uses a biopsychosocial approach. This paper describes how using women's video narratives of their lived experience of breastfeeding within higher education impacted positively on the attitudes of a group of midwives in relation to supporting breastfeeding women. It reports on the qualitative element of a two-phase sequential mixed methods study where focus group methods generated rich data about how and why the educational intervention altered attitudes. Analysis was thematic. Six major themes emerged, 'listening and learning from real women's experiences'; 'generation of emotions'; 'acquisition of new knowledge and learning'; 'reflection on practice'; 'promotion of independent learning' and 'sharing learning and ideas with peers'. 'Listening and learning from real women's experiences' was central to learning, and was pivotal to attitudinal change, motivating an intense need to improve practice. Findings support the value of using women's video narratives within midwifery education, through their power to integrate affective and cognitive learning, and to promote a transformative learning process. This novel approach brings value-added learning benefits by enhancing the potential to improve attitudes towards supporting breastfeeding women and improving clinical practice.

Portrayal of Women in Television (TV) Serials

The present study entitled “portrayal of women in television (TV) serials” was conducted with a view to ascertain the responses of men and women regarding the image of women in TV serial and to study the impact of these serials on them. The sample comprised of 120 respondents which consisted 60 men and 60 women purposively in the age group of 35-50 years. Women portrayal of TV is one of the contentions issues surrounding the media today. The modern images of the more liberated woman are not the image of the contemporary Indian women. it seems that sex-stereotyping is more deeply woven in to the fabric of television soap operas does not depicts the reality of women’s role in society, for a variety of different reasons, including the illusionary characters, the concentration on domestic and personal issues. It has been seen that women are portrayed in stereotypical, often fashionable way and never as an intelligent, confident and emancipated women.

Is Archiving a Feminist Issue?: Historical Research and the Past, Present, and Future of Television Studies

The study of television's past, therefore, has ramifications present and future of television archiving, television scholarship, and, arguably, television itself. It both shapes our understanding of historical development of medium and also redefines methodological approaches of television studies. In order to make convincing arguments about contemporary women's pro- gramming, such as British talk/magazine programs This Morning (Granada, 1988-) and Loose Women (Granada, 1999-), or popular postfeminist dramadies like Sex and City (Darren Star Productions/HBO, 1998-2004), television schol- ars need to be able see where address, format, representations, and concerns of the new originate and how they have developed. We need, in other words, to pay attention to the old of television, as well as to the new. As television historian John Corner has argued, this utilitarian defence suggests that under- standing television's history offers us a clearer sense of medium's present and future: An enriched sense of 'then' produces, in its differences and commonali- ties combined, a stronger, imaginative and analytically energized sense of now. 4 It is essential, then, that scholars and archivists continue to argue access to tele- vision's past in order to properly contextualize television's present and futures. In her contribution to Cinema Journal In Focus on 21 st Century Archive, Margaret A. Compton has also proposed that for those studying televi- sion's women on screen and behind scenes, no matter how convenient it is to download Desperate Housewives to an iPod, if they also want to study Hi Mom, a show Shari Lewis created and starred in 1957's housewives and children, at this point, it will have to be seen in an archive. 5 Here, as we look ahead to our project to uncover some of unexplored his- tory of television women in Britain, 6 we need to acknowledge important work that has been done in this area. 7 Some of this work, in its address to con- ditions of production of women's television, has shown value and significance of historical television studies that draw upon archival research as part of their

Italian Women's Television Coverage and Audience During the 2004 Athens Olympic Games

Italian Women's Television Coverage and Audience During the 2004 Athens Olympic Games

Italian Women's Television Coverage and Audience During the 2004 Athens Olympic Games

This study aimed at determining the amount of Italian television coverage dedicated to men's and women's sport and the number of male and female viewers during the 2004 Summer Olympic Games. AUDITEL-AGB Nielsen Media Research Italia provided the TV airtime data for the sport events broadcast, which were classified into three categories: men-only, women-only, and mixed-gender. The viewer sample was divided by age and gender and included three audience parameters: mean audience, share, and appreciation index. The last item is calculated from the program duration, audience permanence, and the share related to programs broadcast by other Italian channels. In particular, the appreciation index was used to investigate the relationship between (a) the viewer's and sport participants' gender and (b) the effect of Italian participation and expectations for sport achievement. The data showed that Italian male athletes outnumbered their female counterparts. Women's sport was allotted significantly less airtime than men's sport, but this imbalance was not proportional to the gender difference in the overall athletes' participation in the Games. Although the female audience represented 45% of the total, a significantly higher male mean audience and share were found. On the other hand, the appreciation of men's and women's sport events was balanced after equating for differences in media coverage. Moreover, sport achievement might have a positive effect on the trend toward equality of gender coverage, indicating that a global multisport event such as the Olympic Games is central to communicating a national image and identity independently of the athletes' gender.

Korean Wave and Korean Women Television Viewers in Singapore

Against the backdrop of cultural globalization and regionalization, this study theorizes on transnational television consumption and cultural flows within Asia by examining the ways in which women of the Korean diaspora enjoy homeland television drama while living in Singapore. It was found that Korean drama viewing provides these women with cultural resources to resist male dominance. In a word, they acquire semiotic power to produce resistive reading from the resources of the text. The Korean Wave phenomenon plays an interesting role in this. Moving the cultural industries' position upward in the Korean economy has allowed the expertise about Korean television drama to function as means of empowering women in familial power relations. It has also heightened their ethnic pride in their relations with other Asians. Articulated in these contexts, the Korean Wave produces new meanings and serves new cultural interests for women.

Television Women from Lucy to Friends: Fifty Years of Sitcoms and Feminism

Television Women from Lucy to Friends: Fifty Years of Sitcoms and Feminism

Feminism 101: The New York Women's Video Festival, 1972-1980

Melinda Barlow is associate professor of film studies at the University of Colorado, where she received the Boulder Faculty Assembly Excellence in Teaching Award and the Dorothy Martin Woman Faculty Award in 2002. She is the editor of Mary Lucier: Art and Performance (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002), and the author of Lost Objects of Desire: Video Installation, Mary Lucier, and the Romance of History (forthcoming from the University of Minnesota Press).

Innovating Women's Television in Local and National Networks: Ruth Lyons and Arlene Francis

Marsha Cassidy teaches media studies and literature in the Department of English at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Her writings have appeared in a number of scholarly journals. Her current research investigates from a feminist perspective a range of popular genres that predated soap opera on 1950s daytime television.Mimi White is professor of radio/TV/film at Northwestern University. She is author of Tele-Advising: Therapeutic Discourse in American Television (1992) and coauthor of Media Knowledge: Popular Culture, Pedagogy, and Critical Citizenship (1992), with James Schwoch and Susan Reilly. She has published widely on film and television in Screen, Cinema Journal, and Journal of Film and Video, among other places.

"Pioneers, Girlfriends and Wives:" An Agenda for Research on Women and the Organizational Culture of Broadcasting

This article reports the results o f a qualitative study of women in television and radio broadcasting. Its purpose is to chronicle career experiences and to relate those experiences to the culture of mass media organizations. Fourteen women managers in a major metropolitan market were interviewed about their own career paths and the overall status of women in the industry. Based on these interviews, the article suggests questions for future research on women in broadcast management.

Women in Television in the Multi-Channel Age

This article explores the impact of structural and technological change on women's employment in the UK television industry. It looks at the challenges faced by women in working in what has become since the mid-1980s a largely freelance industry where short-term contracts, informal recruitment procedures and long, unpredictable work schedules mean that women find it increasingly difficult to combine a career and family. Through case studies of individual careers, of a women's magazine programme for S4C Digital and a survey of women's credits on a selection of the newer channels (Sky One, UK Living and Channel 5), it argues that technological advances in digital transmission and production will not improve working conditions and opportunities for women's participation in all areas of the industry if they continue to replicate existing practice.

When women call the shots: the developing power and influence of women in television and film

When women call the shots: the developing power and influence of women in television and film

Latinas and television in the United States: Relationships among genre identification, acculturation, and acculturation stress

This research investigates how television use by Hispanic women in the United States relates to the process of acculturation. Viewing of and identification with various types of English‐language television genres are compared with acculturation level and acculturation stress. The study also explores the use of television to learn English and Spanish‐language television consumption. Results indicate that women who identified most with talk shows had the lowest levels of acculturation stress, and women who identified most with comedies, the highest. Women with the lowest levels were most likely to use television to learn English. The data suggest that Latin American women's television use varies, as does Anglo‐American women's, and that demographic variables provide only part of the explanation for differences in acculturation. Results indicate that English‐language television in the United States can play a positive role in its audience members’ selective acculturation to mainstream society and that televi...

AIDS TV: identity, community, and alternative video

Camcorder activism is a prime example of a new form of political expression--an outburst of committed, low-budget, community-produced, political video work made possible by new accessible technologies. As Alexandra Juhasz looks at this phenomenon--why and how video has become the medium for so much activism--she also tries to make sense of the bigger picture: How is this work different from mainstream television? How does it alter what we think of the media's form and function? The result is an eloquent and vital assessment of the role media activism plays in the development of community identity and self-empowerment.An videomaker herself, Juhasz writes from the standpoint of an activist and blends feminist film critique with her own experience. She offers a detailed description of alternative video, including her own work on the Women's Video Enterprise (WAVE). Along with WAVE, Juhasz discusses amateur video tapes of ACT UP demonstrations, safer sex videos produced by Gay Men's Health Crisis, public access programming, and PBS documentaries, as well as network television productions.From its close-up look at camcorder activism to its critical account of mainstream representations, AIDS TV offers a better understanding of the media, politics, identity, and community in the face of AIDS. It will challenge and encourage those who hope to change the course of this crisis both in the 'real world' and in the world of representation.

Black women in television: an illustrated history and bibliography

Foreword Rosalind Cash Introduction. Illustrations. Black Women on Television: A History. Bibliography Part 1: Books 1. Blacks and Television 2. General Television 3. Major Articles Part 2: Articles 1. Personalities 2. Programs 3. General 4. News/Sports 5. Off-Camera Part 3: Dissertations and Theses Appendices Part 1: Awards 1. Emmys 2. Oscars 3. NAACP Image Awards 4. Outstanding Technical Achievement Award Part 2: Starring and Co-Starring Roles 1. Series 2. Movies Indexes 1. Author/Subject 2. Program and Film 3. Station

Women and work: positive action for change

Continuity and change: women in paid employment, A.Coyle pin money professionals? women in teaching, E.Al-Khalifa who cares? women at work in social services, J.Skinner and C.Robinson policy and praxis - local government, a case for treatment?, P.Jones behind the scenes - women in television, A.Coyle the ivory tower - positive action in higher education, J.Webb just inside the counting house - women in finance. L.Ashburner who's changing whom? beyond positive action, J.Skinner positive action in a cold climate, R.Fritchie.

Perceived Career Barriers of Men and Women Television News Anchors

Perceived Career Barriers of Men and Women Television News Anchors