Representation of Gender in TV Dramas

1. TV DRAMA- GENDER
Hannah Halliday

2. GENDER STEREOTYPES-WOMEN
• Women are supposed to have "clean jobs" such as secretaries, teachers, and
librarians.
• Women are not as strong as men.
• Women can’t be politicians.
• Women are supposed to cook and do housework.
• Women are responsible for raising children.
• Women do not have technical skills and are not good at hands on projects such as
car repairs.
• Women are supposed to look pretty and be looked at.

3. GENDER STEREOTYPES-MEN
• All men enjoy working on cars.
• Men are not nurses, they are doctors.
• Men do "dirty jobs" such as construction and mechanics; they are not secretaries,
teachers, or cosmetologists.
• Men do not do housework and they are not responsible for taking care of children.
• As husbands, men tell their wives what to do.
• Men are lazy and/or messy.
• It is always men who work in science, engineering, and other
technical fields.
• Men do not cook, sew, or do crafts.

4. GENDER IN TV DRAMAS-
STEREOTYPES
MEN
• Play active roles which lead the
narrative.
• Physically and mentally strong.
• Outnumber females.
• Allowed to look or gaze at women.
• Dominant
• Protectors.
Women
• Play passive roles.
• Objects for the males.
• Produced to gratify male viewers (not
all of the time).
• Bearers of children.
• In need of protection.
• They are not independent- need male
support.

5. GENDER IN TV DRAMAS
Mistresses:-
• The scene starts with a husband and wife in the kitchen, the woman is shown as a
business woman, whereas the husband is represented as a house husband being the
one who isn’t working. In this case, the stereotypical roles have been switched.
• The man wants the woman to retire from her job. This is potentially him trying to
dominate her and trying to get her to do as he wants as he feels it will make them
happier however she disagrees with him.
• Also, this suggests that the woman is in a higher position than the man in this clip
and she feels she is in a better position than her husband as he states, “You don’t
think I can earn as much as you, do you?”.

6. GENDER IN TV DRAMAS
Cutting It:-
• The mis-en-scene as part of this TV drama is representing the woman as being average. The
way she dresses, the clothes she is wearing and her naturalistic make-up.
• In this clip, the woman may be seen as weak as she has just found out about her husbands
affair and she has automatically forgiven him without any hesitation.
• The woman pays for the taxi they are in- she is taking the lead. This brings her position up
more after she does this. She also makes the man wait outside while she goes in for her
appointment.
• A typical stereotype for a woman is that she stays strong when a bad situation may be
occurring and we see this in the clip.
• We see the woman looking confident which makes us as an audience assume she has just
got some good news.
• Another gender stereotype of men is that they should care for their wives, we see this in this
drama when the woman gets run over. The mans first instinct is to run across the road to
her.

7. In these series of screenshots, we see
the woman as being innocent and quite
vulnerable however it leads on to her
being in the lead and she takes the
situation into her own hands. Although,
as we finish the clip, she is deemed
vulnerable again as she has been run
over and is dying.

8. GENDER AND TV DRAMA-PAST
• In the past, there was a lot of gender discrimination in TV dramas as the men always
had the higher roles such as being professionals in certain job professions. While
the women were usually at home, doing the housework and looking after the
children. This is usually seen in period dramas that we see on the television.
• In one particular scene from Mr Selfridge, it is seen that the women are always
seeking the approval of men. This suggests that they feel the men have a higher
opinion of them and they always feel like they are doing the wrong things. Also,
there are predominantly more men in the work place than there is women which
would suggest the stereotype of women being at home and looking after the
children.

9. GENDER AND TV DRAMA-PRESENT
• In the present day, there is more diversity on gender roles as we see women in
higher professions and occasionally we see men staying at home and looking after
the children. However, this doesn’t mean that there are still no stereotyping going
on in these TV dramas. Gender roles exist merely because society as a whole
chooses to accept them, but they are maintained by the media.
• Today on the TV, women are represented as nearly as equal as men. In the TV
drama ‘Scott and Bailey’, the main characters are female and they are in top
professions and they have high career aspirations. This goes against the stereotypes
that are created for women. In this case, from this tv drama, the women are in
higher positions than the men. This is a huge push from the past where this
wouldn’t have been the case.

10. DO I THINK GENDER IS FAIRLY
REPRESENTED IN TV DRAMA?
• I think there is an increasing number of positive female roles that are seen within TV
dramas.
• This could be argued that these show the social and cultural changes that females
have experienced in the last 25 years, which has meant that women are now more
likely to have career goals and aspirations.
• However, I still feel that in some TV dramas, the women are still put in a particular
place to serve the men because it is their stereotypical role in society.