Women In Highly Underrepresented In Television

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Women are highly underrepresented in television shows and there are many problems with the way that they are shown in the off chance that they are represented in a show. In television, the percentage of female characters has fallen, and the female characters that actually do make it on screen are far less likely to be leaders than their male counterparts. Women in the media are fewer in number and less central to the plot than males. Employed women in television are shown in traditionally female occupations and as subordinates to men with little status or power. Marriage and parenthood are considered more important to a woman’s than a man’s like. Female characters are more passive than male characters. TV portrays the traditional division…show more content…
When young girls watch TV, they do not see capable, loving, and smart women living successful lives and having successful careers. Civil rights and education activist Marian Wright Edelman pointed considers this damaging because she pointed out that “you cannot be what you cannot see.” For every five men that have careers in science, technology, or math related careers, there is only one female character in such a profession. Women on TV are commonly exploited in the workplace. Successful women are portrayed as evil minded and female characters are often punished for pursing careers at the expense of damaging their personal relationships. This indicated discouragement of being such a female. Female characters are either represented as successful in family life or successful in their careers, it is very rare for them to be shown as accomplishing…show more content…
I could not choose just one episode or even one show so I will be using a few different TV episodes to demonstrate my points. In a recent episode of Saturday Night Live, a group gets together and they are dressed in Halloween costumes. A heavy set women is there without a costume and just dressed in all red. Another women says to her “JoAnn, I know exactly what you are you are a meatball.” This is followed by some canned laughter. JoAnn replies “um no, I did not dress up, I forgot.” The other lady says “oh oh, are you a marble? You’re a red marble” which is again followed by laughter. This is a great example of how over-weight actresses are portrayed in television shows and used strictly for fat jokes. They are used specifically for comedy and at the expense of themselves. This is not the case for men in television. In general, men are valued as characters regardless of how they look where as for omen, their sexuality is still the focal point of their
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