Portrayals of women in popular media

Content and effects

NOW analysis of 2002 primetime

1. Gender Composition and Diversity: Analysts provided a tally of lead, supporting and guest characters by gender and race, with notation of positive role models and negative stereotypes among women and people of color.

2. Violence: Analysts recorded the number and type of violent, threatening or hostile acts, also noting the gender of the victims and an interpretation of whether the presentation of violence was gratuitous or integral to the story.

3. Sexual Exploitation: Analysts noted how the male and female characters interacted and whether women/girls were respected and valued participants in the storyline, existed primarily as sex objects to seduce/complement the male characters, or were peripheral to the action driving the plot.

4. Social Responsibility: Analysts commented on the relevance of subject matter to everyday people's lives.

Shows were examined for attention to issues such as economics, childcare and birth control; the consequences of characters' actions; and the inclusion of characters of varying age, size, sexual orientation, ability, marital status, religion, etc.

• In the third year of producing the Watch Out, Listen Up! report, our field analysts observed a continued lack of gender and racial diversity on TV. Outdated and negative stereotypes were common where diversity did exist.

• In our official tally, the six broadcast networks employed 134 more men than women in regular primetime roles.

• Programs told from a male point-of-view outnumbered those with a female point-of-view more than two-to-one.

• The gap between shows that portray female characters with dignity and respect, and programs that sexually exploit women appears to have widened. On one end of the spectrum the networks give us Judging Amy, Law & Order and The West Wing where women are smart, resourceful and in charge. Way on the other end of that spectrum, the networks offer Fear Factor, The Bachelor, WWE Smackdown! and The Drew Carey Show where women exist to be ogled, used and demeaned.

• If you are a middle-aged woman, a lesbian, a Latina, a woman with a disability, a woman of size, a low-income mom struggling to get by . . . good luck finding programming that even pretends to reflect your life.

• Media Tenor (www.mediatenor.com) looked at the evening news programs on CBS, ABC and NBC to determine the percentage of female protagonists in news stories in 2002.

• All three programs came in with an average percentage of 14% female protagonists, compared to 86% males. There were no significant differences among the networks in this regard. National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice led the top 10 with 45 appearances, followed by Senator Hillary Clinton (27) and the First Lady, Laura Bush (20). It took EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman a mere three appearances to make it into the top 10.

• The picture looks even worse considering the issues about which the top female protagonists were consulted or to which they were connected In the context of the top issues, foreign affairs, out of 4,234 appearances of individuals, only 208 were women, an equally low 5% on all three networks.

• Similarly, out of 1845 individual appearances in the context of political issues, women appeared only 115 times. In fact, the only top five issues in which women consistently beat the network average of 14% were crime (often as victims) and, surprisingly, business -- though with a 21% share, women in this context are still far from achieving parity.

Longitudinal Analysis of Gender in Network Commercials:

How Advertisers Portray Gender • The researchers videotaped 21-hour constructed

week primetime samples (Sunday through Saturday) for each network from 7:00 -10:00 p.m. CDT in 1998, 1999, and 2000. In 1998 the sample included ABC, CBS and NBC; in 1999 the sample was ABC, FOX; and in 2000, it was ABC, NBC, CBS and FOX. A total of 189 hours of television programming was collected during the February "sweeps" rating period each year.

• Age is as misrepresented in primetime, network commercials as gender. . . .After 51 years of age, when a person has generally achieved financial security and independence, both genders were disregarded as target prospects by advertisers.

• This study confirmed earlier studies' findings that the male voice is overwhelmingly the voice of authority in most commercials. We now know this is also true of commercials for traditionally female products. Perhaps it shouldn't have been surprising that male voices were also featured in longer commercials, while female voices were relegated to shorter commercials, but it was. Simply, women were usually featured in shorter commercials both as characters and voice-overs.

Employment in broadcast media

The latest figures from the 2003 RTNDA/Ball State University Annual Survey of women and minorities show that although the number of minorities working in local radio and television news rose slightly last year, the percentage of minorities dropped. At the same time, the number of women news directors and the percentage of women in the workforce have grown in television newsrooms.

• According to the survey, minorities now comprise 18.1 percent of local television news staffs, down from 20.6 percent last year. In local radio, minorities hold 6.5 percent of the jobs, down from 8 percent. Because the overall number of employees is up this year, the number of minorities in TV newsrooms actually rose, but did not keep up percentage-wise. Bob Papper of Ball State University, who conducted the study for the Radio-Television News Directors Association, reports that the number of minorities working in local broadcast newsrooms rose by about 60 jobs overall.

• Women are gradually increasing their representation in TV news management, holding a record 26.5 percent of the news director jobs; women hold 39.3 percent of all television news jobs

• In radio, women hold 14.4 percent of the news director slots and constitute 24 percent of the workforce.

Lifetime and WE channels

• An examination of scheduling was conducted for both channels during two weeks in October (October 7 through October 13 and October 21 through October 27) and one week in November (November 4 through November 10) 2002. All the programs that aired during this three-week period were included, with the exception of paid programming.

• Genre: The groups in this category included drama, comedy, talk, contest and documentary/reality. These labels cover the different genres available on entertainment television.

• Primary theme: The options here were romance, family, physical appearance, fashion/style, victimization and other (a non-stereotypical theme).

Women's Role in Popular Video Games: Stripped Down and Killed Off

• The National Institute on Media and the Family, a leading resource on the effects of video games on children, released its Seventh Annual MediaWise Video Game Report Card in December in Washington, D.C.

• The Seventh Annual MediaWise Video Game Report Card gave its first ever overall failing grade. Areas of special concern include:

• violence against women; • growing levels of video game addiction; • inaccuracy of ratings; • parental lack of awareness regarding content; • and the failure of many retailers to restrict children from mature-rated

games. • The MediaWise Video Game Report Card also analyzes

recent research, showing that violent video games are linked to aggressive, violent behavior.

Women working in entertainment

Men wrote and created approximately 8 of 10 situation comedies and dramas airing on the broadcast networks in the 2001-2002 prime-time season.

Overall, women constituted 23% of all creators, executive producers, directors, writers, editors and directors of photography. This percentage has remained virtually unchanged for three seasons.

• However, the representation of women writers declined from 27% in 2000-2001 to 19% in 2001-2002.

• Source: Martha Lauzen

• Boxed In: Women on Screen and Behind the Scenes in Prime-Time TV

Women in entertainment industry

Male % Female %

Characters 63 37

Main characters 60 40

Speaking time (secs.) 63 37

Exec producers 80 20

Producers 75 25

Directors 87 13

Writers 72 28

Creators 79 21

Total creative 78 22

(Glascock, 2001)

Network News: Women Less Than a Fifth of Sources; Quoted Most Often as 'Ordinary Citizens'

• Media Tenor Ltd. (www.mediatenor.com), a media analysis firm, in its study of U.S. network newscasts in 2001, found women at the margins of public debate.

• For each report on ABC World News Tonight, NBC Nightly News and CBS Evening News, Media Tenor coded the topic, time period, location, personalities involved and source information (including gender, among other characteristics). Media Tenor profiled 14,632 sources in 18,765 individual reports airing between January 1 and December 31.

• In general, the analysis showed that selection of sources favored "elite interests": prominent politicians, particularly those in the current political administration, and persons with considerable economic influence.

• In terms of gender representation of sources, women were 19% of total sources. However, they accounted for 40% of "ordinary citizens" quoted, indicating that they were less likely to be contacted for expert opinion.

Cultural Indicators

Primetime, 1969-1985

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

Men Women

UnknownProfessionalWhite collarBlue collarHousekeeperStudent

Primetime, 1990-1998

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

Men Women

UnknownProfessionalWhite collarBlue collar

Gender-typed jobs, 1990-1998

0

510

1520

2530

3540

4550

Men Women

Male jobFemale jobGender neutral jobCannot code

Primetime, 1969-1985

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

Male Female

Child/adolescentYoung adultMiddle agedElderly

Marriage patterns, major characters, primetime 1969-1985

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Men Women

Not marriedMarriedFormerly marriedCannot code

Domestic responsibilities

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

Men Women

HomemakerCares for minorsHas childrenParents seen

Sexual orientation

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

Men Women

HeterosexualHomo/bisexualNo reference

Romantic involvement

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Men Women

% Romanticallyinvolved% Family lifeimportant

• Overall, Lifetime and WE used stereotypical approaches to target their audience a majority of the time. Lifetime devoted 76.3 percent of its three weeks of programming to stereotypical "women's themes." Meanwhile, 71.5 percent of WE's programs over a three-week period focused on stereotypical issues.

• WE focused heavily on romance. The final total for programs featuring romantic themes was 53.9 percent. In other words, more than half of WE's programming revolved around romance of some kind (primarily heterosexual romance).

• Lifetime, in comparison, spent 17.3 percent of its time on romance. Furthermore, many of WE's program descriptions began with the romantic part of a program (in other words, featured it as the most important focus), using phrases like "romance blooms," "love blossoms," etc.

• Lifetime's primary focus was victimization, which served as a theme for 35.6 percent of its programs. In contrast, WE focused on victimization for only 1.6 percent of its programs. Furthermore, many of Lifetime's original dramatic movies focused solely on victimization, with titles such as A Murderous Affair, With Harmful Intent and Stalking Back.

NOW analysis, 2001-2002; 2002-2003 primetime