women+in+television

 As society's views and behaviours change, so it is represented in television. One interesting element is the portrayal of women.

In Australia, there is about 1 television per person. It has a huge influence on how people see the world. It is constantly filtered into homes and therefore affects everyone, even those who choose not to watch it. Often advertising is criticised for using women, especially their bodies, to sell products. But unfortunately instead of this improving, the effect this has on young girls has been worsening. Women make up less than half of actors and of these only a quarter are over the age of 40. Almost all female actors are good-looking and, like models, can give the wrong message to teenage girls. Since the late 30s women have appeared on television but mostly conforming to stereotypes (ie. the women stayed home while the men went to work). One television show, I Love Lucy, changed that. Lucille Ball co-created the show and played an ambitious woman. The show was extremely successful in the 50s, so much so that re-runs are still shown.

In 1964 Betty Friedan (writer, activist, feminist) claimed that “television has represented the American Woman as a “stupid, unattractive, insecure little household drudge who spends her martyred mindless, boring days dreaming of love—and plotting nasty revenge against her husband.” This view was certainly encouraged by the fact that women had never presented the news (they were seen to be inadequate).

Margaret Throsby was the first woman to read a news broadcast on television in Australia (1978). She still works for the ABC in radio. This was a revolution in Australia - not only were women becoming more aware of their rights but men were, too. Now they were both contributing to and presenting quality news articles around the world.

Since the 1990s, there has been a revolution in that sometimes men are shown to be the ‘useless’ ones (eg. Homer Simpson). This is probably because there are more and more women working in production areas of film. One of them is Tina Fey, who as well as acting in movies (Date Night), wrote skits for SNL and a feature film Mean Girls.

There are some things that haven't changed: - Women are commonly sexualised and all too often made out to be ditzy and useless. If a female character in a show is clever, she is almost always perceived by other characters to be unattractive - While male newsreaders can be well into their 60s, females seem to be almost always booted before they turn 40 or even 30. 

Two women that have been particularly successful in television are Ellen DeGeneres and Oprah Winfey. They have immense power over their viewers, and in turn, the world. Ellen has her own T.V. series in which she interviews celebrities, hosts games for people in the audience, and changes lives. People can write into Ellen, telling her about the hardships they are experiencing and Ellen will often help them in significant ways, whether it's only a ticket to see her show or thousands of dollars.

Oprah Winfey had her own show, much similar to Ellen's. Oprah also has her own magazine, in which she publishs self-affirmation and self-help articles. She was once rating the world's most influencial women on television. The reason we mentioned these two women, apart from being incredibly successful, is because they have shocked the world of television. In show-buisness, women play a minor role in the scheme of things, however Oprah being African-American, and Ellen being homosexual, represented an even smaller minority, which spoke out to women.

<span style="background-color: #8ff5e7; color: #ff8a00; display: block; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 32px; text-align: center;"> http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/women-in-tv-then-and-now/2011/09/15/gIQAl1USVK_gallery.html#photo=1 http://www.wift.org/about/index.html