Representation of gender in the past

Gunter and Elamer(Women and Men on TV)

1. In the mid-1970s, Miles (1975) found that there were nearly equal proportions of men and women in situation comedies.
2. Gunter study in 1970s consistently found that marriage, parenthood and domesticity were shown on television to be more important for women than men.
3. Only 15 Per cent of the leading characters were women, a decade later a 1987 study found female characters to be the most common in comedy programmes (43per cent), but outnumbered two to one in dramas, and in action-adventures shows women had almost doubled their showing to a still low 29 per cent of characters(Davis,1990)
4. 1970s found men to be the dominant characters and the decision makers on TV.
5. Tuchman asserts that those women who were shown to be working were portrayed at 'incompetents and inferiors' as victims or having 'trival' interests, emotional and practical problems or women with little value in the TV world.