As Seen on TV: the Portrayal of Women
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As Seen on TV: The Portrayal of Women A quantitative and qualitative analysis of the presence and portrayal of women in Dutch television fiction and non-fiction University of Amsterdam Graduate School of Communication Research Master in Communication Science Thesis Supervisor: Dr. Jeroen S. Lemmens Student Name: Violet Luif Student: 5698316 Date of Completion: 27 June 2014 Abstract Until now, virtually all studies that focus on the representation of men and women in media content, conclude that the number of women who appear in the media is much lower than the proportion of women in the overall population. In the current study, the presence and portrayal of women on television have been studied by using a mixed-method approach. The first study applied a content analysis to quantify the portrayal of women on television while the second study used focus groups with women of different age groups and levels of education to obtain a greater insight into their perception on the portrayal of women on television. The representation of women on television differs strongly for fiction and non- fiction programs. In fiction women are slightly underrepresented, however, among younger age groups men and women are equally distributed. Men are overrepresented in nearly all levels of employment. In non-fiction, women are strongly underrepresented. Women seem to be underrepresented in more information oriented genres, functions, levels of expertise and topics. While in the more informal genres, functions, levels of expertise and topics, men and women seem to be equally distributed. The qualitative dimension of the study has indicated that women have a realistic notion of the portrayal of women on television. Causes that were mentioned for the underrepresentation of women were based on three principles: male dominance, female subordinance and a more critical approach towards women by the audience. Women seem to be quite indifferent towards the actual and perceived underrepresentation of women on Dutch television. They rejected the thought of interference of the government in the representation of women in television programs. 2 Introduction In February 2013, the Dutch Public Broadcasting Organization (NPO) announced their intentions to have a greater female presence in news and talk shows (Volkskrant, 2013). According to the Dutch Media Act, the NPO should broadcast a balanced image of Dutch society through its programs (Mediawet, 2008). This is why an accurate representation of the Dutch society in television programs in the period of 2010-2016 is one of the NPO’s priorities (Nederlandse Publieke Omroep, 2010). This means, among other things, that the organization wants to portray different social groups in society in an appropriate and proportionate way. Since half of the Dutch population consists of women (Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek, 2013), half of the people appearing on Dutch public television should be female. Based on its own research in 2010, the NPO found that only 40% of the people who are visible on Dutch television with speaking roles were female (Monitor Representatie, 2010). According to the NPO this share is disproportionately small. In the current study, the knowledge about the representation of women in contemporary Dutch television is updated. Both the frequency of women on television and the role in which women are portrayed are examined. Furthermore, the current study aims to provide more insight into the way in which women perceive their representation on television. In order to analyze the portrayal of women from a quantitative and a qualitative perspective, a mixed-method approach will be used. The first study will use a content analysis to quantify the portrayal of women on television while the second study will use focus groups to obtain a greater insight into how women perceive their portrayal on television. Scientific research substantiates the importance of a representation of society on television that corresponds with reality. Previous research has shown that the orientation of viewers towards their own and other social groups in society is influenced by the way in which the relationship between these groups is represented on television (Gerbner, Gross, 3 Morgan & Signorielli, 1994). According to studies on cultivation, the image that people have of the demographic structure of society is linked to their television viewing behavior. People who watch a lot of television estimate the demographic composition of society to be more comparable to the way it is represented on television than to the actual structure of society (Gerbner & Gross, 1976). Moreover, cultivation research asserts that a cultivation effect is most pronounced in contexts with which the audience is unfamiliar (Gerbner & Gross, 1976; Morgan & Signorielli, 1990; Pfau, Mullen & Garrow, 1995). In addition, research from the field of social psychology has demonstrated that the media also play a role in establishing a picture of the relative status of social groups within a broader socio-cultural context. For example, research has identified a correlation between exposure to television content in which men and women are portrayed in a stereotypical manner and having a stereotypical image of men and women (Signorelli, 1990). In summary, it can be stated that what is being broadcasted on television is associated with the worldview of television viewers (Bandura, 2002). More specifically, television content is related to the maintenance and transfer of stereotypical images of males and females. The representation of men and women in media content has been studied extensively in other countries. Particularly in the areas of advertising (e.g. Bartsch, Burnett, Diller and Rankin-Williams, 2000; Stern & Mastro, 2004) and fiction (e.g. Lauzen, Dozier & Horan, 2008; Signorielli & Kahlenberg, 2001; Davis, 1990). Virtually all studies that focus on the representation of men and women in media content, conclude that the number of women who appear in the media is much lower than the proportion of women in the overall population. In addition, it is clear from previous studies that women are not only underrepresented in comparison to men, they are also depicted in a very different light. Generally, prevailing gender stereotypes in the media are confirmed in these studies; women are depicted more often in the domestic realm while men are more commonly portrayed in a work-related 4 context (e.g. Bartsch et al, 2000; Lauzen & Dozier, 2005; Lauzen et al, 2008; Mastro & Stern, 2004). In the Netherlands, very few studies on the image of different social groups in television programs have been conducted. The male-female ratio in Dutch television programs has been examined in research by Koeman, Peeters and D' Haenens (2007). They used content analysis on both fiction and non-fiction programs to test whether public and commercial broadcasters provided a representative picture of Dutch society in their programs. They found that men were, in both fiction and non-fiction programs, present more often than women. It was also found that men were portrayed as experts significantly more often than women. Furthermore, women were more often associated with themes like education, family and relationships. Summarizing, they found that neither the public nor the commercial broadcasters provide a representative picture of Dutch society in their programs. Regardless of the matters that women were associated with, the study by Koeman, Peeters and D' Haenens (2007) did not focus on the position that women fulfill within a program (e.g. presenter, assistant or guest). It is therefore interesting to examine whether the position within a program shows similar role-reinforcing patterns. In the present study, the different aspects from research introduced above are combined, updated and supplemented with contemporary data on the representation of women on Dutch television. Through a content analysis of a representative sample of the entire television offering, a complete and up-to-date picture of the representation of gender in Dutch fiction and non-fiction on television will be provided, focusing on frequency and distribution of roles and status. Despite the fact that in the past, a relatively large amount of quantitative research on the representation of women in various media has been published, the research field lacks the combination of a quantitative and a qualitative dimension. This is why in the present study, in addition to a quantitative content analysis, the qualitative aspect of the representation of 5 women in Dutch television content is also discussed, with a view to answering the following: How do women perceive their own representation on television? To date, several researchers have tackled the issue of how social groups experience their own representation on television. For instance Healey and Ross (2002) focused on the representation of age groups and used focus groups with elderly people to examine the perception of seniors of their representation in television content. Mendez-Mendez and Alverio (2002) focused on ethnicity and studied how Latinos perceived the manner in which they were portrayed on television. Both studies indicated that these groups not only felt underrepresented in television content, but also that they could not identify with the manner in which they are portrayed, they perceived their portrayal as negative and failing to correspond with reality. The current study will examine how women experience the representation of ‘the woman’ on television. The emphasis will be, as in the quantitative study, both on the frequency, the role and the status of women on television. Furthermore, this study will demonstrate how women perceive the influence of the current representation and if they think that a representative image of women on television should be actively encouraged. Theoretical Framework Distribution of Gender Representation in Fiction Over the last fifty years, many researchers have studied the representation of women on television, especially in the United States, the representation of gender in fictional television shows has been studied extensively. In 1975, McNeil published a study on the representation of women in U.S.