A Feminist Perspective on Women and the Media

To begin with, liberal feminism is essentially a reformist approach, which tends to see more equal gender relations being brought about by equal opportunities policies and affirmative action programmes. It does not appear to question the power dimensions in society that maintain male superiority of status and female inferiority. Instead it concentrates on sex role stereotypes, prescriptions of sex-appropriate behaviour, appearance, interests, skills and self-perceptions (Van Zoonen, 1991: 121). This perspective maintains that over time the media will 'catch up' with actual social positions and they will present a more accurate view. According to Projansky, this has already occurred. She makes comparisons between perceptions of women and the media at the start of the 20th century and that of today. For example, a popular fictional female character at the turn of the century was the 'vamp' who appeared to represent 'danger, sexuality and the possibility of independence'. Towards the end of the century, movies such as Thelma and Louise showed women acting 'independently, doing things they were not supposed to do, and celebrating women's bonding' (1998: 1). Van Zoonan calls these latter women, 'superwomen', and makes mention of the many ways in which 'glossy magazines' for example, have introduced the superwoman who adeptly juggles her family and her successful work life (1991: 130).

On the other hand, studies conducted by Jones and Jones revealed that women's lives were only partially reflected and represented by the media. More often than not, of that which is published is distorted and misleading (1999: 66). For example, Coward points out, images and articles in popular magazines such as Better Homes and Garden relate to home-improvements. They have a definite style of writing of which any idea of domestic labour is repressed. Labour is there but it is the labour of decorating, designing and painting which leads to the 'house ending up in the perfect state' (1984: 64-66). Turner suggests that this misrepresentation of the 'real home environment' not only represses women's labour but women are made to believe that they are, for the most part, responsible for domestic life. Any deviation from this 'norm' connotes 'inadequacy' (1997: 330-331).

Radical feminists, similar to that above, focus on how women are misrepresented in the media however they investigate the effects of patriarchy on women that is, the system whereby all men directly or indirectly dominate and oppress all women. They are particularly concerned about the media's role in the construction of consciousness and gender identities instead of specific stereotypes. The analysis of male dominance in the media and other social institutions identified the need for women to separate themselves from male-controlled systems and create their own organisations and structures (Donovan, 1985: 24). For example, Cartmell et al suggest that films such as 'Thelma and Louise' (1991) and 'Steel Magnolias' (1989) are an indication of how strong 'sisterhood' has become. They believe that the sharing of female experience and the promise of 'sisterly solidarity' has given women the 'power by numbers' to infiltrate and influence media content (1998:2). Monaco on the other hand, believes these movies whilst portraying women with common aims, are perhaps 'just as insidious as the Brotherhood' while being out of fashion because of their associations with the 'left' rather than the 'right', especially in their attack on an exclusion from patriarchal structures (1981: 219). With 'Thelma and Louise for example, Monaco suggests a hostility to women in that the only form of self-determination it proposes is suicidal. The "Colour Purple' is another example whereby a matriarchal community rules and the former patriarch are only allowed to exist on the outer.


Socialist feminism, unlike the previous approaches, does not concentrate exclusively upon gender, but incorporates analyses of social class, ethnicity, sexual preference, age and disability into the discourse. This theory appears embedded in socioeconomic conditions to which the above and other factors take second place. The media are perceived as ideological apparatuses that represent the essential rightness of capitalism as a social system and socialist feminists concentrate on the ways in which gender is constructed through language and imagery, that is semiology. It is based within a Marxist framework of reference, namely Gramsci's (1971) theory of hegemony or otherwise known as 'the manipulative model' (Jones and Jones: 1999: 68). For example, news might serve as the means by which a dominant class, such as white male elites, could condition a population of subordinate classes (women, minorities) to adopt prevailing values and behaviours, thereby perpetuating an inherently unequal system of power (Byerly, 1990a: 80). Rakow supports this claim by suggesting that the 'news is essentially a masculine narrative in which women function not as speaking subjects but as signs '(1992: 9). Moritz says that 'news media practices continue to be deeply implicated in the perpetuation as a sexist, heterosexual, homophobic, and class-driven culture that privileges elite, white, conservative, male voices (1995: 127).

According to Kray, media personnel may appoint as newsmakers and/or salespersons, individuals they feel to be representative of marginal groups however most are males while females of any type are 'symbolically annihilated'. Producers and owners (powerful elite) believe this representation, although minimal, will clear them of any discrimination and place them in a favourable position with their public (1995: 225). Some women such as Oprah Winfrey and Roseanne Barr have successfully infiltrated mainstream media structures however women tend to remain largely absent.

Although the above perspectives may provide relevant arguments concerning the relationship between women and the media, research tends to show that women are still largely oppressed. Dominick and Rauch undertook the earliest systematic study of gender stereotyping on American television in 1972. They found that seven-five percent of advertisements used women for kitchen and bathroom products, over fifty-six percent of women were portrayed as housewives while men were portrayed in authoritative roles and eighty-seven percent of voice-overs used a male voice (1972: 76-79). In 1990, Cumberbatch's studies showed that men still outnumbered women on screen by the ratio of nearly 2:1 and over eighty-nine percent of voice-overs were male. Women were still portrayed far more commonly in decorative roles than men were and far more as attractive and slim (1990: 11-14). In other words, it appears that women remain in what is essentially a man's world and as Dow points out,