The Difference in Gender Roles for A2 Summer Project

After furthering my knowledge, and wider reading skills, it has become apparent that the difference in gender roles doesn’t just stop at music. Yet, the issue of gender has in fact been one of the most talked about topics when it comes to TV and film. For example, after reading “Media, Gender and Identity,” by David Gauntlett, the issue of gender is explored in great debt.

To begin with, Gauntlett describes how “Advertisers have by now realised that audience’s will only laugh at images of the pretty housewife, and have reacted by showing women how to be sexy at work instead.” This one quotation proves how the diversity between the expected roles of men and women have changed within the past few years, as it shows that the typical female stereotype of the “pretty housewife” is no longer taken seriously, and that the expectations of the roles of women have changed. The way that he describes that women are now shown as sexy at work however, still promotes a demeaning image, as surely they could have reacted and shown women to be in another way at work such as strong and powerful, not sexy. This determines that women are still treated differently from men, and that men still obtain the upper hand within the work force.

Furthermore, the chapter in Gauntlett’s book titled “Gender and TV: Turning the corner in the 1990’s,” explains how during the 1990’s, gender roles within television seem to be becoming more equal and non-stereotyped, however the majority of lead characters were still male. For example, in programmed such as Doctor Who, it started of with the male Doctor always being more prominent than its female sidekick, however in more recent series the female sidekick has in fact grown more powerful and is shown saving the situations in more episodes. This indicates that as we move into a new millennium, gender roles are increasingly changing. In fact, one of the shows that began airing in the 90’s which did in fact have all female leads was Sex and the City; a show which is now massively popular and even developed into a film. Sex and the City is a continually series which viewed women as having the upper hand against men, and were in fact stronger, smarter and independent without them. Sex and the City stood by promoting the message that female leads made just a TV programme just as successful as any other with a male lead, and thrived upon challenging the gender stereotypes.

The link between gender roles in TV and music industry is that watching the TV could affect the way that males and females respond differently to music. For example, from watching TV programmes which only have male leads, women are encouraged to almost take a step back, and therefore when it comes to music, they only listen to certain songs in order to bond with their friendship group as a way of making them feel more secure. Yet males are encouraged to be more opinionated, therefore tend to listen to music which they enjoy, not thinking about weather or not there friends like it to. For example, males define themselves through their discriminating approach to music, whereas females instead define themselves more through there friends, and as a result don't discriminate themselves through genres of music.