Sitcoms

Sitcoms: The Realm Of Women
Until this study, no one had looked at TV in the context of contemporary, or “Third Wave,” feminism. While other studies have covered small blocks of shows for five- or 10-year periods, this one looks at sitcoms from the top 15 major network TV shows of every year since 1950, Pecora says.
The women collected data on the primary and secondary roles of characters from more than 300 different episodes of a variety of shows. And they found that in nearly two-thirds of these situations, the primary roles of female characters were mothers, wives, and daughters, or some combination. When their primary role was professional, females were disproportionately in communications, entertainment, and hospitality fields. “There are plenty of waitresses, journalists, and interior designers, but few lawyers or doctors,” Pecora says.
Characters whose secondary roles were professional had more varied and prestigious jobs; however, those were limited, taking a back seat to matriarchal roles.

In the 1970s, when female activists demanded equal opportunities, reproductive rights, and egalitarian partnerships, TV had Mary Richards — a single, working woman making a place for herself in life. On The Mary Tyler Moore Show, she was a woman in a man’s world going head to head with her boss Lou Grant, demanding equal pay. Unlike her best friend Rhoda, she wasn’t hung up about marriage. Instead she found satisfaction in a makeshift family at WJM-TV

http://news.research.ohiou.edu/studentresearch/index.php?item=131&page=132