The Representation of women in television series

Abstract

Television series have great popularity among men and women, triggering debates about various topics, such as gender relations. The way female characters are represented in television series can influence women’s lives by reproducing social roles performed in society, reinforcing e maintaining gender inequality. To reflect on this subject, a qualitative research was carried out to comprehend the way women are represented in television series and how viewers perceive such characters. The results showed that people perceive gender inequality in a more explicit way in older series. Women prefer independente and empowered female characters and would like to see more women as main characters and in leadership positions. Men, however, prefer characters with strong ideals, and wold like the female characters to have these traits, which are not common to women on television. The midia, as a form of symbolic power, has great influence on society through the messages produced and transmitted by it, so it is important to pay attention to what is being reproduced on television, because it is certainly something that contributes to the construction of subjectivities and will mediate human relations, such as gender relations.