Roles of Women in Tv Sitcoms 1 the Roles of Women in Television Situation Comedies: a Pilot Study

This work constitutes a pilot study of male/female relationships in television situational comedies. Twenty-five sitcom episodes which aired on major television networks between the years 2000-2011 were evaluated for instances of the perpetuation of patriarchy and the stereotyping of traditional gender roles. The episodes were chosen from three different television shows. The findings indicated that television sitcoms are perpetuating patriarchy and promoting traditional gender role stereotypes; furthermore, the shows do not appear to portray an accurate depiction of real life society. The study has limitations including time constraints, but provides a baseline for further studies on the subject. ROLES OF WOMEN IN TV SITCOMS 3 ROLES OF WOMEN IN TV SITCOMS 4 Table of