Children, television, and gender roles. Messages and impact

This review examines images relating to gender roles on television and the possible impact of these images. Numerous content analyses point to one basic finding: on television, women are underrepresented and the images of both men and women tend to be stereotypical and traditional, despite a number of programs with characterizations that present a more liberated view of gender roles. Studies examining the impact of these images have focused upon four specific areas: the perception of gender-typed behaviors and occupational roles; the tendency of children to identify with specific television characters; the notion of counter-stereotypical portrayals; and the cultivation of gender-role attitudes in both adults and children.