Vignettes: Women’s Programming Through the Decades

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11-12

Vignettes: Women’s Programming Through the Decades

Project type: Web Quest

Related topic:
A Woman's Place: Programming for the Modern Homemaker

Subjects

History
Social Studies
Media Studies

Summary

Using a variety of Web-based resources, students research the portrayal of Canadian women in television and radio programming from the 1940s to today. Students share their findings by writing and performing a vignette about the specific decade they researched.

Duration

4 to 5 lessons

Purpose

To examine and explain the changes in the portrayal of Canadian women in electronic media over the past seven decades

Before Exploring

Television and radio includes a variety of types of programming targeted at attracting viewers and listeners. Since the days of the earliest broadcasts, television and radio programs have been geared to providing content that their viewers and target audiences want. What have women viewers wanted in their television and radio programming over the decades, and how has societal change influenced the portrayal of women in television and radio programming?

Outline the Opportunity

In groups, students are to conduct research using Internet and print resources about the content of Canadian television and radio programming. Each group’s task will detail how women have been portrayed within these media within one of the past seven decades. After the research has been conducted, each group must prepare and present to the class a short vignette that portrays the group’s understanding of the portrayal of women in television and radio programming for that particular decade.

Revisit and Reflect

Have groups perform their vignettes, in order from the 1940s to today.

After the presentations, lead a group discussion about the following questions:

What were the most notable changes in programming?

In what decade did these changes first occur?

Why do you think programming targeted at women has changed significantly?

Are there changes in current television and radio programming that you think would more accurately portray women within these media?

How would you initiate such changes?

If women from other decades had wanted to initiate such changes, how would they have done that?