Putting women in the picture

“Putting women in the picture” is the first major documentary about sexism in British Television. It represents the personal viewpoint of barrister Helena Kennedy, presenter of a BBC-TV series on moral issues, who is concerned about the unfair portrayal of women. There are three main points to the argument: First, there are far fewer women than men on screen. Together with the male-dominated language used by broadcasters, a situation is created in which women are largely invisible. Secondly, when women are present on screen, they are often used solely as objects to titillate the audience. Finally, the range of stereotypes is much narrower for women, and the role of women in British society is usually misrepresented. The points are illustrated by recent clips from British television across a range of programming situation comedy. In addition, “witnesses for the prosecution,” in the form of television executives, writers, actresses and comedians, are called upon. In the final portion of the program, Helena Kennedy advocates the creation of guidelines for the fair portrayal of women similar to those implemented by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. More women in creative and management positions are needed, but the public must also complain about what is seen. A quote from the BBC Educational Broadcasting Service Largely sums up viewers’ reactions: “It is clear from these letters that “Putting women in the picture” expressed many women’s dissatisfactions with how they are represented on television. Viewers commented that it was “high time” that a programme like this was screened and a few commented that they were surprised that the BBC had allowed it to be made.