1980s Gender Roles

1) How do the roles of fathers and mothers change in television programs to reflect changing demographics? From 1980s onwards, the American demographics had begun to change significantly, especially for women: from being domestic housewives, increasing numbers of women had been entering workforce and professions. The change led to the norm of professional-working parents in each household, which then influenced the roles of fathers and mothers in the family institution. The change of the roles of parents were clearly reflected in family situational comedy programs in the 1980s, including the shows Family Ties, The Cosby Show, and Roseanne. As a part of many episodes from Family Ties, The Cosby Show and Roseanne, the characters of mothers
In “Pilot” from Family Ties, while her husband, Steven Keaton, is the one who gets directly involved with their son Alex P. Keaton’s choice to go to the elitist Carlton Country Club, Elyse’s decision of not interfering nor being a direct help to her husband demonstrates that she has her own opinion about how she should react to Alex’s action, and thus, does not feel complied to follow her husband’s choice of action. The independence in the role of mother in the episode “A Shirt Story” from The Cosby Show is also reflected by how Clair is the parent that accompanies her son, Theo Huxtable, to buy his new shirt, while her husband Dr. Heathcliff ‘Cliff’ Huxtable stays at home – which implies that she has a freedom to handle money and look after Theo while they are out together without having to consult her husband. The dominance in the role of mother is then presented in the episode “Inherit the Wind” from Roseanne, as Roseanne is the one between her and her husband Dan Conner who is more capable of trying to comfort their daughter, Becky Conner, after she “breaks wind” in front of her entire high school during student council speech. From the three programs, it is thus reflected that the role of mothers in families after the 1980s has become more and
After coming back from accompanying Theo to buy his new shirt – an action that presents more independent role of women in itself – once Cliff and Clair realize the price of the shirt, they both agree that it is too expensive and it better be returned to the store. At this moment, since Clair is responsible for accompanying Theo to the store, she could have been blamed for her “irresponsibility” in allowing her son to purchase such expensive fashion – however, none of such tone is presented in the episode, which implies that she has enough power and authority in the household to gain respect from her husband and others, and thus, subtly represents her power in the family. Moreover, it can also be assumed that Clair is also aware of Cliff’s plan of not actually returning the shirt to the store, and that he intends to give the shirt to Theo after he teaches him a lesson – therefore, shown another example of the Huxtables parents working