Women and the Workforce

For my blog I chose the show Friends, specifically, “The One Where They’re Going to Party.” Despite the title this episode actually does focus on women in the workforce. This episode starts off where Phoebe and Monica show off the new van they bought in order to further the catering company they are going to start together. Later in the episode Monica gets offered to write a weekly review in a local newspaper. Then through a series of events, Monica gets offered a head chef position at a restaurant. Also, Rachel gets offered a promotion at her job at a fashion company.

There are many positives and negatives to the way Friends portrays women in the workforce. Unfortunately, the main female roles in this show work in stereotypical fields such as fashion and the food industry. Also, another negative is that Friends only portrays the single, childless, and white female. This leaves out the women who are mothers or of other ethnicities. These characters would fall right into the “ideal worker [who] is ‘unencumbered,’ that is free of all ties other than those to his job” (Gwyn and Okazawa-337). So it is no wonder that these characters are able to achieve high ranking positions with no other obstacles in their way. According to Seely, if we looked to the media for representation of women, we would find that 74% are white and 74% are under age forty (102). Obviously, the show “Friends” plays a part in the media’s misrepresentation of women.

However, this show does create positive views of women. It is very refreshing to see women in leadership positions, and although not a main character, it is interesting to point out that Rachel’s boss is a woman. I think that Friends definitely places value on what the women do. Throughout the show the women have their ups and downs, as Rachel started off working as a waitress. However, what is good about this show is that it has consistency among genders. Meaning they do not only show the women in low positions or struggling. There are points where the male characters are out of work or struggling. So you see they all seem to be portrayed on a level playing field.

In “The Mommy Tax” article it specifically it specifically cites the show friends.” Then it goes on to say that “Many childless women under the age of thirty-five firmly believe that all feminist battles have been won, and as far as they’re concerned, they‘re largely right. But once a woman has a baby, the egalitarian office party is over…” (Gwyn and Okazawa-Rey 338). Despite the lack of representation for mothers and minorities, I do personally believe Friends has a positive portrayal of women. However, one must realize that these are not the only type of women in the world.

Works Cited

Kirk, Gwyn and Margo Okazawa-Rey. Women's Lives: Multicultural Perspectives 4^th Ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2010.

Seely, Megan. Fight Like a Girl. New York and London: New York UP, 2007. Print.