Lady Lawyers: How The Good Wife Portrays Females in the Legal System

Abstract

This research is an attempt at analyzing the messages that entertainment media sends to the public about female lawyers. Although much research has been done on this topic, it has not been revisited in many years, since the overwhelming response to Ally McBeal in the late 1990’s. Since culture is constantly changing, it is important to keep studying this representation to analyze positive or negative growth or change. An analysis of a more current television show, The Good Wife, which first aired in 2009, was used in this research to examine how American television portrays females in the legal system, how stereotypes and prescribed gender roles influence how these women behave, and what these characters suggest about the way society thinks about female lawyers in regards to their professionalism and success.