Working Women on Screen: Paid Labour and Fourth Wave Feminism critically examines screen media representations of women's participation in the contemporary labour market. The edited collection brings together contributions on Aesthetic Labour; Power, Politics, and Neoliberal Industries; and Sex, Sexuality, and Relationships.

Within the context of fourth wave feminism, there has been a new proliferation in the global media landscape of representations of women's paid labour. This has coincided with the development of critical and ideological issues surrounding intersectionality and culture wars, as well as the impacts of recessions, political upheavals, and pandemics. Workplace dynamics and post-#MeToo politics have led to the complexification of structures, oppressions and relationships that impact what women can do for money. As a result, the working woman is now a constant presence on our screens, though articulated in widely divergent ways. The chapters within this collection critique issues that are deeply embedded in neoliberal conceptions of contemporary feminism, such as aspects of lean-in culture, structural oppression, and women's experiences of the glass ceiling and glass cliff. The volume as a whole will analyse representations related to the intersecting dynamics of gender, race, class, sexuality, and disability in television, film, social media and video games. It will be key reading for students and scholars in media, gender, and cultural studies.

Winner of the 2025 BAFTSS Best Edited Volume Award Examines screen media representations of women's participation in the contemporary labor market Reviews issues that are deeply embedded in neoliberal conceptions of contemporary feminism Analyzes representations related to the intersecting dynamics of gender, race, class, sexuality, and disability

Autorentext

Dr Ellie Tomsett is a Senior Lecturer in Media and Communication at Birmingham City University, UK.

Dr Nathalie Weidhase is a Lecturer in Media and Communication at the University of Surrey, UK.

Dr Poppy Wilde is a Senior Lecturer in Media and Communication at Birmingham City University, UK.

Klappentext

1. Introduction.- Section 1: Aesthetic Labour.- 2. "The person inside has experienced the most change...": The labour of fitness, positivity and narratives of suffering.- 3. Selling Sunset... and my postfeminist sexual capital.- 4. 'Millennial dumplings' at work: Aesthetic and emotional labour in US sitcoms Shrill (2019- 21) and Mythic Quest (2020-).- 5 Making Nüzhubo: Commodified Intimacy and Gendered Labour in Chinese Live/Life Streaming.- Section 2: Politics and Policies.- 6. Representation of women peacebuilders in the Nigerian TV news media.- 7. Recuperating Women's Care Work in 2010s Television Fictions of Nurses and Nursing in the Neoliberal NHS.- 8. "I took a dump on the glass ceiling": Veep, (the Absence of) Competence and Populist Political Culture.- Section 3: Relationships and Power.- 9. "I am the highest paid showrunner in Television!" Shonda Rhimes' work and influence in the media industry.- 10 Control and the fallacy of agency: negotiating neoliberal workplaces and toxic work environments.- 11. "You Deserve to Be Satisfied": Women in Tech and the Affective Reconfiguration of the Workplace through Song in Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist.- 12. Work it, robot! Exploring I'm Your Man [Ich bin dein Mensch] (2021) and The Trouble With Being Born (2020).- Section 4: Sex and Sexuality.- 13. Queering Mothering, Labour, and Illness in Tully.- 14. A quest for self? Work as an identity in the Japanese movie 37 seconds.- 15. Representing Sex Workers: The Experiences of Shae, Ros and Daisy in Game of Thrones (2011-2019).

   Inhalt

   1. Introduction.- Section 1: Aesthetic Labour.- 2. The person inside has experienced the most change: The labour of fitness, positivity and narratives of suffering.- 3. Selling Sunset and my postfeminist sexual capital.- 4. 'Millennial dumplings' at work: Aesthetic and emotional labour in US sitcoms Shrill (2019- 21) and Mythic Quest (2020-).- 5 Making Nüzhubo: Commodified Intimacy and Gendered Labour in Chinese Live/Life Streaming.- Section 2: Politics and Policies.- 6. Representation of women peacebuilders in the Nigerian TV news media.- 7. Recuperating Women's Care Work in 2010s Television Fictions of Nurses and Nursing in the Neoliberal NHS.- 8. I took a dump on the glass ceiling: Veep , (the Absence of) Competence and Populist Political Culture.- Section 3: Relationships and Power.- 9. I am the highest paid showrunner in Television! Shonda Rhimes' work and influence in the media industry.- 10 Control and the fallacy of agency: negotiating neoliberal workplaces and toxic work environments.- 11. You Deserve to Be Satisfied: Women in Tech and the Affective Reconfiguration of the Workplace through Song in Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist.- 12. Work it, robot! Exploring I'm Your Man [Ich bin dein Mensch] (2021) and The Trouble With Being Born (2020).- Section 4: Sex and Sexuality.- 13. Queering Mothering, Labour, and Illness in Tully.- 14. A quest for self? Work as an identity in the Japanese movie 37 seconds.- 15. Representing Sex Workers: The Experiences of Shae, Ros and Daisy in Game of Thrones (2011-2019).