Media and Gender

(also published on) Women's United Nations Report Network (WUNRN) March 6, 2013, 2012

Excerpt: Even rural areas of the world with little access to media reflect Western influence, messages that are primarily generated by males. In the Western world, whether or not children have access to broadcast media, messages filter out to them in a mostly negative way. Even when living physically close to an affluent neighborhood, the child’s personal situation of poverty, violence, poor hygiene, and poor physical or mental health changes little if there is not a middle entity to help implement changes, especially when there are no means to do so. Women leaders in globalized government are scarce, which makes advocating for public policy a great challenge to constituents that are action oriented. Abstract While infanticide or sex selective abortion in rural areas of the world may seem to have little to do with a famous musician who is a domestic abuser from the first world who avoids criminal punishment while being applauded and glamourized, the message going out to girls is consistent: they are not valued in the same way that boys are. In order to make adequate recommendations for change to increase the benefit of media, one must look to its source, its use, and its locale. Media literacy schemes may be seen as a localized plan for significant change, and can certainly be of use. However, its impact will be felt globally by addressing the issue at its source by engaging girls in the creation of media early as a career goal, resulting in lasting transformation, rather than decrying the end products and lack of effective public policy. Being familiar with cultural norms is essential to build impactful educational campaigns. Money can be spent by governments or NGOs to increase positive messages, but if it is not possible for the locals to implement the message in their daily lives through the buy-in of local officials and leaders, lasting change is not possible whether it be in the case of Ms. Feng in China (forced late term abortion by family planning officials) or Mr. Brown (known batterer and singer who continues to be rewarded through fame and fortune, suffering little consequence for his crimes) in the United States. Stealthy advertising campaigns and hidden “cookie gathering” of children’s data only further exacerbate the impact of negative messages to girls by gathering information on them about their potential “weaknesses” in the form of desire, and what they search for online (food, beauty, fame) and what they crave to be, or look like in order for corporations to sell to them. And of course, what is sold to them (even in the form of an idea) filters out to their greater society, in the context that they live in.

The paper talks about the mere image of women in the society, created by media based on what continues to be followed as stereotypes since ages. One needs to understand the emergence of a radical and active change in the perception and depiction of women in society. Media is now more of "TELL AND SELL",rather being the medium to educate and moralize people. The picture, depicted by Indian media is discussed in the paper, followed by the changes needs to be brought and implemented.

In recent decades there has been a great deal of attention and interest on gender issues across the world. Data indicate the existence of gross imbalance and bias women face across the world in areas of literacy and education, work place and wages, economic decision making, participation in politics and governance, media and a host of other areas of social life. The actual plight of women as well as data on it gleaned from across the world have led increased focus on the need to promote better gender policies and programmes. The importance to issues related to women in the Millennium Development Goals, policy formulations by governments such as reservation in elected bodies, growing importance to gender studies by universities and NGOs, growing awareness about the education of the girl child, improvement in the legal system have helped to focus attention on correcting the imbalance.

Langlit An International Peer Reviewed Open Access Journal, 2020

In the contemporary age of information revolution, there cannot be two opinions about the immense potential of media as means of public education and as an effective agent in the cause of empowerment of women. A media sensitive to the needs of women can be catalyst in sensitizing each and every section of society towards the much valued need of equality of sexes for the attainment of egalitarian society. The newspaper, media, however, is not the most important means of communication in India with its huge illiterate population. The electronic media is all pervasive and influences the urban as well as rural population/people. Particularly the television, it is audiovisual in nature. The present paper aims to reflect on the representation of women in Newspapers and Television. It also deals with the continuity and changes in the portrayal of women in the mass media particularly in television and newspapers. It highlights the strategies for changing the images of women in the mass media.

The population of India has crossed 1.21 billion and women constitute nearly 52 percent of the population. As per the 2011 census, total female sex ration in India is 940 per 1000 males. Women are leading the country, reaching milestones, acting as a source of inspiration for many people, playing an important role in national growth and economic development through corporate houses and participating in decision making. It is responsibility of every Indian to give due respect and provide safety & security. Women establish their importance working through each and every sector. Media needs to give due coverage to women issues. The media through its reach to people can bring desired support for emancipation of women by focusing on neglected position of the women in Society. Media using Tri-virate Mantrais dedicating a major chunk of their time to three 'C' , Crime, Cinema and Cricket. Newspapers' coverage of women's problems gain little attention of policy makers. The most of space of news papers is occupied by cinema models, the rich women and their hobbies. Many of the women's magazines have dedicated space on glamour than women activities. Media played a prominent and crucial in bringing Nirbhaya Act. Media should take a proactive role in creating dedicated programs to generate public awareness on the rights and privileges of women. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting through its monitoring cell,is issuing show cause notices to the Television channels which portrays women/girl in poor light. This paper tries to envisage how media portrays women/girls issues, the achievements and failure of the media and also the corrective measures taken up by the Government of India.

In earlier times media was known as the mirror of social realities when we were totally dependent on the Radio / Transistor and the print media. In course of time television entered as one of the most effective means of audiovisual communication and was thoroughly exploited by media houses for their commercial gains only. This prominent and the most powerful media tool is capable of converging and motivating the masses forcefully and effectively to the benefit of profit oriented media companies. This has polluted the spirit of art and true art which has become just ephimeral entertainment making the artists a bunch of brand promoters. The aim of the television shows has never been to shape or influence the women's image. The "reality shows" the "soap operas" or the advertisements that we watch normally do not intend to distort or highlight the image of a woman. Yet they do affect the women's image unconsciously. The attempt of this sudy is to create an atmosphere of positive criticism which would hopefully inspire the T V channels in particular, to fore think the image of the women which their programmes might affect in due course. In the backdrop of above let us examine the various classes of the T V programmes. Advertisements Advertisements have damaged the women's image the most. And they are least to be blamed as they openly advertise their brands. Their intentions are overt, not hidden. Women who accept to do anything and to go to any extent for the so called fame and easy money, are mainly to be blamed. They not only disgrace themselves but shatter the dignity of women as a whole. Advertisements like "press the call bell to stop domestic violence" sometimes bring us a positive surprise but they are rare. Likewise there are serials like 'Balika Vadhu' on Colors and'Stree Teri Kahani' on DDI that contribute towards a positive and purposeful image of woman. A few live shows like 'Aapki Kutchery' by Kiran Bedi are definitely contributing towards appositive and healthy image. However, if we make an analysis, we find that the media's influence on the image of women is mostly negative and distorting and rarely otherwise. This is happening not only in India, but around the globe. As we reach the completion of the first decade of twenty first century, there is little evidence that the world's communication media have a great deal of commitment to advancing the cause of women in their communities. Although the presence of women working within the media has increased in the past two decades, real power is still very much a male monopoly (see Gallagher 1995). And while it is relatively easy to make proposals for the implementation of equality in the area of employment-and to measure progress-the