1. Is The Mass Media Sexist?
By Absar Ahmad

2. Mass media’s response
• Mass media, in all it’s forms- cinema, newspapers,
magazines, internet etc, is often said to be the reflection of
the society.
• It may not be entirely true but this is what a majority of
Indians consciously or subconsciously tend to believe.
• It is quite arguable whether the media truly reflects the
society or not, there is little doubt that media has a big socio-
cultural influence on the society.

3. The Stereotyped portrayal
• It has often been noticed in our society that almost each and
every section is very much influenced by what media wants
them to believe.
• There are certain things that are being stereotyped.
• One such example is of the portrayal of women in media.
• It is the media that decides the context in which a woman
should be placed, and reinforces it constantly.
• The women are shown in a particular way be it in movies,
soap-operas or advertisements.

4. Ever constant role
• Throughout the history of Indian cinema, women have
always been shown in a specific image e.g. in the role of a
dedicated mother, loving wife, obedient daughter-in-law or
in modern the context, a woman who constantly struggles to
manage her outside activities as well as household chores.
• She is supposed to do her work with dedication and sincerely
without complaining to anyone even if she is suffering from
some physical or mental problems.
• The agony of the matter is the movies that are female centric
do not perform very well at the box-office.

5. But in real life?
• Most of the soap-operas or TV serials are women centric with
strong women characters that have say in every internal or
external matter of the house.
• But when we study the real life situation in common Indian
homes we find that women do not enjoy as much freedom of
decision making as they are shown on television serials.
• In many soap-operas, the leading lady is shown as sacrificing
all her comforts for her family or husband and in-laws.
• The question is, how many houses in our country are blessed
with these kind of “bahus and betis”?

6. From commentary box
• Nowadays, there is a trend that the anchor of any program
must be a woman, most of the times dressed in appealing
outfits.
• Be it reality shows, infotainment, entertainment or news type
shows.
• Ketki Agre, from a national television channel, says India’s
electronic media has more women employees than men.
• A woman can easily get a job in the television media, but
“Male colleagues never attribute it to her professional abilities,
but rather to the pretty face.”

7. Vulgarity at its peak
• In advertisements, women are mostly used for their sex
appeal and looks rather than the demand of the
advertisement; even male oriented consumer goods such as
shaving cream, men deodorant and perfumes have women in
them just to enhance the appeal of those advertisements to
the viewers.
• Many times, these models are scantly dressed.
• The media is clearly portraying these women as commodities
and sex objects, many of the advertisements even encourage
sexism.
• Some advertisements that have women are banned in India
on the grounds that they propagate vulgarity.

8. What’s the point?
• A study conducted by a Delhi based media advocacy group
highlighted instances of stereotyping and of discrimination.
• Interviews of men in newspapers, says the study, hardly ever
mentions their marital status or their dress sense.
• The focus is on their work.
• By contrast, women achievers are subject to irrelevant, even
distasteful queries.

9. • Take for example the interview of Tarjani Vakil, a banker,
which was carried in a leading daily.
• The interview treated the reader to colorful details about her
appearance and personal life, such as her penchant for
beautiful sarees, her decision to stay single, and her living in
an extended joint family.
• Her feminine qualities like her soft voice were emphasized
and she (so said the article) was ‘no power lady.’

10. Eligible only for certain professions?
• Prakash Kamat, a journalist, suggested women’s issues do
not get adequate coverage because of the lack of sensitivity
among media persons.
• Even the matters regarding the welfare of women is being
discussed by men.
• One great example is of representation of women in
parliament, it was mostly men who were discussing this issue
when women sat as silent spectators.
• The women who are elected in municipalities and
village panchayats are merely following what their male
guardians tell them to do.

11. Father Rosario, the executive Director
of the Chitrabani film Institute says
• ‘We have been living with this stereotyped representation of
women for years,’ says. ‘The media does try to establish a
woman’s femininity, especially if she is a successful woman.’

12. • Read more on Youth Ki Awaaz at http://bit.ly/WSWxTn