8. Gender and Media

[Lecture notes  prepared by  Ms. Sheena Jose A, Asst. Professor, IASE, Trissur.]

Overview

*In this presentation, we will deal with what is gender, gender inequality and representation of women in media as a manifestation of gender based inequality

Some preliminary observations regarding gender

*Gender issues are one among many issues of injustice we see around us and is an integral part of the socio-economic, political and cultural system and not to be seen in isolation

*Media is one of the important pillar of this system.

*Women’s subordination is a systemic problem  and therefore it is not a question of men versus women. Men are not in the opposite camp in this search for justice.

*Men and women are not homogeneous – issues of diversity and multiple identities exist

What we mean by gender

*Gender refers to the roles that men and women play and the relations that arise out of these roles, which are socially constructed not biologically determined

*It is different from Sex which is the biological differences between men and women

*It is a social concept

*It is a system

*It is about relationships

*It is about POWER

*It is institutionalized

*Men and women learn different behaviour, roles, expectations and responsibilities in the context of their own societies

*Gender  roles and relations are unequal and   hierarchical (differential access to resources such as money, information, power and influence) and power is involved.

*Gender relations are institutional.  They form a social system that is  supported by values,  routine activities and  divisions of resources  in all forms of social  organizations,  including families/ households, communities markets, religions and  states .

Gender DIFFERENCE is  NOT the problem …..the problem is gender INEQUALITY

*Gender difference is made the reason for assigning different rights and entitlements to men and women  Gender inequality puts women in a disadvantaged position vis-à-vis men.

Gender difference creates gender inequality - some examples

*Because men are the owners of property, women cannot get credit from banks even if they meet all other criteria.

*Because domestic tasks are seen as “women’s work”, women with jobs usually have to work twice as hard as men with jobs, and have less time for leisure. 

*Because public spaces are dominated by men, women have less access to public discussion, information-sharing and political education.

*Because marriage is seen as women’s destiny, single women are seen as deviants.

*Because women are under the guardianship of their husband, they are expected to stay with him even if he is violent/ unsupportive/ uncaring.

*Because women are seen as caregivers, they are expected to neglect their own health and well-being in favour of others

Gender inequality results in…

*It violates basic principles of equality and social justice.

*It puts women at risk of exploitation, oppression, deprivation and violence

*It prevents women from participating in and benefiting from development interventions.

*It prevents society from benefiting from the contributions of women.

PRINT MEDIA

*The number (37%)of women working in Print Media is still small compared to men.

*The number of women reporters are still in small numbers. Their responsibility usually is to cover lifestyle, entertainment, health, women’s issues, etc. Politics, technology, sports etc are not given to them.

*Most of the women are working at the sub editor level at the desk.

*There are hardly any one as editor in any of the newspapers in India.

“Women journalists have to work twice as hard as male colleagues and have to constantly battle suggestions or perceptions that we are using sexuality to get ahead in our careers. We are more vulnerable than male colleagues to gossip, to promotion prospects; and age too is a factor for discrimination

          - Alka Kshirsagar from Pune

*The amount print space allotted for news regarding women is less than 30%

*Most of the time reports on women are sensational,  biased, derogatory or prying into her privacy.

*Reports  on achievements of women are treated as curiosity items.

Television

*Women are employed as reporters and anchors since it is appealing to have women in front of camera.

*Women mostly produce soft progammes except few talk shows of political nature.

*Almost all the senior positions of power and decision making are occupied by men.

*The presence of women is token in serious news based programmes.

*In entertainment channels, women are portrayed in stereotypes as in the society.

   *in family

  * in work place

   *in relationships

Serials

***

Cinema

*Male dominated industry

*Very women few directors and producers

*Unequal remuneration

*Mostly male centric themes

*Sustains and reproduces values of male dominated society.

*Many a time heroines are just appendages of the heroes

Advertisements

*Uses women and her body to sell anything even then it is not used by them.

*The ads reflected stereotypical roles like “women’s place is in the home, women don’t make important decisions or do important things, and women are dependent and need men’s protection, men regard women as sex objects and are not interested in women as people”.

                       -Courtney and Lockeretz (1971)

New Media

*In the news portals, more women (42%) are working.

*Women are treated same way as in any other media.

         - work environment

         - Pay scale

         - Content – themes and amount

-          FaceBook – abuses/ stalking/ threats….