Media Is The Buzz Word Today

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

INTRODUCTION

Media is the buzz word today ushering the world in the era of globalization. Media defines and then redefines the socio-cultural and socio-economic parameters. Media in India, like every modern and advanced country, comprises of the radio, the film, the television, the press, publications and advertising besides traditional media. They are referred to as ‘mass’ media because they reach mass audience-audiences comprised of large number of people. This process of delivering messages to large number of audience is called mass communication.

In today’s age, very fast changes are taking place from the social area to the economic area, from the technology world to the production patterns. These changes are occurring at a very fast pace affecting our customs, consumption styles, the way we fill our leisure time and the way we spend those periods which belong to us.

The power and influence of television is undeniable and irresistible. While establishing the role of television, it is worth exploring the relationship between gender and identities today. The social context of Television is quite different again. Television, as Ellis have pointed out, has an intimate position in people’s homes. It does not intrude, as a caller at the door does and therefore viewers do not need to perform in formal ways towards it, but can relax: it is profoundly domestic. Ellis 1992:113

We can say, without fear of contradiction that Television is essentially a female bastion. One of the main offshoots of the phenomenal growth of satellite TV has been the media focus on women- both as a key target audience that needs to be delivered to the advertiser and also the main protagonists. Together, television and advertisers target women viewers aggressively. (R.K. Murthy, 2001) says that women constitute almost half of Indian population which has been deprived of self respect and subjugated into existence at the whim and mercy of the male. Although the past two decades have witnessed great efforts for human development contributing greatly to rapid progress in building women’s capabilities and in closing gender gaps. More recently however, protest movement on global scale have brought out the concern that empowerment of women is a major part of transformation. This is one of the significant needs of the political development of women that can be successfully met by the mass media.

Like mass media of developing countries plays a crucial role in sharing information and experiences of the large mass of literate women in reshaping the communication agenda so India is also taking numerous steps to provide constitutional safeguards and an institutional framework of activities for women welfare. As R.K. Murthy, 2001 says there have been various shifts in policy approaches during the last 20 years from the concept of ‘welfare’ in the 1970’s to ‘development in the 1980’s and now ‘empowerment’ in the 1990’s to decision – making and their participation at the policy formulation level. In our country as well television broadcasts have a very important space in bringing this change.

Media is the primary source of socialization as well as a reflection of the society. Every race, culture, civilization, and society on this planet shares two things in common: the presence of both men and women, and the need to communicate between the two.

Television has become an integral part of world. And India is no exception. Women not only watch Television for entertainment but for many, it has become a way of coping with life and is a major subject of daily conversation. Television has become one of the most important tool of mass media as Dorr (1986) states that TV stands out from other media as it is generally used more and can present more life like content than most of other forms of media. Today, we all live in the mediated world. Even remote geographical areas are influenced by advertising, magazines, newspaper, radio, television, music, films, and other print and electronic media. The broader academic study of media has burgeoned over the last century but especially so in the last few years, when media research finally took its own roomy place in the newly recognized discipline of communication. Social scientists have always been interested to study the effect of Television on behavior of the viewers.

There has been considerable criticism regarding the treatment of women in television programmes. Consciously or unconsciously male chauvinism dominates television programmes, fostering the sex stereotypes existing in the society.

Stereotypes play an important role in today's society. The media often misrepresents stereotypes and acts as the mythmaker. Television majorly projects middle class ideologies of women's role as wives and mothers. Home is shown as their primary place, where they are shown to be contended and happy performing their duties.

Media and communication are the central element of modern life. Media contains many images of women and men, and their sexuality. It is highly likely that these ideas would have impact on our own sense of identity. What we have learned earlier about media and gender may not be relevant today.

Gender role in India has various aspects because the Indian society itself has grown differently, influenced by numerous economic, social, literary and environmental factors. One class of India can be seen highly educated, constantly looking for new avenues of development, bettering its standard of living with every passing year and which is very much in sync with the ways of the developed countries. It is in this class that you will find that the gap between gender roles is getting smaller and smaller. What was considered a man's job once upon a time is readily done by females too and vice versa.

The other part of India which is known as rural India, whose population is not yet hundred percent literate, trying to discover ways to make the transition from under-developed to developing area. It is this India where gender roles have not changed much since centuries. The traditional way of life still holds good and is considered essential for the smooth functioning of a family.

Television in particular and the entertainment mass media in general heavily influence women’s identities in our culture. Television is regarded by many viewers to be the most 'real' form of media. It affects the attitudes of those who watch. Most watched and perhaps influential genre of television viewing is soap operas.

The striking aspect of today stories is the fact that they are superb pieces of story-telling. Content is truly king (or should we say queen) in Indian Television. Many writers with their gift of imagination and their powerful pens are able to not only transport us daily into the lives of ‘Anandi’, ‘Sandhiya’ or ‘Akshara’ but make them an extension of our ‘real’ world. With the same stroke of pen they have the power to make us fall in love with one of the character while making us hate for another.

Women in the today’s Television world do reflect the changes in beliefs about the value of family, child care, the role of the woman in marriage and the possibility of self-fulfillment through work.

In the world of soap operas, one may be inclined to feel that women are represented more fairly, as this is a genre of television watched mainly by women. Indeed, it is companionship and relationships which are emphasized in soaps .The majority of soap operas are set in a domestic situation, because the home is a place where women's expertise is supposedly valued, and is also a place of comfort. Often, the central characters are female, and they are been told that marriage and having children are their ultimate achievement. So it could be said that the subliminal messages are often tend to be male dominated.

The young, single woman characters tend to conform to the mannequin image, being tall, slim, conventionally beautiful, and usually they are portrayed as being the 'girl next door' type character, friendly, happy, not very intelligent, and seldom aiming high in a career.

Women who we see in a position of power more regularly tend to be invariably aggressive, and are often portrayed as the villainess; a woman who turns her traditional feminine characteristics into a source of strength. Villainess is portrayed in a morally disapproving manner. She is portrayed both in a positive and a negative light; positive because she do things for herself rather than for men, and negative because she is shown to ultimately fail, which implicitly warns women not to follow this example of a woman.

Often women are seen that they use their sexuality or pregnancy to manipulate people.

Soaps do show women having jobs, but rarely show them pursing their careers. They are rarely shown successful.

Women are always portrayed according to the roles that favour patriarchy. May she be either portrayed as domestic women, career women or single mother. More importantly, women are often represented as not being so intelligent as men, so have to rely on them. It is also shown that a woman is either intelligent or beautiful; but rarely both.

The last few decades have seen tremendous changes in the lifestyles of men and women across all over the globe and particularly so in our own country. Globalization, market economics and above all, fast strides in technology have affected virtually all facets of life be it religion or education, politics or employment, fashion or health care. With the advent of computers and telecommunications, media has also undergone a sea of change. The media, which was earlier merely a reporting device, is today a vibrant means of shaping, molding and influencing public opinion.

However, in spite of all these changes, the media has not managed to overcome the typical stereotypes that are associated with women in India. We are bombarded with gender stereotypes from childhood and that remain with us well into adulthood. Movies, television shows, advertisements and even the news, media frequently depict men and women in roles that don’t portray the diversity of people and genders that exist today. This gender stereotyping is engrained into our culture from the first time we begin to watch television. The world of television drama with its ongoing schedule changes and gives the illusion of constant change. Yet the hundreds of content analysis examining media images present a very different picture.

The changing role of women in agriculture, dairy, industry, education, communication, etc. is hardly highlighted. However, some serials, once in a while do show woman fighting for her right to choose career.

Lauzen et al. (2008) state that female characters were more likely to be seen interacting with others in familial and romantic roles. In contrast, male characters were more likely to inhabit work roles exhibiting more agentic goals including ambition and the desire for success. Such portrayals illustrate the ongoing tendency of network television to paint characters in the broadest of gender strokes. (p. 211)

Continually women are being depicted in popular media as stereotyped, docile, hapless beings, fighting to co-exist and survive in a man’s world.

Society expects women to be subtle, submissive, holding responsibility of the household chores, young siblings and taking care of old and ill people. They cannot enter wage labor market if the economic situation of the family demands so. Briefly we can say that women are fully responsible for the domestic arena while men take care of the external world. This is how top rated General entertainment channels depict patriarchal ideology through visual images in serials. Besides news, sports, religious, film, music, health there is another broad genera that is termed as entertainment channel. They include ideas from wide range of mixture of entertainment package comprising music, film and film based programmes, reality shows, game shows, quiz shows/competitions, comedy shows, standby mimicry etc. it also includes serials of comedy, mythology, daily soaps, family shows, horror and detective serials. The popular entertainment channels are Colors, Zee TV, Star Plus, Life Ok, Sony, SAB TV, MTV etc .in Hindi while many are in regional languages.

Serials shown on these channels reveal the lives of people who spend lavishly. The plot used is mostly family oriented. Almost all family serials depict joint family especially business tycoons showing their values and life-styles. These daily soap operas run for more than two-three years. Serials mainly highlight women characters either as Protagonist or Antagonist. Lead Character is almost female may she be characterized as daughter, daughter- In law, sister- In law or mother –In law. Women on one hand is shown playing a positive role solving the problems of the family but on other hand she is been shown as an economically independent woman who disrupts the peace and unity of the family. Inspite of being bold and strong her sexuality and fertility is controlled by men. She is generally seen economically depended on men. She has to follow all the rituals associated with marriage. They have to remain within the patriarchal value system. She accepts her subordination to the male and follows the family values.

Media research with regard to gender , race, ethnicity, sexual and national identity emerged by feminist, gay and lesbian, racial justice, and postcolonial social movements in the 1970s in Europe, the United States, South Asia, Africa, Latin America, and other parts of the world respectively.

Research on women’s portrayal by mainstream media has been a continuing preoccupation for many scholars in communication studies over the past decades. Sadly, most contemporary studies suggest that despite the incursions which women have made into media industry and the success of the women’s movement challenging some of the wider gender inequalities in society, the media seem to stuck in a very traditional and stereotypical groove.

Women in our culture are currently in a period of transition. Although transition is a gradual movement from a period known as feminism's "second wave," (mid-1960s) to a new period known as Post-Feminism (21st Century) which is full of confusion and lack of assurance about the relationship between family and society, and women's part in each.

"Post-feminism" is a term that has been coined recently to help describe this new state. Generally, it describes a retreat from feminist ideas challenging women's traditional role in the family, an increasing openness toward traditional notions of femininity and feminine roles.

Feminism and commercial television was never been happy bedfellows.  Since feminism was brought to the attention of the general public in the 60s and 70s, there has been something of a wary standoff between it and television. This is not to say that television has not engaged with feminism.  On the contrary, television has, since feminism was brought to the public’s conscience, engaged with a version of feminism (Press and Strathman 2003; 4).  However, feminism, as represented on television, has always been ‘incorporated into popular entertainment as unpredictable, fragmented, in incoherent ways’ (Ouellette 2002; 320). Even as television promoted certain women’s achievements, it was unwilling to engage the broader structural problems behind women’s oppression both at work and at home.  The image of feminism ‘that survived was a kind of "woman in a grey flannel suit" – dressed for success but with nothing to go home to…The mass media first promoted this impoverished version of feminism, then gleefully reported the discontent with that version as "post-feminism"’ (Press and Strathman 1993; 5).

Post-feminism differs from feminism. Feminism is a holistic argument about the political, economic, cultural, and social structures that subordinate femininity to masculinity. Post-feminism is ‘an active process by which feminist gains of the 1970s and 80s come to be undermined. Thus, in order to understand the hegemonic power of post-feminism, it is important to analyze it not only as a political discourse, but as a cultural phenomenon as well.

Origin of term

The Historical Background

Feminism: Evolution

Feminist views and feminism are not the same thing. Though the two terms 'Feminist' and 'Feminism' entered the English language in the 1980s (MIA Encyclopaedia, 2008), these terms imply two different phenomena or stages of development of human history and civilization. Traces of the former i.e. feminist views could be found in the respective literatures of ancient civilizations of Greece and China, whereas the latter i.e. feminism is a twentieth century movement. Feminism as a set of ideas and concepts stands for a distinctive and established socio-political ideology developed during the second half of the twentieth century that challenged the most basic assumptions of conventional political thought which kept the role of women off the political agenda on the basis of their sexual 'disability' or 'disadvantage'. However, with the flowering of radical feminist thought in the late 1960s and early 1970s, feminism emerged as a political ideology to reckon with. Since then 'Feminism' as a term has become quite familiar in everyday language; it has become almost a fashion, and being called a feminist has assumed a special identity. It implies a diverse collection of socio-political theories, political movements and moral philosophies, largely motivated by a concern for co-equal social role and position and rights of women vis-à-vis male members in a society. Therefore Feminism is regarded as the ideology of, or theoretical commitment to, the Women's Liberation Movement across the world.

Feminist Ideology

Feminism, however, is not a coherent ideology. It is a combination of some major traditions developed within feminism. These are Liberal Feminism, Socialist Feminism, Radical Feminism, New Feminism and Post Feminism. The first one (probably the earliest among all such traditions), as the name suggests, was based on the principle of liberalism that advocated for equality of human individuals regardless of their sex and other distinctions. Thus, it argued for women's equal entitlement to all rights and privileges in the society as enjoyed by men on the basis that both were human beings. The second one, i.e. 'Socialist Feminism', emerged as a reaction to the stand taken by the liberal thinkers. They put forward their view that only political and legal rights were not enough to emancipate women from all of their disadvantages and that could only be done through a social revolution which would give them economic equality or economic freedom vis-à-vis men. The third tradition went further deeper by advocating equality of women not only in politics and economy but also in all aspects of personal and sexual existence. They started a crusade against patriarchy in all its forms and manifestations. The next one in this succession of traditions has been a number of schools of thought (e.g. Postmodern Feminism, Black Feminism, Lesbian Feminism etc.) as a whole termed as 'New Feminism', which is a mixed variety of the above three core traditions. These point to the psychological, cultural and intra-sexual aspects of feminism. And the last one is represented by an emerging trend in the tradition called 'Post Feminism'. Here feminist thinkers have started making compromises with regard to their anti-men or -patriarchy stand by calling for the restoration of family values by subscribing to traditional role of women in the family for the imperatives of social stability and order. These are the long drawn traditions of feminism.

For understanding the evolution of such a tradition, the earliest feminist ideas and women's movements in the 18 th and 19 th Century have been called the 'first wave' which continued until the early decades of the 20 th century. The liberal feminist tradition belongs to that period. The 'second wave' saw the resurgence of liberal feminism along with the appearance of socialist and radical feminism in the period spanning from 1960s to 1970s. During that period feminism reached its height from the artistic and radical point of view. However, after that it saw a decline as discussed in the last two traditions. It gradually lost its radical fervour towards the end of the 20 th and the beginning of the 21 st Century as well. Heywood calls the present stage, "de-radicalisation and 'Post Feminism' phase" (Heywood, 2002; p242).

This narrative shows how feminism as an ideology has travelled a long way and in the process has witnessed a variety of ideas and schools of thought. Despite its variety and different point of views, says Heywood, 'feminism as an ideology has succeeded in establishing gender and gender perspectives as important themes in a range of academic disciplines and in raising consciousness about gender issues in public life in general' (Heywood, 2002; p240-265).

The basic assumption of all the traditions of feminism is that they believe in human equality. They object vehemently to the discrimination of women made on the basis of gender. They are critical of the imposition of men-centric dress codes and taboos against women. They urge that all women should have the choice of everything in their lives and they should have the same opportunities as men do in day-to-day activities. They are critical of patriarchy. They seek to uncover the influence of patriarchy not only in politics, public life and the economy, but also in all aspects of social, personal and sexual existence. According to some feminists 'femininity is being imposed upon women by men' (Solli, 2002). Women's liberation, female emancipation and gender inequality are their chief concerns. Today, feminist organizations form a substantial part of civil society in almost all countries across the globe.

Feminist theory is the extension of feminism into the theoretical or philosophical framework. Feminist theory aims to understand the nature of inequality and focusses on gender politics, power relations and sexuality. While generally providing a critique of social relations, much of feminist theory also focusses on analyzing gender inequality, and the promotion of women's rights, interests and issues.

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Mohanty K.K., Mohapatra P.C., Samal J., (1990), Tribes of Koraput . Bhubaneswar: Tribal and Harijan Research-cum Training Institute.  Back to cited text no. 5    

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Pattnaik A.K., (2003), Sabara Sampradayaravivaha Pratha , Parab2003 . Koraput: District Council of Culture, p149-152.  Back to cited text no. 8    

Saran M., (2001), Final Population Totals: A Brochure of Orissa . Orissa : Census of India 2000.  Back to cited text no. 9    

Solli K., (2002) , Essence of the Feminine Soul. A t (Accessed on 3rd February, 2008)  Back to cited text no. 10    

The Feminist Waves

The movement (First-Wave) wished to persuade people from the falsity of female incompetence. There was a full "appreciation of the sanctity of women's domestic duties, and movement never undervalued the high importance of these duties, either to the individual, the family, or the State" (3).

The respect that Wollstonecraft is demanding here was achieved in the suffrage movement with women receiving the right to vote.

During the First-Wave, many male thinkers made the argument that men were physically superior and men went on to make the erroneous conclusion that men were also intellectually superior. "Women are, in fact, so much degraded by mistaken notions... this artificial weakness produces a propensity to tyrannize" (Wollstonecraft 36).

The Second-Wave of feminism began to be used to describe a newer feminist movement that focused as much on fighting socio-economic inequalities as further political inequalities.

The Second-Wave has been said to have lasted from the 1960s to the 1980s. They chose to endeavor into the inequality of laws, and the culture at large. The Second-Wave was very interested in ads on television that ridiculed women - treating them as frivolous sex objects for the "male gaze." The male gaze is a term used by the movement to describe male dominance and objectification found in film and television.

Second-Wave Feminism saw cultural and political inequalities as inextricably linked. The movement encouraged women to understand aspects of their own personal lives as deeply politicized. According to them, this society was and is a result of a male dominant, sexist, structure of power. First-Wave Feminism focused on absolute rights such as suffrage and Second-Wave Feminism was largely concerned with other issues of equality, such as discrimination, gender stereotyping and objectification. The Second-Wave at the time was more popularly called The Women's Liberation Movement.

According to the Third-Wave, this mind state keeps the movement in a perpetual victim status. This victim mentality, ironically enough, is a part of the gender stereotype that the Second-Wave claims to be protesting against. Third-Wave feminism promotes using mass media as a tool for female empowerment.

In the early fifties many women only left their homes "to shop and chauffeur their children, or attend a social engagement with their husbands" (Friedan 17). They were much like the soccer moms of today. Then "in the late fifties, a sociological phenomenon was suddenly remarked: every third women now worked" (17). Most of the women were older and very few were pursuing careers. They were married women who "held part-time jobs, selling or secretarial, to put their husbands through school, their sons through college, or to help pay the mortgage" (17).

Their only goal in life was to be perfect wives and mothers. They sought to be the virtuous woman in proverbs 31. They imagined having five children and a beautiful house. Their only identity was to get and keep their husbands. "They had no thought for the 'unfeminine' problems of the world outside the home; they wanted the men to make the major decisions. They gloried in their role as women, and wrote proudly on the census blank: Occupation: housewife" (Friedan 18).

Nobody debated women's inferiority or superiority to men; men and women were simply different. "Words like 'emancipation' and 'career' sounded strange and embarrassing; no one had used them for years"(Friedan 19).

The Second-Wave movement began because Friedan and others could not understand why media studies showed that women were going to college and blaming education for "making them want 'rights'...giving them career dreams and making them feel it was not enough simply to be a housewife and mother" (Friedan 29). Friedan made the case for the need of a second movement or Second-Wave of feminism because she felt that she heard the voice of women yelling "I want something more than my husband and my children and my home" and she saw media trying to silence that voice. The Third-Wave was started for similar reasons.

The idea, in essence, was "that girls should stand up for themselves as individuals. They should stick up for each other collectively and - having identified what they want out of life - go out and grab it with both hands" (Sinclair 60).

WORK CITED

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Eagleton, Mary. A Concise Companion to Feminist Theory. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2003.

Echols, Alice. Daring to Be Bad: Radical Feminism in America, 1967-1975. Minnesota: University of Minnesota Press 1990.

Fraser, Clara. Revolution, She Wrote. Seattle: Red Letter Press, 1998.

Friedan, Betty. The Feminine Mystique. New York: W. W. Norton and Company, 2001.

Heinecken, Dawn. Warrior Women of Television: A Feminist Cultural Analysis of the New Female Body in Popular Media. New York: P. Lang, 2003.

Helford, Elyce Rae. Fantasy Girls: Gender in the New Universe of Science Fiction and Fantasy Television. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2000.

Heywood, Leslie. Third Wave Agenda: Being Feminist, Doing Feminism. Minnesota: University of Minnesota Press, 1997.

Hopkins, Susan. Girl Heroes: The New Force in Popular Culture. Annandale: Pluto Press, 2002.

Messer-Davidow, Ellen. Disciplining feminism: from social activism to academic discourse. North Carolina: Duke University Press, 2002.

Newcomb, Horace. Television: The Critical View. New York & Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000.

Sinclair, David. Wannabe. London: Omnibus Press, 2004.

Varieties if Feminism

Indian Feminism

Women

National Movement and women

The History of the Women’s Movement in India

Early Feminist campaigns

David Bouchier defines the feminist movement in "Introduction" to his book The Feminist challenge as "includes any form of opposition to any form of social, personal or economic discrimination which women suffer because of their sex".

In the words of Gerda Lerner in her book The Creation of Patriarchy , " It (feminism) is not always a movement, for it can be a level of consciousness, a stance, an attitude, as well as the basis for organized effort."(237)

Before India attained independence, conventional Indian women who were not really concerned about their oppression and equal rights did not feel the need for an organised rebellion. The first stage of the feminist movement, the organised fight for women's rights of equality with men which has continued for almost two decades in the west was not really required in India. This is because by the time Indian women had become really conscious of woman's rights, they had been guaranteed social, legal and political rights after

independence. Thus it is the second stage, or the all round liberation, or emancipation of women whch includes emotional, intellectual and moral .' liberation of women, that becomes the prime concern of the feminists in India.

Although India has a much earlier history and tradition of intellectually emancipated women during the Vedic period

Aryan Period

Women were asked to remain within four walls of house doing just household chores. They were kept out of religious and ritualistic performances, their education and intellectual development was never insisted upon Perhaps due to their physical frailty and biological functions of procreation that involved them more, women ceased to take up more masculine jobs. Their status decreased, they were considered inferior to men. With the codification of laws by Manu, the subordination of women was assured for centuries to come. Manu's idea that a woman does not deserve freedom, that she has to be protected in her childhood by her father, in her youth by her husband and in her old age by her sons put the seal of male domination and tyranny over women and their socially sanctioned

oppression.

MANU PERIOD

As Kanlals Devi Chattopadhyay opines, in her article 'The Status of Women

In India' in the book y o m e in Modem India

"This movement cannot in any sense be said to be a

rebellion or a revolt against man; it is rather an attempt to

regain lost ground. It is not actuated by any spirit of

competition nor marked by violence, it is a movement of

calm assertion " (5)

M.K. Gandhi, the leader

of the National Freedom Movement, was a great supporter of women's

liberation. In Women and Social Iniustice he says:

"These questtons of liberation of women, liberation of

India, removal of untouchability, amelioration of economic

condition of the masses and the like resolve themselves into

penetration into the villages and reconstruction or rather

reformation of village life." (10)

With the changing times, the

outlook of the feminists also changes.Feminism was adopted differently by different group of people. It depends a lot on their socio-cultural and regional background, and the

particular type of oppression that they have to face due to their culture and

tradition as well as their geographical locality.

The term ‘feminism ‘has its origin from the Latin word ‘femina’ meaning ‘woman’(through French ‘feminisme’), and thereby refers to the advocacy of women’s rights, status and power at par with men on the grounds of ‘equality of sexes’. In other words, it relates to the belief that women should have the same social, economic and political rights as men.

Women have always been projected as secondary and inferior. The bias against women can be seen right away from the day one of creation. It is said that God created man in his own image. The suggestion is that God is male. Further, it is said that god, after creating man, made women from the rib of man. As Adam, the first man on the earth, remarks about Eve: ‘This is now bones of my bones, and flesh of my flesh, she shall be called woman. Because she was taken out of man"12. The suggestion is that man is created fist, and woman is taken out of man. In other words, woman is secondary to man.

Aquinas, the Roman catholic of thirteen century AD, describes female as a ‘misbegotten male’ and Nietzsche, the German philosopher, declares that ‘woman is the source of all folly and unreason’ and that she is ‘God’s second mistake’.14

Men are shown as logical, rational and objective, whereas, women are shown as emotional, inconsistent, intuitive, subjective and lacking self-confidence. Men are expected to be extrovert, competitive, bold, brave, dominating and aggressive and women should be submissive, well behaved, polite, soft-spoken, supportive, co-operative and sympathetic.

Women raised her voice mainly after the Women’s Liberation Movement of the late 1960s that the contemporary feminist ideology evolved and the female voice was heard with special heed.

Feminism has its origin in the West. Its genesis can be marked during the last decade of the eighteenth century when the struggle for women’s rights began. The most significant work concerning the quest for recognition of women’s socio-cultural roles and struggle for women’s social, cultural and political rights was Marry Wollstonecraft’s ‘A Vindication of the Rights of Women(1972).In the post-war period, Simone de Beauvoir’s Le Deuxieme Sexe19(1949), an important landmark in the evolution of the feminist theory, in a radical-critical mode, examined the socio-economic, cultural, political and intellectual milieu of women and questioned the status and role of women in the convention-ridden patriarchal society. Beauvoir’s work proved to be one of the bibles for the later feminists.

The late 1960s witnessed intensification of the feminist struggle in Europe and America. The movement acquired political dimensions and turned aggressive and polemical in nature. The feminists felt that women had been poor victims of male oppression and exploitation, and expressed anger and strong resentment against injustice done to the womankind. From demonstrative protests on the streets against oppression of women, feminism soon entered the academic circles and discussion. Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique (1963) questioned why a woman is in a patriarchal system confined to domesticity and childcare.

Post-feminism: the Phase of Transformation

After the sixties, feminism shows a number of extensions and variations. It has grown into several ‘feminisms’ such as radical feminism, socialist feminism, liberal feminism, Marxist feminism, black feminism, lesbian feminism, materialist feminism etc. There was a split among feminists. The term ‘feminism’ was claimed by the white, high class women, in reaction to which, a new term ‘womanism’ representing the whole community of women came to being. The evolution of feminism is studied largely under three different waves of feminist movement. The first wave feminism has been the political movement for women’s rights. The second wave feminism relates to the historical context of patriarchy and oppression and attacks the male domination in aggressive , militant tone. The third wave feminism challenges the gender discrimination and attempts to find a rationale for the identities of masculinity and femininity separating men and women, and critiques the second wave feminism for their essentialist viewpoint of ‘sisterhood’ of all women, ignoring differences between women with regard to race , class or sexuality. The fourth wave feminism may possibly be the term for the postmodern feminism and may be called ‘post-feminism’, which lays emphasis on individual woman’s inner freedom and awakening, on resolving the issues and problems raised be feminism and on understanding the relationship of interdependence between man and woman.

The term ‘post-feminism’ is not monolithic and consensual yet. It has diverse implications. In popular culture, it refers to the rejection of feminist thought. However, in academics, the post in post-feminism implies a process of ongoing transformation and change rather than assuming that patriarchal discourses and frames of reference have been replaced or superceded’.

Generally the term post-feminism seeks equality of sexes, and denies the patriarchal system, but in a cool, calm and composed manner. There are several forms of post-feminism in the process of human development. The backlash 25 post-feminism attacks aggressively at feminism. It derides the victim mentality of the feminists and projects forth new traditionalism, that is rejecting feminism and turning back to traditional values of domesticity and motherhood in order to save the family from the danger of feminism. The equality and choice post-feminism holds the view that feminism has given women ‘choice’ has had success in achieving gender ‘equity’ and thus , women no longer need feminism.

Therefore, the post-feminist ‘equality portrays of women are visible in cinema , mass media, advertisements and also in literature in the form of avoidance from depicting women as passive, inferior, weaker and subordinate to men. The new women proclaim their womanhood in a bold manner.

Post-feminism can be analyzed through three categories: the representational politics of post-feminism, post-feminism and individual choice, and post-feminism and female sexuality. 

Dow argues (1996; xxi) that on television sitcoms, problems that are social in origin, like sexism, are packaged ‘as solely personal difficulties to be solved by the characters in a half-hour episode.  Television implicitly supports a view of the world that discounts the ways in which cultural norms and values affect people’s lives.’ 

The representational politics of post-feminism

In many ways, post-feminism is a result of the recognition that second-wave feminists’ attempts to speak for women as a monolithic constituency ultimately excluded many women. This recognition signaled an important advance in feminists’ understanding of patriarchy and resistance.  In recognizing the diversity of what it actually means to be woman, advances were made in recognizing the voice of women previously marginalized by the mainstream, largely white, middle-class feminist movement.  From this has come the recognition that opposition to patriarchy must also be contextualized, and that ultimately, there is not one universal definition of feminist action and resistance. 

In the media, feminism is generally presented as a ‘movement devoid of currency and at the same time responsible for the sad plight of millions of unhappy and unsatisfied women who, thinking they could have it all, have clearly "gone too far" and jeopardized their chances at achieving the much valorized American Dream’ (Walters in Ouellette 2002; 318-319).  As the post-feminist narrative goes, in the beginning our newly awakened anger and astonishment at the realities of our own oppression caused us to take positions that were extreme.  We went too far; either becoming "like men" in our quest for acceptance or finding ourselves doing double duty at home and at work…But as the popular historians would have it now, we have emerged from the dark, angry nights of early women’s liberation into the bright dawn of a Post-feminist era’ (Walters in Dubrofsky 2002; 270).

Through subtle discursive turns in representing women’s lives, post-feminist representations shift the blame of gender inequality from economic, political and social structures to feminism’s rejection of these structures, claiming that even as some of the resulting social changes have helped women, continuing to embrace them threatens to undo all that hard work.  Thus, post-feminism is embraced ‘as a flexible subject position for a new era in which the women’s movement is presumed successful, but feminism is "other" and even threatening to contemporary femininity’ (Oullette 2002; 316). 

If one were to paint a picture of what the stereotypical post-feminist woman looks like, talk like, and dress like, the painting would probably bear a very close resemblance to such a women who are white, heterosexual, attractive, successful in their careers, searching for a perfect heterosexual relationship (and all ending up in one), inviting of the male gaze, sexually open, economically well off.

It is through these carefully selected representations of women’s universal equality that the ‘feminist fallacy’ is naturalized and women no longer being in the margins of society is equated to women no longer being marginalized. In the end, it would appear that post-feminist representations have made the internalization of hegemonic gender constructs that much easier for a generation of women who are ‘often quite supportive of feminist principles having to do with educational and professional equality but are unwilling to give up the pleasures, expectations, and promised rewards of participating in the beauty culture promoted by [the media]’ (Ouellette 2002; 320).

Post-feminism and individual choice

The representations of feminism in the media have implications far beyond the question of who a feminist actually is.  These representations shape society’s understanding of what feminism is. By negating feminism’s ability to encompass the individual subjectivity of all women through collective resistance, post-feminism succeeds in the ‘personalization of social and political issues’ (Dubrovsky 2002; 268).  That is, whereas both the first and second-wave feminist movements concentrated on the larger political, social, and economic forces that combined to enforce women’s subordinate status, post-feminism privileges a definition of patriarchy void of any large-scale structural implications. 

Through this discursive turn, when women speak of sexism, the logic of post-feminism is drawn on ‘to interpret discrimination [against women] as idiosyncratic behaviour [by men], and to undermine the viability of collective action to improve the status of women’ (Hall and Rodriguez 2003; 885).  This version of feminism ‘represents a definite turning inward for women, an introspective movement – the answers are to be found within’ (Dubrofsky 2002; 270).  By making feminism entirely about inner struggle and no longer one in which the superstructures of patriarchal oppression must be confronted, the dialectic between the personal and the political is broken; ‘everything is ultimately personal, and the personal is only idiosyncratically, amusingly, superficially, political.  In essence, the personal and the political are dangerously entwined but kept at a distance’ (Dubrofsky 2002; 283).  From this definition, it appears only logical that, if patriarchy is no longer a structural problem, then in practice, resistance to patriarchy no longer needs to address these structures. 

To put a finer point on it, ‘patriarchy is now gone and has been replaced by choice’ (Dow 1996; 95).  In this, post feminism has managed to write a radical revision of the feminist trope ‘the personal is political.’  That statement, so central to feminist theory, was meant to describe patriarchy, not feminism.  That is, it encapsulated the idea that what women viewed as personal, individual problems could be traced to the political status of women living in a male-dominated and male-defined society.  Television entertainment, for the most part, has taken this idea in precisely the opposite direction in representing feminism: the political is personal, it tells us, as a set of political ideas and practices is transformed into a set of attitudes and personal lifestyle choices’ (Dow 1996; 209, italics in original).

If one looks at any glossy fashion magazine, any mainstream television show or blockbuster movie, it would appear that through making certain choices, consuming certain goods, and looking a certain way, women are empowering themselves already. In representing feminism as being wholly constituted through picking and choosing any particular aspect of feminism one likes, feminist identity becomes ‘defined by appearance, by job, by marital status and by personality, not by political belief or political practice’ (Dow 209; 1996).

The media’s explicit and ubiquitous emphasis on consumerism as empowering for women is the clearest examples of the hegemonic nature of post-feminism.  While speaking out of one side of its mouth as to the importance of a women’s ability to choose, the media is very careful to ensure that the choices available to women are limited to those in which a certain aesthetic norm is reinforced.  By wholeheartedly buying into this mediated promotion of women’s emancipation (with their beliefs and, importantly, their wallets), women are directly implicated in reinforcing a dangerous cultural standard of normative beauty.  Ultimately, all of these strategies will ‘result in women’s participation of their own oppression, under the clever guise of women’s liberation’ (Montemurro 2004; www.barnard.edu/sfonline).   While it may appear that women have more choices in how to attain that ideal beauty, the fact that ideal beauty is still an end in itself shows how little progress post-feminism brings. 

Post-feminism and female sexuality

Of the many goals that drove second-wave feminism, one of the most fundamental was the movement to increase society’s understanding and acceptance of female sexuality.  Female orgasms, sexual positions that women too might enjoy, and a basic understanding of a woman’s ability to actively pursue and enjoy sex, had been, for the most part, territory in public discourse.  This problem was the result of a patriarchal culture that focused exclusively on a woman’s ability to please a man, and thus, the women’s liberation movement set about, in various ways, to advance the idea that not only could women enjoy sex, they deserved it (Levy 2005; 54-55).

Sexual liberation is indeed a fundamental component of a more general idea of women’s liberation, it is only one of many components.  As Wilkins (2004; 329) writes, ‘this emphasis on women’s emancipated sexuality reflects the substantive turn of post-feminism…a focus on women’s right to active sexuality rather than on broader issues of gender equality.’   Inevitably, this argument sees women’s ability to pursue and enjoy sex as evidence that women have conquered all gendered sexual norms, and continued feminist action is, once again, redundant. Hotness has become our cultural currency, and a lot of people spend a lot of time and a lot of regular, green currency trying to acquire it.  Hotness is not the same thing as beauty…Hot can mean popular.  Hot can mean talked about.  But when it pertains to women, hot means two things in particular: fuckable and saleable.(2005; 31)

This version of sexuality has become a powerful and ubiquitous presence within the media. It is in the presence of pop culture’s female stars .In other words, if sexual liberation is, in no particular order: inviting of the male gaze, heterosexual, traditionally feminine, and commercial.  In essence, the question that needs asking is, as Levy says (2005; 81), ‘why is this "new feminism" and not what it looks like: the old objectification?’

This new culture, many women told Levy, didn’t mark the death of feminism…it was evidence that the feminist project had already been achieved.  We’d earned the right to look at Playboy; we were empowered enough to get Brazilian bikini waxes.  Of course, this post-feminist turn ignores the argument that ‘what may be liberating on an individual level may simultaneously be indicative (and reproductive of) institutionalized constraints related to gender, race, class, age, and sexual orientation’ (Barton in Wilkins 2004; 332).

It is often said that television is the mirror of society. Or at least that’s what majority of people in India consciously or unconsciously tend to believe. Media images always surround us and teach us lessons about how the world should be viewed. Often, television shows are listed as the main source of information for today's youth (Holtzman, p. 74). What arguable is whether the media truly reflects the society or not. There’s no doubt that media has a big socio-cultural influence on the society. The most significant and longest social movement continuing in society is movement for emancipation of women. It sounds intriguing how from a highly dignified position in India’s mythic history, the woman in India is relegated with a secondary position. The vested interests of the ruling elite and the male lobby influenced by alien cultures legitimised woman as an individual of little consequence.

It would be a sad commenting on the subordinate role of women in India when woman is ideally viewed as Shakti (Power), the origin of power itself but in reality found as helpless, hapless woman without any identity except that of a wife, or the mother who has very little voice in decision making and to make her own basic choice. Although discrimination and exploitation of women are global phenomena, still their consequences differ. They are more tragic in some parts of the globe particularly in under developed countries where, ignorance, deprivation of the basic necessities of life, and the ever-growing pressure of transition from tradition to modernity exists.

"Women’s issues have increasingly, though sporadically, begun to make news and considered worthy of comment. This is largely due to the growth of contemporary women’s movement in India, with women groups becoming steadily more active and vocal"1. It is often believed that media creates a myth on the gender roles. Both men and women in modern societies today are considered equal despite increasing odd mix of equalities and inequalities. A phenomenological approach to the equalities and inequalities draws attention to the underpinnings of feministic approaches today. Feminism is one of those social phenomena which remain debatable and subject to the studies world over.

" Feminism is the belief that the women should have equal political, social, sexual, intellectual and economic rights which started in 1850’s and gained momentum as the Second and the Third wave in 1960 and 1990’s respectively leading to the feminist theories"2. Feminism takes many forms and it cannot be characterized in any seamless way. It nonetheless encompasses the struggles of women to secure their economic and political rights.

"Pre-colonial social structures and women’s role within these structures reveal that feminism was theorized differently in India than in the West. Historical circumstances and values in India makes different women’s issues than the Western feminist rhetoric"3. The idea of women as "powerful" is accommodated into patriarchal culture through religion and it has been retained in almost all the sections of society; by providing women with traditional "cultural spaces". Although the "Indian women's movement can legitimately claim to be rich, unique history, recent upheavals are forcing us to re-conceptualize the basic concepts of patriarchy, gender and empowerment"4. Some of the current debates as those around a uniform civil code, or reservations for women in Parliament are nonetheless raising far-reaching questions for which existing answers are inadequate.

Indian feminist scholars and activists have to struggle to carve a separate identity for feminism in India. They define feminism in time and space. The widely used definition is "An awareness of women’s oppression and exploitation in society, at work and within the family, and conscious action by women and men to change this situation". (Bhasin and Khan 1986)

Post-feminism describes a range of viewpoints regarding feminism. While not being "anti-feminist", post-feminists believe that women have achieved second wave goals while being critical of third wave feminist goals. The term was first used in the 1980s to describe a backlash against second-wave feminism. It is now a label for a wide range of theories that take critical approaches to previous feminist discourses and includes challenges to the second wave's ideas. The post-feminists say that feminism is no longer relevant to today's society. The study being undertaken here is an attempt to draw critical analysis of the role of Television, in the Post-Feminism days and henceforth, understanding the mind-set of Women in India today.

Gender roles in society

Wood (2010) articulated it clearly: "the can-do discourse tells young women that they are responsible for balancing career and family and does not encourage them to expect or demand that male partners have significant responsibility for domestic life" (p. 103).

In recent time women’s have been said that they have freedom to decide or to opt successful careers, relationships of their own. They themselves are responsible for balancing their career and families.

Shanahan (2010) found that "[c]ultivation studies of gender and family roles continue to show that television contributes to traditional images and aspirations, despite the massive social changes that took place in women‟s roles in recent decades" (p. 346).

Contemporary gender roles have new expectations in which women are both strong and beautiful and men are both strong and sensitive. These emerging definitions may seem progressive, but they have essentially created a double burden for both men and women in that each is expected to maintain traditional roles while also assuming characteristics from the opposite gender. (Tragos, 2009, p. 541)

Tragos, P. (2009). Monster masculinity: Honey, I‟ll be in the garage reasserting my manhood. The Journal of Popular Culture, 42(3), 541-553.

Wood, J.T. (2010). The can-do discourse and young women‟s anticipations of the future. Women & Language, 33(1), 103-107.

Women have been fighting for equality for well over 100 years now.

The history of this struggle is often described as in the context of

‘waves’. The following is a very brief sense of the key elements in

these waves of activism:

First Wave Feminists focused their struggles primarily on gaining

legal rights such as the right to vote (women’s suffrage) and property

rights. The first known publications by women that referred to a

demand for equality between men and women were published in the

15

th

century, but what is referred to as first wave feminism really

began in earnest in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. This wave of

feminism ended when women made some legal gains in North America

(rights to have a say with regards to their children, the right to own

property and inherit property) and when some women won the right to

vote between 1917 and 1920. In Canada, Aboriginal women living on

reserves would not win the right to vote until 1960.

Second Wave Feminists focused on a broad range of issues in the

1960’s, 70’s and early 80’s including discrimination in workplaces and

in broader society. Some of the key struggles were around affirmative

action, pay equity, rape, domestic violence, pornography and sexism

in the media, and reproductive choice. The fight for reproductive

choice included a fight to have information about, and access to, birth

control (selling or promoting birth control was illegal in Canada until

1969) as well as the struggle to decriminalize abortion. In 1988 the

Supreme Court of Canada struck down Canada’s abortion law noting

that it fundamentally violated a women’s right to ‘liberty and personal

autonomy’ as guaranteed in Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

A subsequent attempt one year later to introduce a new abortion law

failed in the Senate due to a tie vote. During this time frame both the

United States (in 1963) and Canada (in 1967) launched investigations

into the status of women and through the subsequent reports made

public the depth and breadth of the inequalities experienced by

women. The National Action Committee on the Status of Women was

set up following the Canadian Royal Commission on the Status of

Women to advocate for women’s equality and became an important

focal point for feminist action in Canada during the 1970’s and 80’s.

Third Wave Feminism emerged in the 1990’s in part as a response

to the backlash from the gains 2

nd

wave feminists had made in the

1970’s and 80’s. While women made significant gains during the

second wave of feminism, equality was still a distant dream. Race and WOMEN’S CONFERENCE 2010

Binder Sheet, Participant Manual

KY/jscope343 / 9/7/2010

E:\a short history of feminsm.docE:\a short history of feminsm.doc

Class became important issues for reflection and action within the

movement – a movement that had been dominated by white, mostly

middle-class, women. This wave of feminism is not galvanized around

one or two key struggles, such as the right to vote or reproductive

choice, as was the case in both the 1

st

and 2

nd

wave. Even the term

feminist is not universally adopted but often rejected by new activists.

While the movement seems less galvanized in this current wave there

is no doubt that the fight for women’s equality is far from over.

Mobilizing and organizing across age, race, class and our differences

as women remains our challenge in continuing the fight for equality for

women.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The study on "Television and Post-Feminism-A Critical Analysis" is being undertaken to explore the influence of Television on feminist approaches today and study the changing socio-cultural mindsets. This can help in understanding the growing role of television in the modern societies and changing gender identities. It will be quite interesting to study Television and Post-Feminism in order to understand the implications of media influences in the era of globalization.

In the present day of `gender equality' the study of women's issues and the representation of women have become very important to make society aware, especially the women about their position and problems. Stuart Hall (1997, p.15) defines representation as ‘using language to say something meaningful about or to represent the world meaningfully to other people.’ Mass media, especially Television, exerts a considerable influence on people's attitudes, beliefs and prejudices towards different issues. But how the women are being portrayed in these powerful media and what are its repercussions on women today is very important to understand. It is high time that one realizes that the woman today is a `woman of substance' who has her own value systems and self respect, her own independent way of thinking that enables her to fit into all the roles expected from her by the family and the society as well.

The researcher will also try to dispel some myths concerning women, particularly that of "women being helpless victims of male supremacy by providing a panoramic view of the women's studies movement, its challenges and achievements since the 1970s"5.The study will highlight the portrayal of women on Television and its influence on male and female mindsets.

women are being drawn into the media in large numbers after late nineties. They constitute the central subject when it comes to media content. Simultaneously, we find a continuing stereotypical portrayal of women on TV. Gender roles propagated by mass media still adhere to patriarchal ideology of women as wives, mothers and daughters. Though contemporary and more modern situation are used in the narratives of the serials and advertisements what remain unchanged to some extent is the representation of women within traditional spaces of the household and patriarchy.

NEED OF THE STUDY

Themes of the serials have changed today. Saas-Bahu saga is partially on wane and focus has shift to the protagonist women. May she be ‘Anandi’ of Ballika Vadhu on colours or ‘Sandhaya’ of Diya aur Baati Hum telecasted on Star Plus and so on.

It is important to view the role of female characters as these roles can be considered reflective of the way women are viewed in society. According to Littlejohn and Foss (2005) "[m]edia organizations affect and reflect the cultures of society, and they provide information simultaneously to large heterogeneous audiences" (p. 273); thus, studying the way women are portrayed on television can give us information about how women are perceived in the larger arena of society.

The purpose of this research is to study the portrayal of women in prime time soaps focusing on the participation of women in family decisions, their belief in women’s equality and women’s freedom of choice. The researcher will also analyze latest trends of strategies used by makers to portray the women free and independent.

TELEVISION

In India, before the arrival of TV, cinema and radio were very popular

even among the villagers. Cinema was the most popular entertainment. It

provided the people with escape from the drudgery of daily life and the

heroes and heroines of cinema turned into legendary figures. There were

not many attempts to study its effects on society. Radio was state-owned

and it was development-oriented. Studies were conducted by various agencies to assess the impact of radio on development. Though TV was

introduced in view of its potential for development communication, it soon

turned out to be an entertainment medium and its spread was more in

cities than in villages. Th