Even though the country’s media scene has gone through a sea change in recent years, the gender gap is still appalling
Post-independence, the Indian media has evolved, re-aligned and re-invented itself. From being dominated by morning newspapers, radio broadcasts and some sole telecasts on Doordarshan, today, it is much more dazzling with sharp debates and has many ways to shape, mould and influence public opinion.
While the media has an important role to empower women, it has, unfortunately, failed to do away with gender inequalities within its own ambit. Women’s portrayal in Indian media is nothing more than a showpiece or an icon of glamour or that of a householder.
There is a difference between the idea of women as colleagues and equals in the worksphere and their actual projection. This is particularly true when it comes to women’s participation, performance and portrayal in the media.
The status of women in the media is bleak as ever; little progress has been made. While it has improved from what it used to be five decades ago, not much progress has been made in the last two decades.
The Global Media Monitoring Project 2015 has found that only 37 per cent of all stories, including in newspapers and television, were reported by women. This was the same figure a decade ago. No forward movement has been made. Online, however, women’s representation was 42 per cent.
Another report by the International Federation of Journalists, specific to the Asia-Pacific region, found that, although the presence of women in the region doubled in the last two decades, women still comprised just 28.6 per cent of the total workforce.
One of the reasons for such minute representation of women is gender inequality and discrimination. This lack of gender sensitivity is apparent from the very fact that the media has failed to exterminate gender-based stereotyping, which other public and private, local, national and international organisations have been able to reduce to some extent.
Women’s portrayal in the media, be it electronic, print, visual or audio, is always accompanied with some negative and degrading images.
Gender bias is prevalent not in reporting or in the selection of news, but in the selection of reporters to cover the news. And it’s not that women lag behind. Women have always been on the frontline, be it in war, negotiations, protest etc. They have often set the agenda. Yet, it is a fact that female journalists are always offered the ‘softer’ roles — lifestyle, culture, entertainment, health etc.
While one can still find women journalists in the desk section, magazine or the features department, very few can be found on the field to report crucial beats like politics, criminal justice, technology, sports, business etc. Also, whenever a women’s issue arises, women are preferred to cover them.
In terms of ultimate power, men are still pulling the strings in television and newspapers. Women rarely have the decision-making power and are nowhere close to becoming equal curators or creators of news. Unless this problem of unequal labour is addressed, nothing can be changed.
In terms of participation, female characters are the most preferred on television due to their accompanied good looks, more so in business news channels, because their presence on-screen can increase TRPs.
In the print media too, fewer women write for the opinion pages of newspapers. According to a survey by Newslaundry, men accounted for most of the bylines on the Edit and Op-ed pages.
And even if some women make it to the top position, they are often forced to quit their job due to inflexible working hours, and they are expected to maintain a balance between household chores and night-shifts.
Therefore, in order to empower women as leaders and to eradicate the existent gender gap, it is essential that they be given the decision-making power. Women should be better trained, skilled, knowledgeable and accessibility to information technology should be encouraged so that they adopt professional guidelines.
Also, more media watch groups like the Indian Women’s Press Corps should be established for the protection of women journalists. The powerful and positive role that the media can play in empowering women and gender equality should be supported and further explored.