Role of Media in Gender Emancipation

The media has always been a powerful tool for raising social and political concerns. Today’s media, from conventional legacy media to Internet media, continues to have a significant impact on our thoughts and views about the position of women and girls in society.

Exposure to stereotypical gender portrayals and clear gender segregation has been linked to “(a) preferences for ‘gender appropriate’ media content, toys, games, and activities; (b) traditional perceptions of gender roles, occupations, and personality traits; and (c) attitudes toward 2 expectations and aspirations for future trajectories of life” according to research.

One of every five specialists met by media are ladies. Ladies are regularly depicted in cliche and hyper-sexualised parts in promoting and the entertainment world, which has long haul social results. 73% of the administration occupations are involved by men contrasted with 27% involved by ladies.

Women are increasingly working in media fields including journalism, with 41.7 percent of newsroom personnel being female as of 2018. In online-only news companies, the percentage of female journalists has risen to 47.8%. However, males, who control the great majority of authority positions in the media, are and have been statistically dominant. Only 28.3% of television news directors and 30.5 percent of managing editors were women.

Many news companies are attempting to achieve gender equity within their workforce today. Gender equality in the media is being pushed by a slew of international agencies and non-governmental organisations. In 2018, for example, UNESCO provided funding to 42 media organisations and 16 universities to help them adopt gender equality policies and initiatives. In addition, 31 institutions, community radio stations, and national broadcasters developed policies on gender equality in media, in line with the plan to empower women and girls via policy implementation.

Sexualisation

Sen Jia and his colleagues stated that women’s beauty is probably for visual enjoyment since they are more likely to be conveyed by photographs rather than words in digital news. Furthermore, the media has become a driving force towards gender discrimination.

Women’s sexualization is largely centred in the media, in particular. Women’s self-esteem, body image, and mental well-being may be severely affected when these platforms hypersexualize them, present them in revealing apparel, or represent women as submissive to males. One of the earliest studies of role portrayal in advertisement was done in 1971, Courtney and Lockeretz published one of the first studies on role depiction in advertising. These researchers discovered that the central four themes of female stereotypes were that a woman’s place was in the home, the second was women didn’t make important decisions, third that women were dependent on their male counterparts and lastly that women perceived as sexual objects.

Two others follow up studies done by Wagner and Banos, and Belkaoui and Belkaoui reached similar outcomes. The fit, youthful, and skinny woman is the Western ideal of feminine beauty, and the media promotes this image through films, television shows, fashion shows, commercials, magazines and newspapers, music videos, and children’s cartoons. Women must adhere to pictures in ads, television, and music depicting the ideal woman as tall, white, slim, with a ‘tubular’ figure and blonde hair in order to be deemed appealing.

According to studies, traditional female roles are generally sexualized with minimum clothes and sexualized roles, and they fit into cultural preconceptions of women. According to a video game content research, “41% of female characters wore exposing attire and an equal proportion were partially or completely naked,” but male characters did not. Women are disproportionately underrepresented in media channels such as television and video games. Women in video games are frequently presented as characters in need of aid or in submissive or helpful roles. More than 80% of female characters in video game publications are objectified, underdressed, or charmingly observed, with a fifth falling into all three categories.

Abuse

In the media, especially in cinema, heterosexual love partnerships frequently romanticise intimate partner violence in which the woman is the victim. Were Warriors (1994) is an example of a film in which the male romantic protagonist exhibits abusive conduct such as manipulation, coercion, threats, control and dominance, isolation, intense jealously, and physical violence. Many women regard the types of abusive acts shown in popular films as attractive or desired, according to a 2016 study on women’s perceptions of abusive conduct. The prominence of abusive stereotypes in popular media is largely blamed for this confusion of abuse with romanticism.

Five Strategies For Creating Gender Equality In Media

According to Catalyst, a non-profit organisation, organisations with the highest percentage of women in senior leadership roles outperformed those with the lowest percentage of women, with a 35 percent greater return on equity.

According to McKinsey & Company, the 89 European firms with the highest percentage of women in senior positions had a 10% better return on equity and 48% higher earnings before interest and tax.

Aside from the financial rewards, achieving gender balance in newsrooms makes them more productive and inventive, and it can help to maintain social stability in the surrounding areas.

1. Include information about and for women in your news:

This isn’t only about dealing with “women’s difficulties.” It’s about ensuring that material is gender-balanced and takes into account the diversity that makes up roughly half of the world’s population.

Creating such a balance benefits a publication’s audience, influence, and, ultimately, income.

The Zimbabwean, a Harare-based independent newspaper founded in 2005, has made it its purpose to produce accurate reporting on and for women, particularly those living in rural regions with limited access to news. Trish Mbanga, co-founder, remarked, “Our stories have a life-changing influence.” “When a lady is educated, the entire family is educated.” When women are improved, society is improved. “Women are an economic force to be reckoned with.”

2. Make certain that management is fully committed.

In the newsroom, content alone can only go so far in promoting gender equality. Initiatives can swiftly fall apart if management is not committed to ensuring diversity. As a result, a top-down strategy is critical. Nana Sekyiamah, communications manager for the Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID), which has offices in Toronto and Mexico City, believes that gender equality must be a systemic commitment.

Mint, an Indian business daily located in Delhi, is breaking new ground in an industry dominated by men by employing 50% women. In fact, when it first began in 2007, it made gender equality a priority and hired a gender editorial consultant to guarantee diversity.

3. Ensure that all roles in the newsroom, including senior positions, are filled by women.

It doesn’t matter how much information a media outlet publishes for and about women, or how devoted management is to achieving gender equality, if there isn’t a physical representation of women in the newsroom, there can’t be a balance.

In Germany, the daily newspaper Die Tageszeitung – sometimes known as Taz – went even farther by instituting a quota system that mandates 50/50 gender equity at every level of the newsroom. The organisation hopes to have enough qualified female applicants for senior jobs later on by hiring more women for entry-level roles.

4. Equalize pay

While certain elements of gender inequality are abstract and impossible to measure, the gender wage gap is a sign of media inequities. The media, however, is far from the only area in which women are undervalued; the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) reports that gender disparities persist in most industrialised countries and across industries.

According to the most recent OECD data, Korea has the largest pay disparity, at 36.6 percent, while Japan follows close behind at 26.6 percent. Despite increased knowledge, the difference between the US and the UK remains considerable — 17.9 and 17.5 respectively. According to the US Census Bureau, women earned 79 cents for every dollar earned by males in 2015.

Employers with more than 250 employees in the United Kingdom will soon be required to publish their gender pay disparity under new laws. Companies, on the other hand, may take matters into their own hands, according to Olchawski of the Fawcett Society, by looking at proportionate recruiting and promotion: “If there are a lot of women at lower levels, you need to figure out why they’re stuck and how you can support them over time.”

5. Mentoring and development programmes can help you strengthen your leadership talents:

Making sure that women have the confidence and abilities they need to advance in the newsroom is an important component of achieving gender equality. While talent and on-the-job experience are important, mentorship and development programmes allow more experienced professionals to aid women who may not have completely realised their potential.

How Media Can Revolutionise Gender Equality in India?

Despite India’s amazing economic gain and fast growth over the last few decades, gender equality remains a problem. Women make up a significant portion of the film and television audience, as well as the marketers that support this industry. And, as an industry with the soft power to effect significant change, how women are portrayed in the media has a direct impact on how society views feminism.

The impact of numerous social movements on women, the countrywide acknowledgment of journalists and influencers, and promoting gender parity for not just men and women, but all genders at large are all part of the new era of gender equality.

In light of this, it seems only natural that we discuss how we approach finding a better balance.

After all, women in this nation are no longer scared to demand equality and prosecute anybody who opposes or breaches this basic human right.

But, honestly, how far have we come?

Returning the favour

In a UN report on Gender Inequality in Indian Media, it was discovered that women hold fewer than 5% of leadership roles across all media businesses.

Magazines account for 13.6 percent, TV networks for 20.9 percent, and Internet sites for 26.3 percent. This had an immediate impact on how women were presented in the media. Women were represented as meek, docile, and housebound in most of the media. There weren’t many people who were portrayed to be leaders or professionals. The majority of them were not even recognised as breadwinners.

So far, so good.

However, as times have changed, the media and entertainment sector has taken a leading role in advocating for women. The business is now playing a significant role in influencing how the world views women. It has a big impact on the audience, with women attempting to connect with the protagonists and males seeking to imitate the lead characters’ behaviour patterns.

Women are being perceived in good roles now, unlike in the past. Content and character development are increasingly being created with the influence on society in mind. From television to films, the media has influenced people’s attitudes about women. With series like MTV Nishedh, Balika Vadhu, and Na Aana Is des Laado, as well as films like Padmaavat, Toilet: Ek Prem Katha, and Queen, Viacom18 has helped to disrupt conventional “kitchen politics soap operas.” Protagonists who challenge gender norms improve both society’s perceptions of them and women’s perceptions of themselves.

Women in the media are victims of violence.

Female media employees’ safety has become a major worry in recent years, as it adds yet another barrier to gender equality in the industry. The majority of female journalists face gender-based harassment at work, both inside and outside of their organisations, and increasingly online.

Gender-based violence (GBV) is a danger to freedom of speech and access to information, both digitally and physically. Female journalists being silenced is an attack on democracy because it leads to self-censorship, with women withdrawing from the public arena as a result of harassment. Threats, intimidation, and violence have prompted nearly a third of female journalists to contemplate abandoning the field.

For the same reason, more than a third of female journalists avoided reporting some stories. Online harassment affects over half of female journalists. Threats are frequently sexual and racial, aimed at the person rather than the substance, making the workplace a dangerous place for women. As a result, there are even fewer female voices in the male-dominated profession of media.

We think that the media industry has a responsibility to establish a safe working environment for all employees and to implement GBV prevention strategies. It is critical that media organisations put in place methods to provide required support to people who have suffered GBV at work, while performing their work outside of the office, and/or via digital means.

Some Recommendations on Status of Women

• Recognize the media’s critical role in promoting gender equality in all sectors by generating gender-sensitive and transformational content and shattering gender stereotypes.
• Gender-sensitive and gender-transformative material in the media should pave the path towards gender equality. For this, we need consistent policies, norms, and processes at all levels, beginning with national media policy and self-regulation of the media business.
• Member States and the media business must make the safety of female media employees a top priority. A culture of safety must be established, as well as efficient methods for grievances and restitution.

The article has been contributed by Shankh Shukla, a student at NMIMS Bangalore.