Gender and Media: Indian Perspective
Dr Reinuka Dagar

Indian social reality is intermeshed with diverse cultures that are reflected in variant gender relations ranging from patriarchal forms to matriliny. The portrayal of this complex range of gender subjectivity can provide an appearance of media’s simultaneous sensitivity and bias on gender issues. The prevalence of gender discourse has ensured that the impact of gender differentiating structures in terms of atrocities such as sati, rape, female foeticide, denial of access to facilities and resources (credit, health care, property) and poor quality of participation in availed avenues is well reported. Such coverage is interspersed with images of typed male-female roles, beauty as an empowering product and female honor as the epitome of Indian culture. In the absence of defined and institutionalized policies, procedures and mechanisms guided by gender just concerns, the messages conveyed fall in the realm of individual attribution of meaning. The reporting of a rape case may be perceived to be a woman’s due for flouting the code of social conduct, a warning or mobilization for grievance redressal, depending on the audience. Moreover, the lack of formalized structure allows the media to selectively appropriate and represent gender issues contextually in conjunction with the dominant socio-political norms. Thus gender representation in the media is open to the influence of competing tendencies, be it the market, cultural capital, communalism, electoral politics or women’s empowerment articulations.

The responsiveness of the media to gender can be captured through indicators of gender diversity, gender portrayal and gender policies. Can numerical representation of women in the media become a ‘critical mass’ to transform the terms of media representation of gender? Can gender portrayal exist independent of the market or the hierarchical socio-cultural realities? To what extent can prescribed or existing policies redefine the gender spectrum? The current endeavor analyses the dominant gender representation and portrayals in the myriad Indian media and policy interventions to confront the typed media representation.

I. Gender Diversity: Case Studies in Indian Media

a) Female representation

Women’s access within media has visibly enhanced in the past decades while the state agencies such as Prasar Bharti have stated policies for increasing women’s presence following reports to promote gender equity. Private organizations do not have formalized guidelines yet they have a large number of women staff.

Doordarshan Staff Related to News

Source: Joseph, Ammu (2002), Working, Watching and Waiting: Women and Issues of Access, Employment and Decision Making in the Media in India presented at Expert Group meeting on “Participation and Access of Women to the Media, and the Impact of Media on and its use as an Instrument for the Advancement and Empowerment of Women” Beirut, Lebanon 12 to 15 November 2002

The Hindustan Times (Chandigarh Edition)

However, a look at the disaggregate data reveals that women as broadcasters and on desk jobs have a higher representation than as correspondents. While Hindustan Times has only five female reporters out of 35, The Indian Express Chandigarh Edition has six out of a total of 23. The place of women in genuine journalistic role in Indian language newspapers according to Robin Jeffery’s was found wanting. “Their numbers… were scant, the jobs few and prejudices against them formidable”. No doubt gender discrimination is rampant in the media, but given their increasing presence can women as a ‘critical mass’ transform media portrayal of gender?


“What worries me is that so many women are coming into television as directors and writers and there is still no change (in the stereotyping of women in popular television serials)”
– Shabana Azmi

The vividly higher presence of women as broadcasters, anchors and soap artists than as journalists leads to the valid query whether the femininity product is not only being aided in its creation but is also being used by the media itself. While a number of studies have debated the use of the media, particularly in certain channels, constructing an image of a women as appealing to a male audience, to the extent of defining images through patriarchal discourse of ‘nymphomia’ – as ever-available object in an endlessly repetitive male adolescent fantasy world, the use of body politics by the dominant media cannot be overlooked.

b) Representation of gender interests minimal

Physical imagery of the female form is used in subtle or in a more blatant manner as a product by the media itself. The acceptance of the ‘femininity product’ with the media can be further gauged through the minimal representation of gender interests. A media survey in 1994 of gender coverage in news found:

• gender representation to be biased – men were portrayed in diverse roles, women almost always in traditional feminine roles.• Women accounted for 7 per cent of the time in the hard news section and 14 per cent in all news programmes .

• 1999 analysis of two English newspapers found women occupying a marginal space. Coverage relegated to a weekly ‘gender page’. Female presence was more through advertisements, news of crime and social events. Cricket news occupied nearly 20 per cent more space than women’s issues.


II. Gender Portrayal Within Media

a) Product creation and proliferation of commodity

The portrayal of gender as a product and the accompanying body politic in the media is well-documented. However it is not only femininity but the dominant notions of masculinity that are portrayed through the media. The most common form is the coverage provided to the beauty pageants and mega models. Women’s representation has moved beyond female images of the family and home to personal care as dictated by the market agenda in a predominant patriarchy.

Usha Rai providing additional input to Indian perspective

The context of message, source, channel of communication and symbols used attribute meaning to the message. A symbolic form used for message encoding represented by improved physical appearance of young girls in the company of boys can be decoded to understand that beauty (that too enhanced) will provide a ‘catch’ for marriage. Both the assumptions entailed in message formulation and strategy adopted for message dissemination promote physical beauty as a commodity albeit in newer interactions (boyfriend) and forms (women controlled by their own destinies through the marriage market).In its malleability to dominant socio-political influences the media has successfully appropriated the discourse of gender rights and women’s empowerment. While beauty pageants are covered on prime space, the debate veers from cultural imperialism to women’s liberation and empowerment. Both proponents of the market and cultural gatekeepers relegate the issue of gender rights to either commodity production or cultural protectionism. To illustrate, the symbolic reservoir of 8th March Women’s Day that has been created by the women’s movement finds easy appropriation by TV channels, brands and series. Ponds’ advertisement of 8th March titled ‘The Millennium Miracle: A Curtain Raiser’ reads as:


“As we are poised for a flight into the year 2000, what does it portend to women? A closer look at the trend-setting explosions on the career, fashion, fitness and beauty minefields…. She’s what makes the world go round. Yesterday. Today. In the new millennium. And for eternity.”
A chemical industry (Chambal Fertilizers and Chemicals Ltd.) is advertising its gender sensitivity by championing women’s rights through self-help groups to augment household income through tailoring skills, pickle making and beauty courses. The illusion of supporting women’s empowerment is created and a clientele is built. By focusing on incidents or themes such as empowerment or female foeticide, gender is used as a fashion statement rather than to address gender interests.

b) Gender projections as integral to group identity within an assertive multicultural society

(i) Women representation as group symbols

In a multicultural society witnessing explosion of identities, the media without safeguards becomes vulnerable to the projection of women as symbols of a group identity. Women’s dress, appearance, conduct and family socialization responsibilities are visible cultural repositories and group markers. The differentiation is portrayed through stereotyped notions further typifying the communities – Christian women in skirts, Punjabi women in shalwaar kameez, Muslim women in Purdha etc. The cultural milieu that decodes these images is in accordance with the prevalent gender norms. For instance, in a social setting where wearing churidars signifies an ‘easy woman’, bare legs in a skirt carries a message of wantonness and availability and this message gets encoded for all Christian women and subsequent characterization of the community as ‘alien’.

(ii) Exclusiveness of identity abetted

The dominant media accepts the exclusivity of identity. The purdha is used to symbolically represent Muslims through the Burqa. Yet purdha is a cultural practice with Bishnois, Rajputs and most north Indian communities conferring to the public segregation of women. By endorsing purdha as a religious practice of a group, the message that permeates is that the group is anti-women rights. The group delineation and its projection occurs not only in the context of women but regarding men also. For instance, the male modeling shows, such as Manhunt, Mr. India are well covered but ‘Turbunator’ had got wide publicity in the media in Punjab as the hunt for a Sikh, turban clad hunk. Votaries of the Sikh identity find ready takers to the images of young, well built sardars in turbans, boosting the debate for Sikh culture as espoused through the visible adherence to its symbols, one of which is the turban.

(iii) Privileging one identity over the other

(a) Gender identity versus group identity

Primordial group identities are presented as sacrosanct and act as defining parameters for gender violations. The media present gender violations in a victimology framework without rooting them in socio-cultural contexts and broad parameters of gender rights. For instance, media reporting on the protests of women in Chandigarh over the wearing of helmets is largely kept to the domain of Sikh religious sentiments that do not allow wearing of any headgear by a Sikh woman. Though recent reports in separate news items are covering the dangers of not wearing a helmet (by reporting the death of woman scooterist) the media has been unable to convert the issue into that of a health safeguard for women. Sentiments of the Sikh community continue to take center stage. Again victimization of women in instances of sexual abuse tends to portray women of one community being abused by another group. A gender abuse is tagged along with the community encoding ‘indiscretions’ as that of the community. ‘Dalit Woman Gang Raped to Extract Revenge’ – in this instance both the victim and the perpetrators were Dalit, but the heading is inflammatory in the context of caste tensions. Moreover, gender crime becomes secondary to group interests. On the other hand gender discourse is reflected to the exclusion of its social setting and communities are portrayed as brutal and authoritarian. Killing of couples of the same community/village getting married is projected as a dehumanized act because self choice was exercised in marriage. The issue is wider – marriage within the same village/caste space violates the stringent code of order and roles whereby families in a village are treated as blood kins to form a support system. If women’s honor has to be protected by neighbors who are an extended family in times of crises, then an alternative social order has to be created. It is easier to discipline errant youngsters than to change the system.


(b) Gender differentiating reservoir

(i) Promotion of stereotypes, myths and symbols

The media draws from a ready reservoir of gender differentiating stereotypes, myths, legends and symbols. This becomes more dangerous when it is represented by a media that is considered egalitarian and secular since no filters are used while decoding their message. In the film ‘Roja’ popularly hailed as nationalistic, the female concern is shown limited to the well-being of the husband. The concerns of the state, nationalism and protection of the homeland are outside the purview of female consideration. Stereotyping may be blanket or more subtle. Women in sex roles as sati-savitri, vamps; men as breadwinner, decision-maker are more blatant. ‘Which man who really loves his wife can say no to Prestige Pressure Cooker?’, ‘beauty that promotes courage’ - Ponds Dream Flower talc ad. The subtle stereotyping is more insidious as it is relatively more invisible but nonetheless demeaning and patronizing. Mandira Bedi was made an icon through cricket coverage in noodle straps – Donna Symonds


the first female commentator only passed away in the blink of an eye. There is now a programme Extraa Innings that adds to the Mandira Bedi cricketing persona. Soaps like Lipstick, Kitty Party, Ghar Ghar ki Kahani are programmed to the typed female notions from their very titles. The market has ensured that values of motherhood are now paralleled by ideas of personal care.


(ii) ‘Masculinity’ as a value

The promotion of masculinity as a value functions as a mechanism to promote patriarchy. The norm of male power is projected through roles of policemen, authoritarian, successful businessmen, bureaucrats. Popular films are replete with the message ‘manly men control / protect their women’ – (Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gam – Sharukh Khan marries to safeguard Kajol when she loses her protector, her father). Honor, glory and martyrdom are linked to masculine identity and a ‘manly’ notion. Violent masculinities are reflected as a statured identity. A popular folk song by Kulwinder Dhillon celebrates violent manhood “district court are places of Jat melas” – meaning that the courts are full of Jat men since they are the ones who have murder cases on their headsx. And killings are socially sanctioned to protect ones land, women and water in the area.

The imagery of gender hierarchy is reflected not only through roles, visual depiction, but through language and sites also. For instance, generic terms that are masculine are not dismantled, with male as the norm continuing (mankind, chairperson, cameraman, lady doctor etc.). The sports arena are traditionally male domains – Shekhar Suman in his programme ‘Carry on Shekhar’ gave a vivid description of cricket through female eyes confined to the biceps and charm of Shoaib Akhtar.

Religious sites continue to be ‘manned’ by men. This raises the issue that should roles, norms, language and imagery be gender neutral rather than be gender marked? If wife beating is projected as spouse beating, will it continue to depict the same meaning in patriarchy? Does police highhandedness not have different connotations for a male and a female criminal? Media projection and policy guidelines then have to be grounded to reflect the gamut of gender reality.


The existing policy framework guiding media response to gender issues broadly deal with;

(a) working ambience relatively free from sexual harassment of women workers;

(b) guidelines relating to the coverage of incidents of sexual abuse like rape, dowry death, honor revenge;

(c) application of indecent representation of women (prohibition) act of 1986 dealing with advertisements, publications, paintings that depict the female form or body as indecent, derogatory or denigrating.


These policies are women centered, extreme violations from the defining parameter for gender justice remain victimology oriented and physical form related rather than gender centered, gender just normative depiction and gender sensitive portrayals.

In order for the media to reflect gender rights in a sustained and cogent manner, gender sensitive guidelines and mechanisms have to be evolved. The media must respond to historical and socio-cultural forms of gender differentiation taking into consideration Indian multiculturalism and its associated peculiarities, recognition of gender differences and women’s special interests, thereby addressing issues of humanity through universalisms and gender interests through particularisms. While adherence to principals of equality can be lauded, procedures and systems evolved to promote empowerment must be screened through assumption of gender rights. Gender diversity within the media is an effective strategy only when supported by gender sensitivity, competitive gender capacities and institutionalization of gender just norms.

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1. Indian Print Media includes 46000 newspapers and periodicals, among them 5000 dailies, nearly 17000 weeklies, 13000 monthlies, 6000 fortnightly and 3000 quarterly publications. These are published in 101 languages with 19000 in Hindi, 7000 in English and 3000 in Urdu and over 100 TV channels.Joseph, Ammu (2002), Working, Watching and Waiting: Women and Issues of Access, Employment and Decision Making in the Media in India presented at Expert Group meeting on "Participation and Access of Women to the Media, and the Impact of Media on and its Use as an Instrument for the Advancement and Empowerment of Women" Beirut, Lebanon 12 to 15 November 2002.An average of 943 feature films (including regional) are produced by the Indian industryCentral Board of Film Certification, 2002.

2 .Joshi, P.C. (1985) 'Women the Neglected Half', in An Indian Personality for Television: Report of the Working Group on Software for Doordarshan, Vol. 1, New Delhi: Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India.

3. Chandigarh editions of national dailies of Hindustan Times and Indian Express denied the existence of any gender policies or guidelines.

4. Jeffery, Robin (2000) India's Newspaper Revolution: Capitalism, Politics and The Indian Language Press Hurst: London.

5. Sut Jhally, Lipstick Imperialism and the New World Order: Women and Media at the Close of the Twentieth.

6. Centre for Advocacy and Research (2000) Representation of Issues in News and Current Affairs Programmes on Television Unpublished.

7. Menon-Sen, Kalyani; Kumar, A.K. Shiva (2001) Women in India: How Free? How Equal? New Delhi: United Nations.The Vice President of the Media Group Bennett and Coleman V.P. Bhaskar Das acknowledged the preponderance of an advertising agenda in cultivating readership.

8 ."The advertiser, thus, becomes the primary customer of the print media and he uses the print media as a vehicle to reach his customer who happens to be that medium's reader. So, I, the print media am not trying to get readers for my product, but I get customers, who happen to be my readers, for my advertisers."

9. Only one-third of women portrayed as lead character wee depicted as managing business enterprises, working as lawyers, journalists, fashion designers, advertising executives, secretaries and doctors.Working women were depicted as ambition, neurotic, high-strung, eccentric in appearance or mannerisms, unscrupulous in their dealings, incapable of coping in their relationships and saddled with problems children. So exaggerated was the depiction that some of the critical issues they raised, such as sexual harassment, parenting and marriage, were all distorted and trivialised.See for details Sivadas, Akhila (1996) Media as a Change Agent: Coping with Pressures and Challenges' in Sites of Change N. Rao, L. Ruirup and R. Sudarshan (eds.) New Delhi: Friedrich Ebert Stiftung and UNDP.