By IANS
Chennai : “Media is still confused about the new woman. It continues to look at women achievers in a confused manner, not knowing where to place them,” said Member of Parliament M. K. Kanimozhi here Monday.
She was addressing a discussion on “the role and responsibility of the media in women’s empowerment” at the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation here. The Draupadi Trust, working for the rehabilitation, empowerment, awareness and health of women, spearheaded the discussion.
In her keynote address, Kanimozhi, daughter of the Tamil Nadu chief minister M. Karunanidhi, said the media was just a reflection of the society, driven by market forces and a lot of other forces too. “It comes from among us, it is not something that comes from anywhere outside,” she said.
Media has created a great deal of awareness, noted agriculture scientist M.S. Swaminathan, who chaired the discussion, pointed out, telling stories of women and children affected by farmers’ suicides and in incidents like the Bilkis Bano rape and murder during the anti-minority campaign in Gujarat in 2002.
But this is not enough, he said.
Women carry out as much as 75 per cent of farm and agricultural activity in India. “Yet women do not have ownership of land documents nor can they get bank loans for farming,” he added, but these are not headlines for the media.
India produces 100 million tonnes of milk every year and it is women, who take care of the milch cattle. However, the media does not look at rural India and women working in these sectors. “Not a single Padma Award has been given to achievers in rural India”, he pointed out.
Calling for a gender code for media and advertising, Swaminathan said, “Media could help change the mindset, not in a day or in weeks, but by keeping up a sustained gender awareness and gender sensitive campaign” within itself.
In small towns across India, “women are still treated as objects”, said Neera Misra, chairperson of the Draupadi Trust.
“It is easy to say media has not played its role” in getting equity for women, Kanimozhi said, pointing out that the media, like society, saw women in just three ways: as pin-up girls, i.e. as page 3 people, as those lighting lamps in official functions and charities or victims of accidents or some misfortune, and as the new woman.
Portrayal of women in advertisements has a great impact on children, who are also the targets of advertisements these days. “They take away from the next generation the will to change,” Kanimozhi said, “when ads portray women in a manner not acceptable to the child.”
Whether it is an advertisement for a fairness cream or for a pressure cooker, “a woman is not recognised for her intelligence” and “it is shown as if the man has to decide and buy the pressure cooker, which is depicted as something used by women, not by men”, the vocal DMK leader pointed out.
Whether it is skimpy clothing or rape and violence victims, the media portrays them in its story in a manner “as if somewhere, the woman is to be faulted”.
“It is a great hypocrisy,” for the media and the society to take a high moral ground on such issues, she said, adding that “though most television serials are produced and directed by women today, in every serial you will see a woman being slapped in every second scene.”
“Media has to make a conscious decision on how women should be portrayed so that the next generation is able change the way it looks at women,” she said.