Gender Representation in Indian Media Session by Rakhee Bakshee Director, Women’s Feature Service

Introduction Although the images of women and types of messages transmitted through various mass media, such as print media (newspapers and magazines), electronic media (radio and television), and films, are not very different. It is worthwhile to examine the trends in the representation of women in mainstream Indian media in reinforcing existing gender ideology. Most of the senior journalists believe they have given their best efforts in an industry “that simply doesn’t quite know how to utilize their talents, or refuses to allow them to be as outspoken or proactive as their male colleagues”. Indian women edited women’s journals since 1850s and their role had been nothing but exemplary. These journals emerged from several cities and editorials reveal many unknown historical facts regarding the long journey towards freedom.

The Indian Media: History Women freedom fighters are not credited with coming out with any newspapers or magazines but were an important part of the struggle. Among the women who brought out their own newspapers was a British woman Annie Besant in India who published ‘New India’ and ‘Commonweal’ (Daily). Homai Vyarawalla, commonly known by her pseudonym "Dalda 13," was India's first woman photojournalist. Through her lens, she captured the history of this nation. 94 years-old Vidya Munshi, who passed away this year, was arguably India’s first woman journalist. She wrote for Blitz, Bombay before independence.

Women Journalists across India- Statistics A report in The Hindu reveals the findings of a nationwide survey reveals that the presence of women journalists in India at the district level is as low as 2.7 per cent The survey also states that the States and UTs namely Assam, Jharkhand, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Orissa and Manipur and Union Territories of Puducherry and Daman & Diu have zero female journalist presence. The study is based on data and information received from 255 districts of 28 states where in total there are accredited journalists; of this 14278, the number of female state accredited journalists is meagre at 329. Percentages of women reporters and correspondents working at the district level in States like Bihar is 9.56, while in Chhattisgarh it is Prosperous states also scored low like, Gujarat has 5.4 per cent (21)Maharashtra 5.69 per cent.

What Women in the Field Think In a report published by media watchdog, on a survey, women in the print media were asked about their experiences at work, the findings were nothing less than shocking. An astounding 20.5 per cent of respondents said that women were discriminated against for promotion. 45.5% felt it was because of their sex, some felt it was because of age and a large proportion refused to comment ñ 21.2 %. In fact 8.4% were forced to leave a media organisation due to promotion discrimination Sexual harassment emerged as a major concern of most respondents. But when asked whether they had to put up with sexist remarks / gestures or if they had been sexually harassed in any way at their workplace, 22.7% said they had, 8% said they weren’t sure and others either denied or refused to comment. An alarming 41.3% also said harassment such as this, had had no affect while it undermined the confidence of 31.5%.

Women in Print Media It is rarely seen that women employed by media houses break the glass ceiling and rise up to the top of their organizations. According to a survey conducted in 76 countries across the world, there has been a steady increase in the percentage of news items reported by women from 28% in 1995,reaching 37% in Female reporters have gained more ground in radio and television than in newspapers. The press lags far behind them, with only 29% of stories written by female reporters in Sucheta Dalal, a Padma Shri recipient, Manini Chatterjee, Delhi’s editor of Telegraph and veteran journalist Prabha Dutt, who fought her office to cover war are distinguished names among the women broke the glass ceiling, thereby paving a way for other young aspirant journalists.

Women on Television Initially women were seen as pretty faces that read news, but it was only later that they were given reporting assignments. According to a survey, across the world, as news presenters, women are more likely to be found in television than radio. With 57% of television items presented by women in 2005, this is the only area in which female outnumber males. In radio 49% of items were presented by women. Pratima Puri was India’s first television news reader for Doordarshan, when it went on air in Today, journalists like Shereen Bhan, managing editor of CNBC TV18, Barkha Dutt and Sonia Singh both at important positions at NDTV 24x7,and many others are working at one of the top posts.

Ethics in the Indian Media Bias towards gender should be avoided, thinking a woman can’t head an organization or can’t do assignment based on their gender should be avoid. In stories with a gender perspective, a reporter (regardless of their own gender) must take care of not victimizing one gender while projecting the other as a vile perpetrator. Neutrality should be visible throughout the story. Reporter’s prejudices about any gender, may it be women, men or LGBTQ, should not be reflected in their behaviour, their line of questioning or their analysis of a certain issue.

Road Ahead A celebratory channel: Khabar Lahariya: Bundeli for ‘News Waves’ - is a weekly rural newspaper written, edited, illustrated, produced and marketed by a group of women - most of them from marginalized Dalit, Kol and Muslim communities - in Chitrakoot and Banda districts of Uttar Pradesh in north India. Women specific news organizations including channels and feature agencies like the Women’s Feature Service in India, Women’s International News Gathering Service in Canada, various gender based portals that cater to gender specific pieces discussing issues pertinent to women’s rights and issues should be encouraged. Gender sensitive training should be introduced for all the media persons and also in syllabi of media training institutes to have conducive environment for both men and women.

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