Women in Media: Issues, Trends and a Way Forward

Abstract

Mass media has grown exponentially due to the introduction of the novel communication technologies. Then new age media helps in shaping the human perception of social reality by presenting only few aspects of existing reality. However, majority of the times, it keeps on replicating the messages and the images. Thoughthe content and the form of mass media have undergone dramatic transformation over the years, the mass media have played a decisive role in reinforcing gender stereotypes. It has not onlyreinforced culture based on patriarchy by constructing new meanings and images but has also set the agenda for public opinion through discriminatory themes and viewpoints. This paper is an attempt to provide a picture of women’s representation in the mass media on basis of available secondary literatureon mass media and women. The paper highlights that the issues and concerns surrounding women are given less prominence.  However, old gender-based stereotypes have continued in novel forms. There has been increasing commoditization of women in the mass media due to growing commercialization of the mass media. On the other hand, progressive discourse on women’s issues is often co-opted and re-constructed in the mainstream media in to establishing the dominant social classes hegemony. Therefore, the task of changing media images of women has become very problematic in the context of market economy