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 Has
the media played the role which is expected of it, when it comes to
women empowerment? No, asserted Kanimozhi, Member of Parliament at a
Seminar in Chennai.
Most of the advertisements are targeted towards children. In them,
women are portrayed in a way not acceptable to a child. This
scenario, which is very dangerous, should be changed, she opined.
For instance, the fairness cream advertisements portray women as
though they are noticed only for their fair complexion and not for
their education and intelligence!!Similarly, pressure cooker
advertisements depict as if even to buy a pressure cooker a woman
has to depend on a man”, she said.
The Member of Parliament also said that media is
at times hypocritical in attitude. For example,. when a girl is
molested, the media somehow tries to say where the victim went
wrong.”, she added.. Kanimozhi also stated that though major serial
production houses are run by women, they also portray women in a
stereotyped manner.She concluded that “unless society changes,
nothing can really change. But, media has to take conscious
decisions, when portraying women”.
This one day seminar on role of media in women
empowerment was organised by Draupadi Dream Trust, New Delhi, The
Hindu and the M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) Prof
M.S. Swaminathan, Chairman, MSSRF; E Mariappan, Director, News,
Doordarshan, Chennai and Neera Misra, Trustee-Chairperson, Draupadi
Dream Trust were also present at the inaugural function.
 Prof.
M. S. Swaminathan also felt that advertisements and sponsors portray
women in a negative manner. He also said that media should
concentrate on other fields like small scale dairy enterprise where
nearly 75 million women are involved. Similarly, he said, “Given the
right opportunity, women farmers could also take the country to
great heights of achievement”.
E. Mariappan said that women are facing various
challenges in society and there is discrimination against them every
where. They are also suffering from social menace including child
marriage, dowry and female infanticide. He said that media should
play an important role in eradicating these social evils. Instead,
media is portraying women as sensual objects and stereotyped serial
characters. . Such negative projections of women should be stopped
and said that both government and private media should provide
positive projection of women.
U Bakialakshmi
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