Book Name: The Beauty Paradigm: Gender Discourse in Indian Advertising
Author: Jaishri Jethwaney
Publisher: SAGE, Rs 550
Stereotyping & objectification of women in the media narrative is a universal truth, that need to be addressed, questioned & reversed, writes Jaishri Jethwaney in her new book. An edited excerpt:
The 1970s saw the rise of trade unionism and advocacy movements for civil liberties, especially after the clamping of emergency by Mrs. Indira Gandhi in 1975. Further, in 1974 a document was prepared on the Status of Women by the official Status of Women Commission, titled ‘Towards Equality.’ It focused attention on the fact that, despite many progressive social legislations and constitutional guarantees, women’s status in India had indeed not improved much, especially in many areas like political, economic and social spheres. This document has been the basis for many legislations and development programs focusing on gender as well as creation of women’s organizations and working groups — as discussed later. The United Nations declared 1975 as the International Year for women and 8 March as the International Day for Women.
The last 70+ years of independence has seen many organizations springing up that have espoused the cause of women, both in the cities and at grassroots level. Domestic violence, alcoholism, female feticide, sexual harassment of women at work place, skewed and unjust family laws, reproductive rights, legislative reforms are some of the issues spearheaded by civil society organizations and NGOs. On the academic front, many universities in the 1970s set up Women Studies’ centres.
A pioneer in Women’s studies, Dr. Vina Mazumdar was the first one in the independent India to combine activism with scholarly research in women’s studies.
Vina Mazumdar [1994] argues that women became a point of engagement in politics as well as research and academia during the colonial rule with an objective to justify both social reform or to give a backbone for India’s cultural pride. She writes that this however, became redundant in post-independent India, as the need for justification was no longer necessary. This may have in some way led to the side-lining of women’s issue and with that the increase in gender disparity between men and women. This gap was highlighted in the investigation by the Committee on the Status of Women in India and the subsequent report ‘Towards Equality’ 1975. With this, a new agenda was set to change the status of women and for that research on women’s issue was one area, which received the impetus. A new program for Women’s Studies, initiated by the ICSSR began which, over the years has seen a lot of seminal work in this arena. This went along with several other processes of bringing about change and empowerment as the larger women’s movement also went along. Critics however, feel that in the beginning, there was a lot of academia — civil society interface, which over the years, has eroded.
Many UN organizations like the UNICEF, UNFPO and UNESCO have also entered the policy dialogue with the government based on milestones articulated in the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SGDs) of which India is a signatory.
Equal Rights and Opportunities Guaranteed by Constitution of India
The Constitution of India provides equal status and opportunities to women along with men. The Indian women received equal political rights for which their western counterparts had to fight a long battle.
Women-Centric Laws
Since the country’s independence in 1947, many laws have been passed to address the issues of equal opportunities for women at work place and home to address issues of sexual harassment at work place, domestic violence, dowry, and female infanticide, and feticide, property rights among others. Discrimination, however, is so well entrenched in the patriarchal mind-set of the society coupled with ignorance and centuries of subjugation that both the urban and the rural women endure (particularly the latter as they suffer in larger measure in every possible way) when it comes to equality. Women, especially in the rural arena are raped and wronged to settle caste rivalries. Young women choosing to wed out of caste and religion often become victims of honour killing. Who they can marry, what they would wear, how they would behave are sometime issues discussed in the illegal Khap panchayats, while the state administration is often seen as a mute spectator.
The passing of the two acts viz. Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prohibition), 2013, and the Indecent Portrayal of Women in Media (Prohibition), 1986, together with many other acts including against those against domestic violence, dowry, and sex determination as well as the setting up of the National Commission for Women (NCW) at the centre and other state level commissions are pointers to the efforts by myriad women rights organizations in influencing policy and also various governments in addressing women issues.
Having said that, there is no gain saying that there are laws in place but it is the implementation, which is more often lax. Social transformation accompanied with implementation of laws shall be the key to address women related issues in India. The feminist literature and movements bear testimony to the fact that feminism is very much home grown and organic in India and not a copy of the West as generally alleged. The feminist movement is not against men but about fighting the power structures that are so well embedded in the familial, social, political and economic spheres.
Excerpted with permission from The Beauty Paradigm: Gender Discourse in Indian Advertising by Jaishri Jethwaney; Published by SAGE Publications India
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January 30, 2022 at 01:32AM
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