MEDIA AND WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT
By Nancy
From time immemorial, women have been subdued in one form or the
other by the society dominated by men. Women find themselves at the center of the paradoxes between tradition and modernity,
identity and equality in industrialized countries.
A communication revolution is already sweeping the planet. India
has one of the largest functioning communication networks in the world, the means to reach nearly 60,000 villages and over
800 million people. The most effective means of communication in India, especially in the villages continue to be the traditional
forms-puppets, street theatres, local dance forms. But their development has remained at a relatively subdued level. Communication
facilities made rapid strides in the modern sector with the growing education. These include increase in newspapers and periodicals,
television broadcasting, videos, radio broadcasting, feature films and book publishing.
Of late, we have understood that media is the voice of the public.
Media plays a very important role in generating awareness among the general public and in creating pressure on pertinent issues
for the development of a nation. Media can also play a very effective role in the overall development of women through advocacy
for women’s right and for women empowerment.
In the context of violence against women increasing day by day in
the society and discrimination remaining the same, the media can play a major role in bringing the problems to the attention
of the public and raising voices in favor of women empowerment. And, it is necessary for media to be highly sensitive in order
to be effective.
The crucial role of media for transmitting the development information
was well perceived in Seventh Five Year Plan (1985-99) when a separate Chapter on "Communication, Information and Broadcasting"
was included in the planned document. In this Chapter, the mass media has been highlighted as, "A vehicle of education and
extension to narrow the information gap between different target groups like youth, women, children and weaker sections."
Women empowerment is considered as an ongoing dynamic process of individual and collective struggle against the forces
that appear and subordinate the women, which emphasis the process of re distribution of all available resources in the society-
social, economical, political, intellectual, cultural such that women are enabled to equally access and control over these
issues.
# Nancy is Research Scholar in the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication.
