Gender Representation In Pakistani Print Media: A Critical Analysis

Abstract

The key objective of this study was to examine the representations of men and women in print media in Pakistan. Gender role stereotyping and sexism in print media is not a low-profile gender issue as printed communication and contents still hold an important place in contemporary digital world. Keeping in view the importance of newspapers as the leading source of credible content/messages, this paper examined gender stereotyping and sexism in print media in Pakistan and attempted to highlight whether print media reproduces or challenges gender stereotypes and sexism? Keeping in view the complexity of sexism in print media, content and discourse analyses were performed on four widely read national news papers. The findings have been placed within the socio-cultural context of Pakistani society and feminists theories. The study’s findings indicated that print media in Pakistan reinforces gender stereotypes and provide little challenge to gender stereotyped imagery of males and females.

Could humour make advertisements worse?

“…In accordance with previous research based on experiments, this study also used printed advertisements, thus allowing avoidance of extraneous variables such as level of involvement and necessary time for concentration on the advertisement (Royo-Vela et al 2007;Ulah et al 2016;Mayer et al 2019). The convenience-based pilot study led to a selection of 4 existing advertisements of well-known brands with sexist appeals meeting the requirements of the classification provided in Table 1.…”

“…In response to this, the amount of scientific research related to gender and advertising has increased a lot recently (Theodoridis et al 2013;Eisend et al 2014;Grau & Zotos 2016;Zawisza et al 2018;Mayer et al 2019). Moreover, relevant studies indicate that advertising clearly contributes to gender inequality by promoting "sexism" and distorted body image ideals as valid and acceptable (Plakoyiannaki & Zotos 2009;Easpaig & Humphrey 2016;Ramos et al 2018;Ulah et al 2016;Grau & Zotos 2016;Wyllie et al 2014). However, most of the studies have focused on various aspects of female stereotypes in advertisements by analysing women's and men's attitudes towards them, and their intentions to purchase the advertised products, etc.…”

Compliance and resistance: An investigation into the construction of gender identities by Pakistani women on Facebook

“…Earlier studies on gender in Pakistan have primarily examined gender roles and stereotypes in contexts such as education and the representation of gender in the print and electronic media (Ullah, Khan, Khan, & Ibrahim, 2016). Most of these have concluded that gender typecasting persists in this culture, as depictions of men and women in print and electronic media continue to be heavily imbued by patriarchal ideology (see for example Raza & Liaqat, 2016).…”

Hegemonic masculinity: representation of women surgeons in leadership positions in Pakistan

“…In Pakistan, the prevailing ideological perceptions are that men are for public tasks and women are for private tasks. Due to the stereotypical gender roles and gendered social order, women are perceived as weak and men as strong based on biological differences (Lindsey, 2015; O’Connor, 2014; Ullah et al , 2016). Several professions are believed to be unfit for women such as the air forces, engineering and police.…”