I. Introduction

Soap operas predominantly have a female audience. Women are stereotyped in these serials, and are depicted without a voice or opinion to make their own decisions related to their education or employment. They are depicted as subservient, insecure and meek. Soap operas undoubtedly have immense potential to influence the audience by presenting an empowered modern woman. Despite having attained progress in various areas of society, gender equality is one grey area where our Eastern society still hasn’t witnessed much success or change. Soap operas, being a very popular genre of entertainment among the eastern audience, play a very influencing role in the society. The study aims to highlight the existing portrayal of women in soap operas. The research questions that the paper addresses are:

  • What role does education play in the lives of womencharacters portrayed on TV?

  • How oriented are they towards making their owndecisions about their choice of career?

The answers to these research questions will aid in analyzing the images that women are portrayed in and what measures must be taken that would lead to the empowerment of women in the eastern society.

Empowerment

The Oxford English Dictionary defines empowerment as the process of becoming stronger and more confident, especially in controlling one’s life and claiming one’s rights.

Empowerment truly intends to make somebody powerful, to encourage the powerless to increase strength, to make somebody equipped for facing persecution and unfairness and to battle against roughness and misuse The empowerment of women can only materialize if both men and women have the same rights and privileges and the same opportunities, not only in the external sphere of work and rights but also within their personal lives as well.. (Ahmed and Khalid, 2012)

Rappaport (1987:121) describes empowerment as “a psychological sense of personal control or influence and a concern with actual social influence, political power, and legal rights. It is a multilevel construct applicable to individual citizens as well as to organizations and neighborhoods.” Another definition describes empowerment as “an intentional, ongoing process centered in the local community, involving mutual respect, critical reflection, caring and group participation, through which people lacking an equal share of valued resources gain greater access to and control over those resources.”(Cornell Empowerment Group 1989:2).

Empowerment is a process which changes existing power relations by addressing itself to the three dimensions - material, human and intellectual resources. It is a process which must challenge and change ideology, the set of ideas, attitudes, beliefs and practices in which gender bias or social bias like caste, class, regionalism and communalism are embedded. The failure to address the ideology makes many empowerment programs ineffective in changing gender relations in the long term. (Ahmed and Khalid, 2012)

For some it could lead to a perception of control over their lives while for others it may mean actual control (Rappaport 1987; Young 1994); it could be an internalized attitude or an externally observable behavior; it could be an individual achievement (Zimmerman 1990; Zimmerman and Rappaport 1988), a community experience (Chavis and Wandersman 1990), or a professional intervention using strategies that are informed by local realities

Mass Media and Women’s Empowerment

Mass media are regarded as powerful intervening factors in the process of modernization and social development. The question that needs to be critically analyzed and examined is whether the contemporary media are still aware of their basic functions – inform, educate and entertain people. Media as the watch dog of society have the responsibility of keeping an eye on the social changes in the major social institutions and their sub-systems. Women’s empowerment should bring a situation where women can use their fullest potential and capacity to construct a better human society for all and media has a critical role to play in responding to these processes. Media commitment and support are seen as necessary for social reform and various movements towards achieving a better equality of life for women..

Media are very effective, powerful and influential in disseminating new knowledge, useful for behavior change among women, thus influencing women’s empowerment variables as well.Exposure to media, particularly television because of its visual aspect causes knowledge accumulation and behavior change among women reflecting the participation of women in decision – making, inter family communication and role-negotiation of women at home which can help in achieving better quality of life.(Ahmed and Khalid, 2012)

Margaret Gallagher (1978 and 1979) noted that overall media treatment of women can best be described as narrow…women are rarely portrayed as rational active or decisive…Underlying practically all media images is a dichotomous motif which defines women as either perfectly good wholly evil , mother or whore, virgin or call girl, even tradition or modern.Fernandez (1992) contends that the media generally subvert women’s positions and act to preserve the dominant values of society.

When defining and understanding female empowerment, power is the central word from which the definition and understanding have to depart. The power structure in which to intervene to empower women must be known to be able to create a sustainable change. Merely access and control over resources do not explain control over power relations. (Ahmed and Khalid, 2012)

Investing in women capabilities and empowering them to exercise their choices is not only valuable in it but is also the most reliable way to contribute to economic growth and overall development (UN, 1995).

Women and Soap Operas:

Soap operas are part of the everyday lives of their audience. They have successfully been able to present the everyday happenings and also form a part of the cultural exchange which goes on in both the home and the work place. Fiction is inter-woven with events in the “real” world- both those directly experienced by the viewers and those which have been reported in the media. The popularity of soap-opera rests on its undemanding nature and its preoccupation with everyday concerns (Livingstone, 1990; 56). This could perhaps be the reason responsible for its immense popularity as a genre of television programming.

Soap opera can contribute to the process of changes at two levels. The first level is that of generating a thinking role of women. The meanings derived from the knowledge of soaps challenge the dominant discourses about the role of women in the family, on the silencing of women’s voice, on the social expectations of women’s behavior and about the power of women’s relationship with other members of society. Aspects like the pleasure of close-knit family, clothing styles, elaborate wedding spectacles, continue to have a meaning in the life of women. These resistive readings are enveloped in subtle contradictions and are not obvious to a casual observer. The second level is that despite its public negative evaluation, women find time and space for these soaps in their lives. It provides for experiences, learning and pleasure for women in which feminine discourse can be spoken of and appreciated.

Feminine having characteristics associated with the cultural role of women and not men. Numerous quantitative content analysis have shown that women hardly appear in the mass media, be it depicted as wife mother, daughter, girlfriend; as working in traditionally female jobs (secretary, nurse, receptionist); or as sex object. Moreover they are usually young and beautiful, but not very well educated feminists have been in the forefront of exposing male abuse of women and politicizing issues formerly considered as private sexual violence wife battering………..sex terrorism and tray ticking in women. Skonrina, (1977) reported.

We see so many severe acts of violence through the media that minor acts, such as pushing or grabbing, may not be consciously noticed at all. We have become desensitized to the most mild and frequently used acts of physical aggression.

“In the intervening years feminist work has documented and analyzed the multifarious forms of violent attacks against women just because they are women.” Hanmer ,C. J., and. Maynard, M.(1987), Roxana Carillo (1992), Margaret Schuler (1992), Jessie Tellis Nayak (1989).In our male dominated social set up the Radicalism is more pertinent and relevant, because at present the equal status is more preached than practiced. It is giving the equal status to both sexes, which is not depicted in our dramas, and this is not acceptable to our social norms. In the male dominated society female are treated as much inferior and are considered to be always submissive and obedient. (Pervez and Roshan, 2010).

II. Methodology

A. Method:

The study analyzes the career orientation of the female characters portrayed by Hum TV in their soap operas.

B. Design:

The study chooses content analysis as a research design to discover the patterns of self decision making choices with reference to their education and careers presented by Hum TV in the portrayal of its female characters.

C. Content Analysis:

The method of content analysis will be usedto discover the arrangement of career choices, educational qualification and their control over their lives.

Content Analysis is depicted as the experimental investigation of substance of communication. It is the investigation of the substance with reference to the implications, settings and expectations contained in messages.

Further, content examination falls in the interface of perception and record examination.Accordingly, it is additionally considered as a subtle or non-reactive strategy for social research.

Along these lines, content investigation is about making substantial, replicable and target deductions about the message on the premise of unequivocal guidelines. The material for the substance examination can be letters, journals, daily paper content, music, short stories, and messages of Radio, Television, records, writings or any images.

D. Population:

A research population is also known as a well-defined collection of individuals or objects known to have similar characteristics. All individuals or objects within a certain population usually have a common, binding characteristic or trait. In this case, the population consists of women within the working age, that is, between age group 15-50.

In this study, soaps broadcast by Hum TV are taken as the population of the study with the sample consisting of soap operas being shown from January to September 2014 during Prime Time -7:00pm to 10:00 pm.

The names of the soap operas are:

  1. a.

    Mohabbat Subh ka Sitara Hai

  2. b.

    Main Dewani

  3. c.

    Kissay Apna Kahein

  4. d.

    Shab E Zindagi

  5. e.

    Kahani Raima Aur Manahil Ki

  6. f.

    Izterab

  7. g.

    Laa

  8. h.

    Janam Jali

E. Unit of Analysis:

All female characters within the working age range featured in the above mentioned soap operas will be considered as the unit of analysis.

F. Content Category:

  • Educational Qualification of Characters

  • Career Choice

  • Trend in Submissive or Assertive Nature of Characters

  • Insecurity in Marital Life

G. Brief Description of the Serials used for case study:

a. Mohabbat Subh Ka Sitara

Mohabat Subh Ka Sitara Hai is a drama series containing elements of family drama, tragedy and romance. The story is primarily told in a serialized manner, featuring each episode of Romaisa’s fate in love, respect and life.

b. Main Dewani

The story revolves around a girl named Hadia suffering from a mental disorder called anotomina. She has an antagonistic behavior towards life and ends up doing things which are never expected from her.

c. Kissay Apna Kahein

Kisay Apna Kahen highlights the tribulations of a middle-class family. “Kisay Apna Kahen” focuses on human psychology, greed, love and problems existing in our society.

d. Shab e Zindagi

Shab e Zindagi deals with the impact greed can have on relations and the troubles faced by widowed women in our society.

e. Kahani Raima aur Manahil ki

It revolves around the lives of two couples. The series is a comedy tale focusing on how the two sort out their lives, and try their best to get what they want.

f. Izterab

The story tells the tale of Zara, a liberal woman married to a conservative man, Jahnzaib. It showcases the struggles faced by working women in our society and the ease with which a second marriage can take place in our Asian society.

g. Laa

The story portrays the feudal system that still prevails in countries like Pakistan and the how the system is against the teachings of Islam.

h. Janam Jali

The story shows the gender biasing that still persists in our society and how it hasn’t changed despite progressing in so many fields,

III. Observation Table
Full size table

IV. Inference

A. Less focus on the educational qualification or career choices of women:

From the above observations, it can be inferred that almost 70% of the portrayed female characters don’t have a specified educational qualification. Women in these shows are seldom depicted as highly qualified or as holders of executive positions in an organization. Also, the most preferred qualification expressed in these shows is a degree in Arts. No inclination is shown towards other branches such as science or commerce. Majority of the female characters are portrayed as docile or submissive, who neither have a say in their own lives or the lives of their children.

B. Preference of Male Child:

In most Pakistani dramas, the preference for a male childis dominant.

Women without a male child are often shown to be considered weak in the society, and bear the constant pressure to give a heir to the family. If they are unable to give a heir, the danger of the husband remarrying for the sake of a son often looms

C. The Other Woman:

Another major common point between Pakistanidramas is that, the woman always has to be wary of other women. When a man is settled, there is always a high probability of him getting lured towards another woman and a remarriage.

The third wheel has been shown to insolently break houses and men never seem to think of their family before taking a harsh step of re-marrying another woman.

The insecurity of another woman entering her man’s life always looms over her head and she always has to be her best in order to please her husband and prevent him from leaving.

D. Women are shown to have little or no say indecision making:

Pakistani TV promotes the notion that women are only meant to look after the house and bear no responsibility in running the family. A girl from a very tender age is thought to do the house chores, giving moderate importance to education. She is expected to be submissive and follow the whims and fancies of her husband and in-laws.

E Daughters are treated as a burden:

Majority of the serials portray daughter as a burden, a neighbor’s cow that has to be fed and helplessness of the parent’s is high-lighted.

Marrying the daughter off only seems to be the main aim of the family and the type of man she ends up with is barely a matter to question.

V.Conclusion

The dominating patriarchal set up rarely allows the other gender to progress and to stand up for their own cause. Such a trend therefore, leads to a society that accord derogatory position to women in practice.

Pakistan can be taken as a classical example.

According to the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2012, Pakistan ranked 134th out of 135 countries5 (World Economic Forum, 2012: 9), among the worst places for women in the world. The recent report of United Nationsl Development Program (UNDP), ranked Pakistan at 123 out of 148 countries in the 2012 Gender Inequality Index (GII) (UNDP, 2013). In addition, low female literacy rate is one of the main causes of women’s all round deprivation and violence as experienced by them. It also causes low participation in the political, economic and social activities. They cannot achieve their rights and compete for available opportunities in the job market. This situation has led to the social and economic dependence of women which in turn ensures male domination in society (Kazmi, 2005: 94).

Over the years, there has been a lot of biasing between the male and the female genders onscreen. The roles assigned to both the genders have largely been stereotypical. Males are usually portrayed as strong, aggressive, dominating and efficient whereas females, in majority of the shows are showcased as weak, emotional and subservient, whose only duty is to obey to the whims and commands of the males in her family.Majority of the female characters are shown to possesses little or no educational and are always submissive to the males in the family. This ruins the potential of soap operas a developmental tool in the society.

As observed in the research methodology, a large number of soap operas portray women in a darker light even though the main gender they cater to is women. It can be seen that ‘good’ women are portrayed as sensitive, docile and uneducated, who only have the aim of looking after their family and bear no ability or rights to take any decision by or for themselves. The ‘bad’ woman is portrayed as outgoing, rebellious, independent and selfish. She doesn’t give all her time and attention to her family and doesn’t adhere to the orders of the males in the family.

Although soap operas have enormous potential to present ideologies and notions that impact the society in a positive way and cause its reformation, it is very seldom that this potential is harnessed.

Soap operas can be used as a powerful medium to promote education of women and intolerance to the dominating patriarchy in the society. However, as presented in the research, majority of the soap operas fail to project the character of a strong, independent and educated woman.

Soap operas must focus on being the medium that promotes the development and upliftment of women in the society. Instead of portraying characters that submit themselves to male dominance, characters that live up for themselves and stand for their rights must be promoted. This will enable the mindsets of various sections in society to change and act as a huge factor in removing gender biasing.