“Because You’re Worth It”: The New Woman in Post-Liberalization Women’s Magazines in India

Abstract

This article examines instances from English-language women’s magazines published in India with the post-liberalization decades (that is, since the 1990s) as a background historical framework. In analysing three well-known magazines in this segment—namely, Femina, Marie Claire and Good Housekeeping—the article will examine their location in larger economic processes. At the same time, this article also engages with the image of the globalizing Indian woman that is put forth in different ways by these magazines, in order to speak to shifting categories of projected, target, and actual readers. Two key questions inform this article, namely, should feminists seek to examine public visual culture in newly liberalized economies, what perspectives can be used and, moreover, how can we engage with publishing practices for women seeking to increasingly fall within a globally uniform system of visual recall.