Reinforcing Patriarchy: Examining Indian Mind-set towards Women and the Role of Television Advertisements

Chetna Bhatia

Educreation Publishing

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The life of a common Indian woman is full of struggles, dilemmas, pressures and conflicts.  Family's pressure to plan kids, explanations for opting night shift jobs, scolding about going alone to eating places and movies, reservation of seats in public transport,  reaching out to diet and cosmetic industries to attain size zero and ultra-fair faces to get her boyfriend’s attention back.Where does 21st century  Indian society stand on such issues? Also, what role does mass media, especially advertising plays in influencing public mindset about women ? This work acknowledged the need of examining it with reference to a wider context of the hard core issues faced by women in their bedrooms, kitchens, offices, streets and living rooms. Therefore, a sincere effort was put in reaching out to the people and mapping their minds through a set of questions (hidden form) about the control over a woman's body, the concept of her beauty, aspects of her occupation and mobility, her role in decision-making and in division of labor in the households. The book goes one step ahead of the typical impact studies or analysis of stereotypes in advertisements. For those interested in women studies, the book contains facts about women's movement in India till 2016 and a complete list of issues affecting a woman from her bedroom to her workplace.Those interested in advertising and cultural studies can find a full-length discussion on basic aspects of advertising as a format and as an institution .For the scholars of media studies or sociology, the work contains self-constructed Likert scales and codes. Further, the research has attempted to directly compare the advertisements and society on common parameters. The study draws its basic concepts and critical perspective from the works of Richard W Polay, John Fiske, John Hartley, Daniel Schandler, Lewis Hedwig, Kamla Bhasin, Nivedita Menon, Naomi Wolf, Radha Kumar, Foucault, Erving Goffman and Laura Mulvey. The issue has been examined thoroughly in the light of contemporary events and factors which make it more relevant to the present stage of globalized Indian society.

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Dr. Chetna Bhatia is an avid reader, writer and researcher.An academician by profession, she has more than 6 years of experience in teaching Mass Communication and Journalism. Dr. Bhatia has previously authored book titled 'Print Aur Electraunik Media' (2008) and co-authored book titled 'Paid News: (De) Monetizing Democracy' (2017).She also contributed a chapter on Campus Community Radio in an edited book on Radio Journalism in India. A graduate from Indian Institute of Mass Communication (2008-08), New Delhi, she has been told medallist throughout her studies. She did her PhD in Advertising and Feminism from Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra. Her self-developed PhD scales have been published by OMICS group of USA. Dr. Bhatia has conducted research studies on various issues if women including framing of Nirbhaya Rape Case by top Indian newspapers and a perception & awareness study about rapes and molestation of women in india. She had also contributed to BBC Radio's Gender Empowerment Project titled as 'Gulmohar Tales'.  She has been actively writing in newspapers and participating in various talks on different issues. Dr. Chetna  has a brief experience of working with mainstream media including ABP News and India News. She has attended a dozen national and  international conferences including the prestigious IAMCR 2016 at UK and ICMC 2017 at MICA.  At present, she is working as Assistant Professor with Vivekananda Institute of Professional Studies  (GGS UP University) New Delhi. Her forte is Communication Theory and Media Research.