Roots of discrimination against women in media

Women often have been portrayed in media as “a considerate wife and a devoted mother”. It means that only reproductive role of women in the life is emphasized on media and their productive roles in the socio-economic, cultural and political parts are being neglected. “Women have been viewed as the weak whose voice and discourse power has been neglected in all the fields of mass media”.

 This discriminative image of women in media is rooted in the real life that women encounter to inequality in many aspects of life. In politics, they have little access to political positions in parliaments and they are not given permission to be involved in decision making process within the families and communities. In economics, not all women have ownership rights and their access to resources is narrowed by patriarchal structures in communities. On the other hand, they do not have appropriate circumstances in workplaces and have many challenges with their employers. In social life, women are not able to confront with male dominant customs and traditions. They have to obey their fathers and brothers before marriage and their husbands after marriage. In many countries man is bread winner and superior to woman even though women play a main role in family economics. Unfortunately, a large number of women in the world are suffering from various types of discrimination and mass media not only are neglecting women productive roles but also enforce male dominant structures.