Ideologies of Gender on Television in India

Content analyses of Indian television programmes on the national network Doordarshan in the 1980s have shown that prime-time shows cast women as docile homemakers and as objects of male desire. This paper uses a critical postcolonial theoretical framework and narrative analysis method to detect ideologies of gender from programmes randomly selected from a month's menu of the transnational, national and regional television networks in the country. A broad conclusion is that Indian television in the late 1990s perpetuates, across channels, the 1980s' stereotypical images of women, images that have their roots in Vedic, colonial, and nationalist literature. The status quo is explained through a critical discussion of the framing of 'woman' in colonial and postcolonial nation-building efforts. The paper also points to the emerging genre of hybrid programming, where the greater incidence of female veejays and talk show hosts paves the way for the expression of female leadership and desire, and leads to more positive television portrayals of women in the 21st century.