- International Women’s Day on March 8
- From objectification to sensationalism: How the media ‘shapes’ women’s lives
- Unveiling the truth: How women are portrayed in the media
The media often ‘tells’ the world what to think about women but sometimes the image it creates can be misleading.
When reporting about women we often see how beauty is emphasised over talent, emotions take precedence over intellect and how an unattainable standard of perfection is set. These portrayals influence society’s perception and shape how women view themselves. The gap between the media and reality remains wide, however change is possible.
Deputy Director of Verité Research and Head of
Media Research Division, Deepanjalie
Abeywardana
To mark International Women’s Day, the Sunday Observer spoke to an expert in media research, Deputy Director of Verité Research and Head of Media Research Division, Deepanjalie Abeywardana to explore how women are portrayed in the media. Abeywardana challenges outdated stereotypes and calls for fair and unbiased reporting without unnecessary focus on gender especially in negative news reporting.
Excerpts of the interview:
Q: Based on your research experience, could you tell us how women are portrayed in the Sri Lankan media?
A: There are at least three key ways through which we can discuss this. 1)Sexual objectification targeting women, 2) Sensationalism of such news and 3) Simplifying quite grave crimes perpetrated against women.
First, there’s sexual objectification, where women are constantly featured as sex objects, not just in news articles, but also in cartoons. They are treated as sex objects and usually, it’s their physical appearance that is referred to even when reporting on sex crimes or violence against women.
On Ethics Eye, an online platform run by Verité Media, a division of Verite Research where there are plenty of examples that support the situation that I’m referring to.
The second way is where the media portrays women by sensationalising them. If you look at the way most of the news is being reported, there’s so much sensationalism, especially when it involves underaged girls, violence against women and sex crimes targeting women.
Most of the time the news items specifically involving women or girls who are the victims or the survivors, are sensationalised. Or rather it’s mainly through sensationalism that we see most of these survivors or victims. This sensationalist reporting has also been a problematic aspect that Ethics Eye has been flagging for a while now.
The third aspect that is problematic in news reporting is the simplification of quite grave crimes that are committed against women.
There is one specific news report that can be used as an example. There was a woman who was said to have been sexually abused by a guitarist and this girl was in his music band. The headline given to the news item was ‘guitar eka tune karala’ (‘having tuned the guitar’), where the sexual abuse was compared to tuning a guitar.
Most of the time, the way such crimes are reported does not address the severity of the offence or explain why this type of crime and violence should not be trivialised, nor does it discuss how it should be addressed as a societal issue. Instead, it is often treated as an entertaining news piece, where oversimplification or trivialisation dilutes the seriousness of the crime or incident.
In addition to these three points, we also observe that women are sometimes singled out negatively, even when the incident falls within a broader context of negativity. For instance, if eight people were arrested for betting, the report might state, ‘Seven were arrested, one woman among them.’ A recent example of this was a news report we flagged on February 26 from a TV channel, which stated, ‘Among those arrested, there is one woman.’ It is often the woman who is negatively highlighted, even when many men are involved in the same crime or incident.
This raises the question as to why women are disproportionately singled out. Another classic example is when a woman, under the influence of alcohol, is involved in a car crash, and her gender is emphasised in the headline. What is the relevance of highlighting the gender of a person in such a negative context?
Q: How has this representation evolved over time?
A: I would rather say that women have been subject to such problematic media reporting over the years. But with the intervention of Ethics Eye as well as other interventions this pattern has now reduced.
The severity of problematic media reporting we saw a few years ago may actually have been more serious than what we see now. But that doesn’t mean the problem has gone away. We see this still happening.
Q: What role does the media (print / digital) play in advancing or hindering women’s employment and other opportunities in Sri Lanka?
A: It is essential to challenge the prejudices, negative stereotypes, and negative portrayal of women. When the media, which is expected to challenge and question, ends up perpetuating these attitudes instead, it enables negative prejudices towards women. This, in turn, prevents women from effectively participating in the labour market and engaging in other activities.
What we observe in Sri Lanka is that the media often confines women to traditional, gendered roles. For instance, Sinhala media frequently suggests that a woman’s place is in the kitchen.
This is evident when questions posed to artistes differ significantly based on gender. Male artistes are typically asked about their professional careers, while female artistes are often asked whether their partners permit them to pursue acting. These gendered and negative questions do nothing to empower women or support their progress.
Women deserve support from society and the media, to engage effectively and productively in the labour market.
Unfortunately, negative stereotypes persist, suggesting that a woman’s place is in the kitchen or that once married, she should not work and must focus solely on raising children. When this is the attitude that is nurtured or reinforced in the media that’s not going to help anybody in society and not women at any cost.
Such attitudes should be challenged and done away with to pave the way for women to engage in a positive role in society.
Q: What steps can be taken to promote a more accurate and balanced representation of women in the Sri Lankan media?
A: One key step is to ensure that everybody follows ethical journalism, ethical guidelines, and standards of reporting which are globally accepted. Through adhering to those ethics, journalists, and content creators – print and digital – can actually promote responsible journalism.
