The Hindu Business Line : `Tear-jerker serials in Malayalam unfair to fair sex'

A RESEARCH paper published by the Centre for Development Studies (CDS) here has condemned the proclivity among `lowly educated and gender-insensitive' production assistants of television serials to demean the status of women.

The Malayalam small screen woman has a ubiquitous presence, but her own voice is not heard much, says Ms Usha V.T., who authored the discussion paper, titled, `Gender, Value and Signification: Women and television in Kerala'. Ms Usha is Reader and Coordinator, Centre for Women's Studies, Pondicherry University.

The only concern of the production assistants seems to be to churn out sob-stuff that will be of appeal to a large set of emotional viewers, and collect huge amounts from advertisements. Actors and presenters, even if competent, have little voice in the making or packaging of the programmes.

Though formally educated, the Malayalam small screen woman is depicted as a docile and meek person. On the screen, as well as beyond, she gets little opportunity even to form her views, leave alone air them. Her role on the screen, and off it, is passive and undefined. In a sense, she turns out to be just a societal requirement, the stereotyped version of her real self, in her haste to conform to its demands.

The Malayalam television channels, like other channels within the country and abroad, are full of stereotypes of the conventional woman. Despite Kerala's matrilineal heritage and claims to high educational standards for both men and women, there exists very little evidence of genuine concern for their social positioning. Keeping women's institutions away from public gaze in the name of social propriety and treating educated women as chattels are more recent developments.

Her occupational status - as a person who works outside home for remuneration - does not make for a beneficial change. The wife of a Gulf immigrant may be managing her household finances on her own, but receives little recognition or acknowledgement for her services.

In conclusion, Ms Usha says that television audiences in Kerala and the production staff of television programmes, both off and on the screen, seem to be innocent of differences between sex and gender. The Kerala society does not consider gender as an issue of significance. Television programmes only serve to reinforce this attitude, and stereotypes continue to rule the roost, she adds.

More Stories on : Radio/TV | Gender | Kerala

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