WUNRN
Women's Feature Service
India - New Delhi
By Hana Shams Ahmed
It was a commercial for a brand of
henna that gave her the big break. In the ad, with a face full of pinkish
makeup, she flaunts her translucent pearl-coloured hands exquisitely decorated
with dark henna. Her on-screen friends gaze at her hands longingly, wishing
they too could look like her.
Of course, this feeling is shared by
thousand of girls who are on the other side of the television screen. Although
Dighi's hands look beautiful, one doubts whether that is what the viewers are
focusing on. The attention is clearly on what she represents. As Anwara Begum
points out in her book, 'Magical Shadows: Women in the Bangladesh Media' (AH
Development Publishing House, 2008), "TV ads don't only sell products,
they sell attitudes." At an innocent age of 10 years, Dighi is the nation's
favourite child model.
The 'attitude' sold in the henna
commercial is the standard of beauty and mannerism, as defined by men - the
fair-skinned, long-haired, bubbly girl. The consequence of the ad is the
indoctrination of this attitude in girls who have not even reached puberty!
The 'modernisation' of the media
culture over the years, with the arrival of private television channels and
advertisement firms has had commensurate effects on the culture of patriarchy.
Take for example, this set of ads. An earlier commercial shows a woman, who had
come to be 'viewed' by a prospective groom, pleasing the family with her fine
culinary skills, indicating that she remains within the four walls of the
house. The next version shows a woman who is not domesticated, she does not
know how to cook and her husband rebukes her for this. Hurt and distraught at
her 'failure', she wins him back by whipping up a delicious meal with her
discovery of readymade cooking spices. The next phase shows a man cooking. The
readymade spices are so easy to use that EVEN a man can cook. Of course, he
makes a mess in the kitchen, emphasising further that the kitchen is not really
his place to be.
This shows that the camera almost
always serves patriarchal interests. So the heavily made-up woman's delight at
getting the keys to a beautiful new apartment from her husband seems to be
perfectly logical. It's the wife, the mother or the children, who receive
privileges, like living in a luxury apartment, from the 'shonar chele' (golden
son). A man's success in life is rated by what he brings for those who depend
on him - the various women in his life.
In her book, Anwara Begum explores
these relationships - like the phone which brings the man and woman together.
The man leaves his wife to go to
Of course, companies are aware that
portraying the woman strictly in the home environment is no more acceptable. So
out comes a phone package for women, the "Ladies First" for working
women who have to talk a lot. Currently, there is a cement ad that proudly states:
"Today's mechanic, tomorrow's engineer", and shows two boys with hard
hats pretend playing to be construction engineers, while their female
counterpart pretends to be a school teacher. Not that it is any less
respectable to be school teacher, but on screen some professions like teaching,
nursing and fashion designing seem to be reserved for women, while engineering,
politics and multinational business management are for men.
Advertising agencies are doing good
business: A whopping US$215 million has been spent on advertisements by
corporations this year so far. New money has been poured in to get fresh ideas
from these advertising power houses. However, the general theme of the ads - be
it romance, where the shy young woman is waiting to be swept off her feet by a
handsome man; or marriage, where the wife, even if she is employed, is still in
charge the family, are still very popular. The single, independent, successful
woman is hardly represented.
Take the ad for an antiseptic soap that
shows a child impressing his mother by showing her an excellent result sheet
and no absence record at school. On cue the father comes home from work to tell
the wife that he has received a bonus for not missing a day of work. He hands
over the envelope to her because, of course, it was her conscientious
care-giving that keeps the family healthy. The audience does not know what she
does but the underlying assumption is that she is a housewife.
The stereotype continues.
It is with hair care products that
women's images are most objectified. Commercials do show clear signs of
cultural change - the woman is no longer house bound, she is wearing trendy
clothes and she is seen within the work space. The constant feature, however,
is that she is embarrassed if every physical attribute of hers is not in
perfect order and she is also forever seeking the attention of the man. The
confident woman is the woman with the perfect hair. She has the best job, is
the perfect wife and mother.
Anwara Begum talks about the effect
that this desire for unattainable perfection has on women. She says, "This
story of lovely heterosexual romance functions to cover up the harsh realities
in relationships between men and women is a restrictive patriarchy where most
suicides are committed by women."
The electronic media does its own bit
of social responsibility when covering events - from press conferences to art
show openings. In a nod to affirmative action, they give equal screen space to
men and women. But the TV camera operator seeks out the most attractive-looking
woman in the press conference and focuses the camera on her for much more time
than is necessary. This woman might not have any relevance to the story being
told but perhaps the underlying notion is that it brings more viewers for the
TV channel. Given that most camera operators are men, this kind of treatment is
hardly surprising.
Someone once observed that the
sure-fire sign of a more liberal and progressive Bangladeshi society was its
ever increasing number of beauty pageants and catwalks. It was his firm
conviction that a coy-looking model with perfect physical features walking down
a ramp was a statement of the woman's newfound independence.
A bank's billboard reflects this
thought. It shows "achievement" as perceived by three groups. The
child's achievement is learning the skill of tying a shoelace, the man's
achievement is making his first step on the moon and, finally, the woman's
achievement is getting crowned in a beauty pageant.
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