Woman, interrupted

There are probably more women per square inch of your television screen than men, in programmes or advertising (although Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan give them a good run for the top spot). So it seems foolish to raise an eyebrow, let alone heave a bosom. Still, let’s look at what (in)visibility amounts to.

Stand Up Comedy: One bastion women have not conquered. On The Great Laughter Challenge and its derivatives, men tell jokes — many about women — in front of male judges. Okay, so there’s a social frown on women who perform in public, but are they not fit to judge humour? And Navjot Singh Sidhu is?

Reality shows: Men win most talent contests. Despite R. Sawant, a man became Bigg Boss. Judges are overwhelmingly men. Aren’t women good judges of talent?

Talks shows: Men only — except for Simi Garewal. On American TV you have Oprah Winfrey, Rosie O’Donnel, Ellen De Generes, Barbara Walters, to name a few. Ironic that political discussions or interviews can and are conducted by female journalists, especially on the English news channels but not talk shows.

Religious channels: Another one. Barring Jaya Row, we have Ram Dev and other half naked men who tell women how to deal with everything related to their bodies including menopause.

Sports channels: Devoted to men and the games they play. Men play tennis, Maria Sharapova wears a brief, yellow dress. Men engage in games that require 11 more or less of them to huddle, cuddle and generally get physical with each other. Women play the occasional game of golf or hockey. And wrestle.

News: Female anchors/journalists cover everything from politics and the Sensex to, yes, cricket. We also have women and men weather vanes.

News coverage? Women as victims of circumstance, of the elements, of their own bodies and of course of men. Hence, we see them at the mercy of crimes, disease, poverty, social prejudice, etc. The inequality women face is now out in the open, so don’t say you don’t know about it. Great, but remember Gudiya? She’s the face of women in the media, someone who men own or wish to. And carpet coverage for Mallika Sherawat or Rakhi Sawant? The long sequences of their dance items that seldom rise much above their midriffs on Hindi news channels, can only be for male eyes to go pop, pop, pop.

TV commercials: Commodification and stereotypes. Women cook chhola-puri in polyunsaturated oil, men eat it (chhola-puri). Women wash their hair, men get dandruff. The metro-sexual image has seeped in alongwith fairness creams for men, but underwear ads are for men. Don’t women buy them? And, if sanitary napkins can be advertised, why so coy about lingerie?

Entertainment: Women are in the thick of it but remain true to stereotypes despite major breakthroughs. Men go to office, women stay home — not that anyone ever does any work, but never mind. Woman are always misjudged. Protagonists Prerna, Parvati, Tulsi, now Renuka Shahane in Jeena Issi Ka Naam go to jail or the mental asylum for crimes they never committed. In the end, they always win of course but not before going through hell, tears and physical violence. They stoop to conquer. Still, the male characters are complete wimps so they would rather go to jail, or stoop.

Which leads us to the conclusion that serials treat women better than any other genre.