Women, labor and television: a critical analysis of women portrayed in Pakistani drama serials

Zaheer, Ayat (2020) Women, labor and television: a critical analysis of women portrayed in Pakistani drama serials. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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Abstract

The purpose of this research is to look critically at the way women are represented in mainstream entertainment media on Pakistani television channels, mainly in televised drama serials. My chief research question is: How is women’s labor represented in select Pakistani televised drama serials? One reason women’s work is not always apparent is because of the gendered nature of work, and especially care work, where it is assumed that women will look after the household chores, especially in patriarchal societies. I propose that these shows (1) naturalize a certain form or notion of femininity as the only suitable one for Pakistan’s women, and (2) naturalize a theory of work that both denies the actual work that women do and that discourages women from stepping into the masculinist marketplace of public careers. I use feminist media representation theory. Because media has the power to disseminate patriarchal and ideological views, it has always been at the centre of feminist criticism. Feminist audiovisual content analysis enables me to critically highlight the biases towards women employed in different occupations, as well as if and how the social reproductive labor of the women who are portrayed as mothers, sisters, daughters, wives, and grandmothers on screen is ignored or taken for granted.

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