DefinePK

Abstract

Mass media have acquired an overriding place in the lives of their audience to moldtheir thoughts. The present research investigates the derogatory portrayal of femalecharacters in Pakistani Urdu TV dramas through a comprehensive analysis of theirstoryline. Ten top-hit dramas have been taken as the sample. The derogated portrayalof female characters is explored. It is revealed that, in the selected Pakistani TV dramas,men treat women as their personal property. The researchers view that the ethnicsocietal structure of the country is based on gender roles which were assigned to bothgenders during the evolution of norms therefore such phenomena has intruded intomedia presentations e.g. TV dramas. Since media has the power to influence publicopinion, the possible implications of these presentations are prodigious. Furtherresearch can be conducted on ‘media framing’, ‘agenda setting theory’ and the media’srole related to direct, structural, and cultural influences on gender issues.