Role of Mass Media in Empowering Jaunsari Women of

Garhwal: An Analytical Study

Nidhi Bhandari* & Dr. Sudhanshu Jayaswal**

* Research Scholar, Centre for Journalism & Mass Communication, HNB Garhwal University,
Srinagar (Garhwal), Uttarakhand, India
**Reader, Centre for Journalism & Mass Communication, HNB Garhwal University, Srinagar
(Garhwal), Uttarakhand, India

ABSTRACT:

Mass Media acts as a catalyst in the process of change and development. The present tools of
Mass Media has made a profound impact on an individual and society as well and thus,
accelerated the process of people’s empowerment by leading them on the path of progress and
modernity. The present study attempts to examine the Media Habits of Jaunsari Women and
also to find out the most popular mass media tool among Jaunsari Women.The study also further
analyze the role played by Mass Media in empowering Jaunsari Women.The various Mass
Media tools entertain, educate and motivate Jaunsari Women and play vital role in bringing
revolutionary changes in their lives. The present Mass Media tools have created awareness
among them about their rights and previleges and thus has aided in their empowerment process.

KEYWORDS: Catalyst, Empowerment, Jaunsari Women, Media Habits, Mass Media

INTRODUCTION

"A Mass Medium" says Wilbur Schramm "is essentially a working group of organised around
some device for circulating the same message at about the same time, to large number of
people." This definition includes the folk media and group media, where communication is direct
and not mediated by the use of some device.
Desmond A.D‟ Abereo says that Mass Media cannot have a definite meaning. According to him
the word medium can have different meanings. It can be meant as the spoken, written, audio-
visual, non-verbal language. It can also significantly a text or message, formulated in a medium
like story in a book, a song on the radio, a film in the cinema or a soap opera on T.V. The words
are also used to express a channel of transport for messages, like a radio broadcast or a television
production. Finally, it can also mean a media organisation, producing and sending programmes
like a broadcasting station, a newspaper office or a film producing company. Particularly, it may
be taken as a medium of transportation of messages." The magic of these media have been highly
recognised. Deniel Lerner terms them as "mobility multipliers" and Wilbur Schramm calls them
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"magic multipliers."The functions served by the modern mass media are very similar to those
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fulfilled by the traditional media in primitive societies, and even in some developing and
underdeveloped countries today. The functions of mass media in modern society is manifold.
Today it is influencing our life so deeply that life cannot be imagined without the agencies of
mass media like newspaper, radio, television etc. Its functions largely depend upon the various

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needs and requirements of the audience and in what way they make use of it. They may also use
them as a form of play.
This paper discusses that how tribal women can be empowered through the usage of Mass
Media. Empowerment is the term usually associated with feminism. Empowerment is not
essentially in terms of political aspect; infact it is a dyanamic process of having development in
terms of personal, economic, social and political dimensions. It is often referred as that personal
empowerment is the core of the empowerment process. The concept of women empowerment in
India is particularly dependent on various dimensions that include geographical location
(urban/rural), educational status, social status (caste & class) and age. At present there are
various policies on womens‟ empowerment at the national, state and regional levels in almost
every sector like health, education, economic , gender equality & politics. The equal status given
to women in terms of power sharing & their active participation in decision making in process at
all levels will ensure in the achievement of the goal of their empowerment.
Media has become important tool of communication particularly in rural areas. It is playing a
positive role in promoting empowerment among the disadvantage sections of the society
particularly tribal women. The main focus of this paper is to find out Mass media‟s role in tribal
women empowerment in rural areas of Jaunsar. Women belonging to the tribal groups are still
considered as the weakest sections of the society. Indeed, it can be well said that women in tribal
society should be educationally empowered for the overall development of the tribal
communities at large.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Ghosh Jhumur (2012) examined the status of the implementation of the 73rd Amendment Act
that established Panchayati Raj System.The content analysis of the most widely circulated
newspapers was done in the year 1993 when panchayat elections were held in the state. The
response of the women candidates, nominated in the reserved seats, the reaction of the other
panchayat members and that of the political parties were reflected through the news reports
published during that period.
Meena Devi Longjam (2013) highlighted that the alternative media could be used as the most
impactful tool of development process.It could be proved as the most effective one to portray and
resonates the views and ideas of the oppressed and marginalized women at the grass root level.
Okere Samuel & Justina Sam-Okere (2013) explored that the prospective of print media in
framing the women in the field entrepreneurship throughout the world can serve as an important
and impactful tool for enhancing their socio-economic empowerment. Therefore, The Punch
newspaper which has supposedly to fulfill the mission of being one of the effective instrument of
social change, have to increase its numerical quota of framing women and also maintaining the
characterization frame of positive image in its column feature of “Big Naira Begins with Small
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Kobo”.
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Shailashree B. (2013) highlighted that the role of Mass Media in political empowerment of
women is very important in a largest democratic country like India. The various Mass Media
tools assist women in accessing available resources for their development by means of exposure,

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knowledge and information. It was also concluded that Stree Shakti Programmes have brought
social change in the villages, but it has not made the women politically conscious or politically
empowered and the mass media have not really played any major role in their lives that could
help them in making political decisions.
Devadas and Saravanan, (2015) stated that television is one of the very successful, powerful
and impactful mass media in increasing women literacy level, creating awareness among women
about family welfare schemes, updating knowledge about balance diet / nutrition during
pregnancy period, providing guidance about children‟s health, family planning ,spreading
awareness about organic food and providing knowledge about sports.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The advent of Mass Media has brought a revolutionary change in the lives of Jaunsari Women.
Hence, it is evident to study the Media Habits of Jaunsari Women and to find the most popular
Mass Media tool prevalent among them and also get to know about the role played by Mass
Media in empowering Jaunsari Women.

OBJECTIVES

1. To study the Media Habits prevalent among Jaunsari Women.

2. To find out the most popular Mass Media tool among Jaunsari Women.
3. To analyze the role played by mass media in empowering Jaunsari Women.

HYOPOTHESIS

Mass media has certainly played a vital role in empowering Jaunsari Women.

IMPORTANCE OF THE STUDY

This study attempts to explore the role of Mass Media in empowering Jaunsari Women. The
study helps in examining the influence created by the present Mass Media in their lives. This
study could be really proved as beneficial for similar future related women studies.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The Qualitative and Quantitative both the research approaches has been employed for the
collection of the empirical data from the field. The secondary data has been collected from
various sources like books, journals, articles, conferences, published and unpublished research
work etc.
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Methodology- The Participatory observation method and in-depth interview techniques are
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employed for collected the empirical data from the field of study. The tool of data collection is
schedule which comprises of structure questions and some open ended questions. The questions
in schedule are prepared both in English and Hindi

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Sampling -The data collected from the 100 questionnaires is classified and tabulated for the
purpose of analysis and interpretation. The 4 villages Haripur, Koti, Lakhwar and Kalsi Gaon of
Kalsi block are selected by purposive sampling method. The 100 samples of women respondents
are taken equally (25 sample each village) from four villages of Kalsi block by Proportional
Stratified sampling,

DATA ANALYSIS
Table.1: Respondents Introductory Details; N=100
Details No. of Percentage
Respondents
Age
18-25 years 22 22
26-30 years 44 44
30-40 years 23 23
40-50 years 11 11
Marital Status
Married 80 80
Unmarried 14 14
Divorced 2 2
Widow 4 4
Educational
Qualification
Illiterate 2 2
Primary 5 5
High School 29 29
Intermediate 30 30
Graduation 24 24
Post Graduation 10 10
and above
Profession
Employed 7 7
Student 14 14
House wife 68 68
Self Employed 11 11

Table .2: The Media Ownership Pattern among Jaunsari Women.

Media Ownership No. of Respondents Percentage
Newspaper 10 10
Radio 21 21
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Television 96 96
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Mobile 91 91
No Media Use 5 5

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 Figure.2

The above Figure.1 shows that the media ownership pattern among Jaunsari Women of each
Mass Media separately. It is the possibility that Jaunsari women have access to more than one
Mass Media tool at a time.Out of 100 respondents only 10% hold the ownership of Newspaper
and rest in case of Radio,Television and Mobile is 21%,96%and 91% simultaneously.Only 5%
Jaunsari Women donot hold any kind of Media Ownership.

Table.3: The most preferred Mass Media tool by Jaunsari Women.

Option No. of Respondents Percentage
Newspaper 3 3
Radio 9 9
Television 42 42
Mobile 41 41
Can‟t Say 5 5
Total 100 100

5 3 9

Newspaper
41 Radio
Television
42
Mobile
10

Can’t Say
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Figure.3

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The above figure.2 denotes that the Television is the most preferred Mass Media tool among
Jaunsari Women helding 42%.Then second place is held by mobile usage with 41%.The
respondents using newspaper and radio the most are only 3% and 9%.The 5% respondents can‟t
say anything about it.
Table.4: The purpose of using Mass Media by Jaunsari Women.
Option No. of Respondents Percentage
Entertainment 19 19
Information 21 21
Both Information and 45 45
Entertainment
Pass time 10 10
Can‟t Say 5 5
Total 100 100

Figure.4

The above figure.4 shows the purpose of Jaunsari Women of using Mass Media.45% Jaunsari
Women use Mass Media both for information and entertainment.19% only for entertainment and
21% only for information.10% of respondents just wish to pass time by using Mass Media and
rest 5% can‟t say anything about it.

Table.5:The available Mass Media tools are helping in empowering Jaunsari Women.
Option No. of Respondents Percentage
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Agree 89 89
Disagree 6 6
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Can‟t Say 5 5
Total 100 100

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 Figure.5
The above figure .5 denotes that 89% Jaunsari Women agree to the fact that Mass Media tools
are helping in their empowerment and 6% disagree with it.5% women have no opinion about it.

Table.6:According to Jaunsari Women, the field in which Mass Media tools are
empowering the Jaunsari Women the most.
Option No. of Respondents Percentage
Health 15 15
Education 18 18
Political 17 20
Social 23 19
Economic 16 23
No Empowerment 6 6
Can‟t Say 5 5
Total 100 100

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Figure.6

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The above figure.6 shows that according to 23% of Jaunsari Women that Mass Media are
helping them the most in their empowerment in Social arena.Then there is empowerment in the
field of education quoted by 18% respondents .15% of respondents feel empowerment in the
field of Health and 17% in the field of politics.16% respondent feel that Mass Media has
empowered them economically.6% respondent there is no empowerment by Mass Media and rest
5% have no opinion about it.

TESTING OF HYPOTHESIS

Mass media has certainly played a vital role in empowering Jaunsari Women.The Hypothesis has
been proved completely correct. The practice of utilization of Mass Media among Jaunsari
Women is prominently seen. The present Mass Media has brought a positive change in their lives
and also created huge impact. Their social status has been improved and their empowerment
could be seen in fields like education, economic,health and politics.

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS

The national development is highly dependent upon the empowerment of weaker sections of the
society particularly tribal women. In tribal societies, the opportunities among women remain
restricted by social, cultural and religious barriers. The main reason behind their ignorance is
lack of knowledge and education. Thus, the conditions of women in tribal societies are the worst
due to their low educational status. The present study explored that the media can play a
constructive role in the betterment of their socio-economic development in the society.
The present study focused on Jaunsari Women reflects that the highest percentage of ownership
of Television and mobile is seen among Jaunsari Women. The most preferred Mass Media
among Jaunsari Women is Television followed by Mobile. This is due to the the highest
percentage of ownership of these two Mass Media. Newspapers and Radio have failed to
fascinate them.Newspapers usage require high level of literacy which is usually lacking among
Jaunsari Women and radio is an outdated mass media these days. Television as an audio-visual
medium could be the most effective for both information and entertainment.
The maximum number of Jaunsari Women use Mass Media for both information and
entertainment. The large number of women feel that the present Mass Media are helping in their
empowerment, but few of them also feel that there is no empowerment done by Mass Media.
According to them, the Mass Media has helped in empowering them in their social arena the
most. Besides, there is empowerment in other fields as well like Health, Education, Politics and
Economic.
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CONCLUSION
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The present research paper concludes that Mass media has become much important in the day to
day lives of Jaunsari Women. The Mass Media tools has not only become the source of
entertainment for them but also largely helped in their empowerment. It is an evident fact that the
tribal women plays an outstanding role in the advancement of their society, so their

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empowerment is the only key of development at large. So, the media need to particularly get
focussed on the issues creating hindrance in the process of tribal women development, which
could help them in participating in the development of the nation.

REFERENCES

i. Agarwal Meenu (2009) Women Empowerment and Globalisation: A Modern

Perspective, Kanishka Publishers& Distributors, New Delhi.
ii. D‟Abreo A.Desmond(1995), „The Mass Media and You‟,Better Yourself
Books,Bombay,pp.16-110.
iii. Devdas,Dr. M.B. & Saravanan,V.M.(2015), „Television and Development of Rural
Women-A Study Research World‟,Journal of Art,Science and Commerce,International
Referred Journal,Volume-VI,Issue 4(1),October 2015.
iv. Ghosh Jhumur (2012),„Women Empowerment And The Role Of Press: An Analysis of
Newspaper Coverages of 1993 West Bengal Panchayat Elections‟, Global Media Journal-
Indian Issue, Summer Issue / June,3(1).
v. Okere Samuel & Justina Sam-Okere (2013) „Print Media Framing of Women in
Entrepreneurship: Prospects for Women Empowerment‟, IOSR Journal Of Humanities
And Social Science (IOSR-JHSS) 9(6):31-38.
vi. vi.Schramm,Wilber(1964),Mass Media and National Development,Stanford University
Press,California,USA.
vii. Shailashree B. (2013) „Media and Political Empowerment of Women in Kolar District of
Karnataka: A Study‟,International Journal of Humanities and Social Science Invention,
2(9):55-59.

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