Photography is defined as:
"Un-posed shots with eye-catching subject matter and storytelling qualities that
can elicit an emotional response from the viewer.” Women photography is the art
of representing women related news in newspapers. “The importance of a photo, an
image which tells a story and is an irreplaceable part of journalism, must be
protected and treated as any other editorial creative work”, said Arne König,
European Federation of Journalists President. (Mccairley, 2009). Print media
does not portray a balanced picture of a woman and her contribution to the
society. The improvement should be done in "participation, portrayal and access
of women to the media and its impact on and use as an instrument for the
advancement and empowerment of women". Regarding improving women portrayal it is
believed that “There is no chance of the welfare of the world unless the
condition of women is improved. It is not possible for a bird to fly on one
wing.” Ray (2008)
Women in media are represented in all forms including print, TV, radio, online
and more specifically community media forms. The ethics of representing women in
media is lacking all over the work. Even the developed countries lack good
ethics for journalism and specially representing women in the art of
photography. The factors that make an image ethical or unethical is due to the
volume, tone and type of images used by newspapers. It may include public
images, weeping families and powerless authority portrayed in a way to be used
as a tool for affecting human behavior using an emotional tone.
Research has examined the portrayal of women and men’s role in general magazines
advertisements. The comparison between the two is found in eight women
magazines. The year of publication chosen is 1970 and 1982 magazines. It has
been found that women portrayal is subjected to limited improvement. Women’s
stereotypical roles are prescribed in magazine publication to inculcate that
they have a set pattern of life. Women are forcefully presented in their
stereotypical roles and this act of portrayal is ethically not justified.
Photojournalism reveals truth. It is used to develop the understanding visual
language in case of any gender. Portraying the actual image is necessary and
journalists are accountable for this act. Photographs must be taken honestly in
the manner of as it is as an ethical standard.
Women and men in print and electronic genres are bound in the love triangle and
the power of love plays between the main actors. Women are the object of love
for the men and multiple situations arise in the course of affection. Showing
women as an object of love in every story is not ethically acceptable because it
can have multiple effects on the women viewers that can frame their psychology
towards love and affection. Sullivan et al (1988) has conducted a content
analysis to study changing nature of portrayal of women in advertisements. He
took the sample of advertisements from eight periodicals published in November
1983 and compared it with the similar magazines published from 1958 to 1970. It
has been found that the advertisements published in recent times reflect
diversity in women's occupational and social roles as compared to those
published in earlier time. The ethical portrayal of women is catered in these
magazines as women are not only shown as an object for men they are shown in
their occupational roles.
Women experience physical violence at the hand of the family member that can be
the husband, father or brother. It suggests that women should be portrayed in
media as granted justice, health, education, and equal employment opportunities.
Women portrayal on media screen is the product of men dominating decisions. The
film projects fantasized image of a woman as being the most sacrificing being on
the earth. This deviates from the real depiction of woman in the society.
Fantasizing women roles is ethically unacceptable as the purpose of media forms
is to portray what the real life actually is.
According to Smith (2008)
gender inequality is found in films and TV portrayal. The study on media
portrayal of gender reveals that less than of speaking characters (real or
animated) are females and same percentage of females is found for characters in
the crowd scenes but the main narrators of the story are males. This depicts the
gender discrimination in the media portrayal of characterization designed for
film and drama.