Gender Discriminations in Media Discourse: An Analytical Study

Abstract

Human competence in its multiple dimensions always remains under debate in healthy and civilized societies. Morally and religiously, private life of the individuals is duly esteemed in terms of its sanctity until and unless it poses a grave threat to public interest. In certain societies and regions like the sub-continent, private life of the public figures remains under discussion in the media discourse to capture, manipulate and adjust the public opinion or achieve multifaceted invested agendas. In the field of language and gender a narrative has been set that the private life of a public woman is more vulnerable to public discourse than that of a man of the same status. She is not just taken as a public figure but her life is open to any kind of public discourse especially in the media. Present study explores the similar reflection in the media discourse of Indian English newspaper about Hina Rabbani Kher’s visit to India. The editorial is analyzed within the qualitative research paradigm through the theoretical framework of sexual objectification furnished by Fredickson and Roberts (1997).