Gender Stereotyping in Media: Creating a Hurdle in the Socio- Legal Framework for Gender Mainstreaming

Gender stereotyping has been the roots on which the Indian Society has developed since ages. With the advancement of time, these roots have grown even deeper. It is an established fact that media can play a pivotal role in undoing the Gender stereotyping and can help in the socio-legal task of gender mainstreaming. But media in the modern times can be taken as a kind of weapon which can be used both ways; to create positive impact or negative impact on the society at large. Sadly, Media with all its new form like social media, OTT platforms are acting like a tool for engraving gender stereotyping in the mindset of the people. The paper intends to undertake an empirical study to find out the perception of the adolescents who are the key consumers of the modern-day media about their take- away on the portrayal of women in Media. A sample of 86 adolescents is taken by using a purposive sampling technique. The data are collected through survey method in which each sample has marked their response in a questionnaire. The data are further analysed which helped to come to a conclusion that the stereotypical depiction of women in media is reinforcing the patriarchal mindset.