Gender Differentiation in the Portrayal of the Elderly in Indian Media

Abstract

The paper looks into the media representation of the elderly in India. Three data sets
comprising the print media, television and cinema were included in the study. The re-
sults show a significant variation in representing the elderly. There is a nominal visibility
of the elderly and more specifically elderly women in the print media, which, apparently,
hampers advocacy for their cause. Advertisements depict elderly as jovial, happy, and
enjoying life, but aged women are shown less frequently than their male counterparts.
Tele-serials portray the elderly as rigid and authoritarian. Elderly women, too, are fre-
quently shown as the traditional supreme authority represented as the ‘saas’ (mother-
in-law). Cinema has depicted many shades of the elderly from the empowered to vul-
nerable. These results are discussed in the light of gender differences. The impact of
stereotyped images of the elderly on their well-being was also examined.