Stereotypes in Indian Society – UPSC GS1

Purpose: The study measures the level and type of gender stereotyping found in Indian advertisements on TV and YouTube. For this purpose, over 1,000 most viewed advertisements were analysed in 2019.

The study found that female representation in Indian ads still depicts colourism, hyper sexualization, and also women without careers or aspirations outside the home.

Women in ads dominate the screen and speaking time with 59.7% and 56.3% of female representation respectively. This is above the global average of 44% and 39%

Female-dominated activities in ads include roles of shopping, cleaning, and preparing meals.

Male-dominated activities in these ads include them being in an office, outdoors, or at a sporting event

A greater percentage of female characters are depicted as married, than male characters (11% compared with 8.8%).

Female characters are thrice as likely to be shown as caretakers or a parent than male characters (18.7% to 5.9%).

Male characters are more likely to be shown making decisions about their future than female characters (7.3% compared with 4.8%),

Lower Income Class: Characters of a lower-income class are underrepresented. Only 6.4% of the ads show people from that class. The Middle-class is most prominent with 51.3% representation.

Sexualisation: Female characters are 6 times more likely to be in revealing clothing than men (11.2% to 1.7%). They are 5 times more likely to be sexually objectified (4.7% compared to 0.9%).

Intelligence: Male characters are more likely to be shown as smart, than female characters (32.2% compared to 26.2%).

Skin Tone: Two-thirds of female characters (66.9%) in Indian ads have light or medium-light skin tones — a higher percentage than male characters (52.1%).