A Note from the Editors

Literature which analyses the ways in which women are portrayed in media has gradually been emerging from several countries in recent years. Such literature (although much of that relating to the Third World is fragmentary and essentially descriptive in nature), makes apparent the many commonalities that exist in the sexist distortions of media's portrayal of women, across the non-socialist countries — developed and developing. At the same time, there are certain dimensions of media which have particular implications for the Third World, implications that do not have the same significance in developed countries. One concerns the so-called 'development communications' media, used by government organisations and international aid-giving agencies to promote economic development programmes: for agricultural modernisation; health and family planning; education; literacy; and so on. The anti-women bias inherent in these media is reflected both in their omissions and commissions, and the implications of this for women (on their employment, education, health, and overall social subordination) is an aspect relatively little discussed in media literature. In particular, the interlinkages between women, development and media are rarely highlighted in existing analyses.

Further, there is a tendency to think of media as 'technology', attributable perhaps to most modern media being strongly technology-related and technology-dependent. However, two crucial — and inter-related — aspects which have particular relevance for many Third World countries are obscured by this perspective. The first is that people rather than technology have traditionally been the mediums of communication when, within a largely oral tradition, songs and story-telling, folk drama and puppetry were commonly used in these societies. Second, the content of such communication was taken essentially from religion and myth. Even today, many media images of women, especially in South Asia, can be traced to mythological depictions which are culturally rooted and hence extremely difficult to counter. These aspects, which much of the media analysis on women ignores, must be taken into account, especially in discussions on the creation of alternative media.

In this Isis International issue we have tried to bring together material that will go some way towards redressing this imbalance, and fill some of the gaps noted. Since many of the aspects mentioned have region-specificity and are in danger of being diluted when the focus is global, the articles have been drawn mainly from the Asian and Pacific region. The issue itself is divided into two sections: the first comprises analyses of the ways in which women are portrayed in different media; and the second focusses on attempts made by various women's groups to both protest against existing negative portrayals and to create alternatives. Although we have tried to obtain material from as wide a cross-section of countries in the region as possible, there are, on balance, relatively more articles from India than from any one country. This reflects partly our greater familiarity with, and ready access to, people and literature in India, and partly the much greater evidence here of media analyses, action for change, and alternatives.

There has been a conscious emphasis on action and alternatives in this issue. One of the noteworthy features of the emergence of these experiments in the region is the close links they have with the women's movement and/or with other progressive movements for social change. This gives them relevance, immediacy and rootedness. It also gives them a specific character. No matter from which country they are taken, the experiments described represent 'alternatives' in many senses:

in their being initiated and managed (with the exception of CENDIT) primarily or solely by women, thus transforming women from being passive consumers of sexist media, to being active agents in media creation;

in their content which presents an authentic and sympathetic portrayal of women and their problems; in particular, they reach out to the poorer women in rural areas, who have generally been ignored by the urban, middle-class biased media;

in their form: in, for example, the use of street theatre, jalsas, etc.

in the motivation and commitment of the groups who are working for social change, not profit;

in their method of functioning: most groups have evolved and seek to function through a participatory and non-hierarchical interaction among the group members;

in their method of interaction: their seeking to dissolve the division and distance between spectators and performers, between those watching and those creating, by actively involving the communities who are subjects in a participatory way, and even teaching them how to handle the technology.

This very issue of the journal in fact, may also be seen as attempting an alternative, a new method of functioning. From now on, the journal will be produced by one or more women's groups in the Third World. Such collaboration, it is hoped, will ensure a more direct participation by a larger number of women (individually and in groups); a wider representation of views; a focus on different regions; and, most important, the emergence of a strong network, communication and partnership between different women's organisations the world over.

The second 'alternative' issue has been edited and produced entirely in India and is a joint publication of Isis International and the Pacific and Asian Women's Forum (PAWF). The third and equal partner in this new venture is the feminist press Kali for Women, recently started by Ritu Menon and Urvashi Butalia who have also been actively and indispensably involved in its editing and production. The planning of this issue itself set in motion a process of sharing and networking between women and women's groups in Asia and the Pacific. Through its distribution we hope to start a dialogue with women in other regions of the world as well. It is pertinent that, as a beginning, the dialogue be on women and media.

BINA AGARWAL

KAMLA BHASIN