Abstract
This paper seeks to demonstrate the representation of a „perfect‟ woman and
explores the specific stereotypes for good women and bad women in Pakistan
television dramas. This study is based on the premise that these popular dramas
play a significant role in shaping attitudes and beliefs of the society. The study
involved qualitative content analysis of six television drama serials of three
popular Pakistan entertainment television channels through purposive random
sampling. The study revealed that the stereotypes for „perfect women‟ in Pakistan
television drama serials reinforce patriarchal system of Pakistan. They portray the
lead women role as younger, ultra-slim, extra ordinary beautiful, wearing national
simple dresses with „dupatta‟, less educated, mostly belonging to middle class,
humble, home bound and submissive. If these women must work, then they do only
for financial reasons. It was also observed that stereotypes for side role women
are mostly projected the characteristic of being bold, outspoken, highly modern,
educated, career oriented who mostly belong to elite class wearing modern and
western kind of dresses. Those characteristics highlight them as „imperfect
women‟, This paper makes a contribution to gender and media studies because it
deals with neither gender discrimination nor gender equality rather it emphasizes
on the representation of women versus women and compares the characteristics of
women depiction in drama serials.
Ayesha Ashfaq (Corresponding author), Zubair Shafiq. (2018) Contested Images of ‘Perfect Women’ in Pakistani Television Dramas, Journal of the Research Society of Pakistan, Volume 55, Issue 1.
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