Digital Media & Women Empowerment
In the day and age of today, where technology is prevalent, easily accessible and widely available, people’s reliance on digital media has vastly increased. While it does come with its fair share of merits and demerits, one cannot deny its integrity and usefulness in our everyday commotions. Digital media, according to the Collins Dictionary comprises of two words with their own distinct meanings. “Digital” as an adjective means “performed using electronic devices such as computers and mobile phones” and “Media” is “the means of communication that reach large numbers of people”. This means that digital media refers to communication that reaches masses through the means of electronic devices. This includes television, radio, e-books, online articles and journals, videos on forums like YouTube and Dailymotion and social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram and so on and so forth. We certainly cannot deny the fact that while access to these has eased people’s lives, they have definitely leveraged the image and presence of women.
With the advent of Twitter, which is the preferred go-to spot for keyboard warriors, women feel at ease to raise their voice against injustice, misogyny, inequity and the horrors of patriarchy. Under the same banner, I would now like to talk about the infamous “#MeToo Movement”. Although started in 2006 by Tarana Burke to publicly call out her harasser on MySpace online, it gained momentum in 2017 when Harvey Weinstein was allegedly called out by an American actress named Alyssa Milano on October, the fifteenth on Twitter. This wave soon got notable celebrities like Jennifer Lawrence, Gwyneth Paltrow etc. on board. This public outcry of women referring to their sexual assaulters, sexual criminals and harassers not only opened people’s eyes but these blameworthy people called out, had to face public humiliation and shame, that in my opinion, they absolutely deserved. After the success of this hashtag becoming a viral sensation, women started coming out with their sexual harassment stories that unabashedly blazoned out harassers and held them accountable for their embarrassing endeavours.
This wave hit international victims who started coming out with their stories, like it did in Pakistan. The most notable and high-profile of cases was that of the Pakistani singers, Meesha Shafi and Ali Zafar. Meesha came out with her harassment story with Ali being a harasser. While there were mixed views by the audiences, very many people were seen supporting Meesha Shafi and bashing on patriarchy itself for rooting evils like harassment stories being kept under covers because of it bringing shame to the victim and its family. According to me, this provided women with the impetus to fearlessly come out with their stories to share with the world and to publicly defame the perpetrator. Women and even men suddenly had a voice of their own and some cases that literally were revealed to the masses on Twitter, were taken to court to legally get resolved. This was a colossal improvement in what the world thought a woman could do. Harassers who were once roaming around the streets without a speck of guilt or shame, were suddenly being held accountable for their questionable offences. This was just one example of how digital media, which in this case is Twitter, played a part in women empowerment.
Another example could be that of women earning money through online businesses. Women around the globe, but especially living in a conservative society like that Pakistan, rely heavily on social media for their home businesses to run successfully. Women sell handmade food, handicraft items, jewellery, clothes etc. on social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram where they can reach a massive audience. Orders are placed online and their products reach to the target customer via courier. That’s the dimension of how small-scale businesses run. An example can be that of an Islamabadi girl who runs an Instagram account called @theorakzaikitchen where she sells baked goods and earns a living via it. So this means that digital media platforms like these can not only build connections with the buyer and seller, but products and “shops” can be marketed and advertised too without even spending a tinge of extra money. Women can run businesses without even leaving their homes and are hence getting equipped with money and becoming financially independent, which of course is a very good thing to ensure that women are empowered and stand tall on their own feet.
Read about Media & Cultural Invasion here.
About two and half years too old to be good at technology, but a bit of a self-professed book-nerd! That is exactly how I’ll describe myself. With an undying passion for reading and writing, I’ve landed in RangeInn as a Lifestyle Author. Yeah, that’s my new gig and I’m super excited to be part of the team. My articles are mostly about pop culture, celebrity gossip, entertainment, fashion & beauty, personality & spirituality, food, life hacks, books, movies and basically anything & everything that piques my interest.
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