Representation of Subaltern Women in Nepali Print Media: A Politics of Exclusion

Abstract

The dissertation entitled “Representation of Subaltern Women in Nepali Print Media: A Politics of Exclusion” is the visual representation of subaltern women in the mainstream Nepali Print Media. Media is often run for the advantage of those who are close to power centres and who work for the dominant groups. The free media in Nepal is still in the grip of the dominant ruling groups. The ruling class and its media corner the marginalized and the oppressed subjects from the main stream. This dissertation builds its arguments from the analysis of representation of subaltern women in the leading Nepali print media the English dailies The Kathmandu Post and Republica and women’s monthly magazine Nari. The research tries to study the level of coverage to find out that there is the discriminatory treatment of Nepali print media over subaltern women and analyses to fulfill its objectives. Subaltern women are oppressed, ignored and dominant groups. Media organizations are still influenced by patriarchal and capitalistic notion. Women are used as a tool of commodity. The principles of free media like accuracy, balance, credibility, decency, fair play and social responsibility do not seem to be working in the case of representation of women in media. The research argues that the main stream media in Nepal should have strong ideological current so that it can reach out to the subalterns especially the women. This study also presents the summary analysis and offers suggestions for further improvement. The concluding chapter is an overall synthesis of the study. This part establishes the objectives set above and reaches the assumptions.