The phenomenon of gender-bias can be found in history as old as ever recorded in the form of written text or visual entertainment. Biases are found in multitude of matters. In this article, however, focus and stress is set upon the term “gold-digging” as found in male and female genders. A very clear distinction is generally observed on social and electronic media where whether it be jokes, memes, short videos or dramas when depicting the money-lust present in the two genders, women are shown to be far more materialistic and gold-chasing-maniacs compared to men. In simple words, women are generalized and stereotyped across the globe for having money-oriented mindsets. Despite vast majority of women being goal-diggers, they’re still perceived and stigmatized across the globe to be inherently having traits of gold-digging. Pakistan’s both broadcast and print are flourishing – yet, there exists several disparities in terms of gender inequality, gender roles and gender biases. Gender issues in Pakistani media are often portrayed in a biased manner. In order to specify the radius for this observation, a keen and close study of the most recent Pakistani dramas aired in present dates is done so that the aimed propagation of this column doesn’t become obsolete or unfounded.
“Meray Pas tum ho” and “Rishtay biktay hain” are two of the most recent dramas. Between both of these visual pieces in terms of TRP’s and YouTube views, “Meray pas tum ho” by far has taken the lead with viewers belonging to both genders. The drama has been witnessed breaking records by achieving highest ever single day gross rating points (GRPs). On YouTube, each episode of “Meray Pas tum ho” gains over 10 million views within a span of few days. Talking about “Meray Pas tum ho” fever – its fame spread like fire among not just women but men aswell, who are usually less-interested in watching T.V dramas. The female lead chooses money over love and deceives the protagonist who in turn speaks some dialogues that have become eternal. The reference here is made to “Dou takkay ki larki”–a dialogue that remained talk of the town throughout the proceeding week after airing of this particular episode.
The female roles are mostly shown to be more bent towards committing or persuading to commit crimes like taking bribe as is the case in this drama. In other words, they are depicted as two extremes i.e. “all-out bad” or impossibly overbearing and unnaturally “noble” who bears husband’s atrocities silently and waits for good days to come. There is no in-between.
In “Rishtebiktayhain”–the second selected drama highlighting the same theme of gold-run, the story focuses on amaterialistic brother-trio chasing wealth. Two women who happen to be wives to the elder brothers are absolutely loyal and committed despite being married to unappreciative husbands. This drama is aired thrice a week but the views are drastically lesser than “Meray Pas tum ho”. The YouTube views of the episodes of “Rishte bikhte hain” are less than 1 million throughout a week, the viewers primarily being women. In this particular drama, social issues in the name of custom and traditions are highlighted like dowry, never ending demands from girl’s parents, holding them responsible for shopping for the unborn kids and setting up the son-in-law’s business. Still, huge disparity of views exists amongst the two drama serials.
Drawing comparison between the two visual pieces, it can be noticed that “Meray Pas tum ho” has a diverse audience, majority being the men as mentioned by Pakistani veteran actor, playing key role in the drama; Adnan Siddiqui in his statement that mainstream viewership of the serial comes from the men. Whereas, “Rishte bikhte hain” audience is primarily formulated by women viewership. An amusing fact over here however is that in this particular drama where men are shown materialistic – the grooming is nevertheless done by their materialistic mother – blinded by the love for wealth. Thus, portraying indirectly that underlying reasons for the development of these gold-digging traits in the brothers also lies in the hands of their mother – once again, a female figure. However, since the surface story focuses on the brothers, it hasn’t stirred as much fame and name. Another catch here is that the drama “Rishte bikhte hain” addresses diverse social issues – still the viewership is significantly lower than “Meray Pas tum ho”. This trend automatically depicts the interest of the audience in particular kind of content. If someone argues – “Meray Pas tum ho”- like content is what audience wants to see then it can only said that what someone wants to see isn’t what they should be seeing or what’s good for them. Social issues are clearly highlighted and criticized in “Rishte bikhte hain”, but the potential reasons for less viewership can be nil interest of the male audience. Nonetheless, in “Meray Pas tum ho”, if the show was sufficiently reality based, then maybe and hardly one in a billion women would’ve taken such selfish-step despite of having such a loving husband. To simplify it, if we have more people like the character “Danish” then we will have less of the character “Mehwish” in this society.
The bottom line is that materialism and gold digging doesn’t pertain to a specific gender , anyone can have these traits. Greed is found usually in human nature but severity of it varies from person to person – not from gender to gender. Stigmatizing female for being greedy is harmful towards the psyche of the general masses. The Pakistani entertainment industry should also focus on stories of women who have fought through and stood by strongly in adverse circumstances –like husband’s sickness, poverty or inability to fulfill the needs of the family. The producers of the drama industry should not merely focus on what sells but also what makes a positive difference in a society.
