The Portrayal of Gender Equality through Empowered Females Characters in Pakistani Animated TV Shows

Abstract

The research aims to understand how Pakistani animated TV shows are portraying gender equality through empowered female characters. Animations are very motivating and it is believed that they enhance some of our cognitive demands of learning therefore 2D and 3D animated TV shows or videos are used globally to spread awareness among people about gender equality through showing powerful female characters. A qualitative research design has been adopted and through the critical discourse analysis of the animated TV shows, it has been analyzed that their content contains the concept of powerful female characters and hence contributes towards promoting gender equality. Hence, three animated TV shows “Quaid se Baten”, “Burqa Avengers”, and “team Muhafiz” were selected for the study and one episode of each animated TV show will be chosen through purposive sampling. The research shows that the portrayal of empowered female characters in Pakistani animated TV shows not only promote gender equality but also serve as a medium to inculcate progressive values in society. The study highlights the potential of Pakistani animated shows as a transformative force for gender equality and women empowerment. It is observed that rare studies are available in this domain while there is really big space available for social, mass communication and gender studies scholars to explore this domain as animated content is growing day by day and putting great impact on its viewers so animated content is being used to spread awareness about crucial topics.