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ELECTRONIC JOURNAL OF SOCIAL AND STRATEGIC STUDIES - Volume 5 Issue 3, Dec 2024-Jan 2025

Pages: 493-509

Date of Publication: 31-Jan-2025


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Role of Mass Media in Women’s Empowerment: special focus on digital media

Author: Zeba Salam

Category: Sociology

Abstract:

Abstract With the advent of technology and globalisation, the usage of mass media, especially social media, has grown sporadically. This paper will discuss how mass media has led to women's economic empowerment, which has helped establish gender parity, challenge stereotypes, and help women’s voices be heard. Mass media, especially social media, has helped encourage women’s entrepreneurship. With the use of social media like YouTube, Instagram, Facebook etc, women showcase their talent for cooking, dancing, singing, and doing freelance journalism; it helps them to show their creativity; they have used social media platforms for advertisement and to sell their products, which has helped many women entrepreneur start-ups whether it is related to Beauty brands, Clothing, or Ed-tech, social media has helped them to grow into Unicorn companies. These have eventually helped them to be financially equivalent to their male counterparts; it has also helped in the thriving of small and medium businesses. The paper aims to see how social media has helped increase women's visibility in the workplace from being present in their comfort zone and whether it has actually helped in the economic upliftment of women. This paper is based on a qualitative approach for which we will critically analyse the primary and secondary data. However, challenges and drawbacks in using social media exist that cannot be avoided; in this paper, we will also discuss the main challenges women face in using social media and the necessity to create a safe digital space for business growth. Thus, this paper will also analyse social media's positive role in women empowerment and gender equality.

Keywords: Keywords – empowerment, gender parity, imperative, financial, independent

DOI: 10.47362/EJSSS.2024.5307

DOI URL: https://doi.org/10.47362/EJSSS.2024.5307

Full Text:

Introduction

Empowerment has a long history in the social changes that have taken place in society. Feminists spoke about empowerment as a cumulative action and consciousness-raising in the 1970s. The concept of women's empowerment came up in the 1980s and 1990s, which had a radical approach and spoke about changes in power relations favouring women's rights and creating greater equality between men and women to ensure empowerment. Empowerment is a change process in collective power and at the consciousness level. To ensure empowerment, one has to recognise existing inequality in control and has to bring structural changes to ensure gender equality, which can ultimately provide the empowerment of women. (Cornwall, 2016)

Women's empowerment is not uniform; it will vary from woman to woman depending on her caste, class, ethnicity, wealth, age, etc. To discuss women's empowerment, we have to analyse existing gender relations between the sexes, i.e. how power relations live between them. (Mosedale, 2005)

Amartya Sen coined the term missing women in a New York review of books to state that if women were born and died at the same rate as men in the sub-Saharan African region, the proportion of women would be lower than expected. According to the reports of the World Bank in 2011, 23% of female foeticide and 10% of female infanticide. In developing countries, women are given different treatment than boys, which leads them to lag behind men in different strata of life. In the area of education – in low and moderate-income countries, the enrolment rates of girls were 34% while boys were 41% in 2010. In political representation, women constituted 19.4% of the members of the lower and upper houses of parliament (Inter- parliamentary Union 2011). In legal rights, women still do not have the rights to own land, manage property or conduct business in many countries. In Women Empowerment and Economic Development, Esther Duflo states that there is a bi-directional relationship between economic development and women's appointment, as the former leads to improvement conditions in various fields such as health, education, earning opportunities and political participation. Policymakers should focus on policies that would lead to reduced poverty, economic growth and prosperity to maintain strategies for both genders without only focusing on improving the condition of women. Duflo argues that poverty and lack of opportunity breed inequality between men and women, so when economic development reduces poverty, it should also improve the conditions of women and men. (Duflo, 2012)

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan argued that gender equality is a pre-requisite to achieving other MDGs, which include the reduction of poverty, achieving universal education, achieving universal education and eliminating the gender gap in the field of education by 2015. (Crossette, 2005)

In the annual Human Development Report 1995, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) published the Gender-related Development Index (GDI) and the Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM), which had a significant role in bringing gender disparity to light both in discussions of foreign policy and the problem of measuring it. Three indicators were mentioned to check GEM: 1) Women holding the proportion of seats in national parliament, 2) the proportion of women holding the positions of economic decision-making, which includes technical, professional and administrative, and 3) the share of income of the female. GEM mainly focuses on the economic and political powers of women. These are essential dimensions in gender equality, though these paradigms are not sufficient conditions for empowerment. As a country may not present any changes in this paradigm, it has made minimal visible improvements in women's empowerment, such as reducing crime against women. In another case, a country may perform well in GEM, but a high level of gender inequality may still exist; Barbados shows a high level of gender equality in parliament and decision-making positions; it was ranked 24th in 2004 under the Human Development Report (UNDP 2004), but still, the majority of the poor and unemployed comprise of the women population (Beteta, 2006).

With the advent of Liberalization Globalisation and Privatization, brought a new array of hope of uplifiting the financial status and social well-being, previously self-employment options were limited to agriculture, small- scale businesses and cottage industry, with the advent of Information Communication and Technology(ICT), digitalization, Make in India and national start-ups programs, people took advantage of it and started new ventures based on online digital platforms highly using social media for advertisement and selling. The profession of Entrepreneurship has always been dominated by men, however with the advent of LPG in 1990s the number of women entrepreneurs increased sporadically. The concept of women empowerment has become multi-spatial, assuring self-dependency and autonomous rights to organise their own resources to boost up their condition, which would, in a way, help them to come out of their downtrodden condition (Cohen & Winn, 2007).

In the 21st century, we cannot deny the fact that mass media has revolutionized the medium of communication. They offer various means of entertainment, information, cultural transmission and persuasion. We must recognize that media helps define our worldviews and knowledge as we behave as individuals. However, media influences social groups, institutions, and social variables such as communities, neighbourhoods and nation-states. Mass media are the most influential media source as they have extensive reach to the audience. Media institutions are structured and organized to reach the most significant audience. Media provides information regularly and in times of crisis as well. Media also has some essential functions – it provides information which requires attention so that necessary action is taken -e.g., media informing the poor mid-day meal given to the children. Media also has social control functions; it has prescribed parameters of debates, social norms, and acceptable behaviours. It also offers social messages to the masses, such as advertisements on the harmful effects caused by tobacco. It also informs people about the socially evil practices that exist in society, such as dowry deaths, marital rape etc. The communication function of media includes building a social connection and access to social capital and generating a sense of community. Mass media is an organisation which is well organised and structured to create and disseminate news and entertainment through different media such as print media, television, and the internet and now social media, such as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, etc., has started playing a dominant role. (Vishwanath et al., 2007)

Objective

This paper aims to see how mass media, especially different social media platforms and applications, helped in economic empowerment of women in the 21st century. How are women using new technology to fit in today's business world, shifting from conventional job patterns, which eventually are helping them to be financially independent?

Methodology

This paper analysed different sources, such as newspaper articles and research papers, to conclude the study. Data from secondary sources have also been observed during the process of this paper.

Discussion

Media is undoubtedly the most essential tool for society to reach out to the masses and create an immense impact; social media is an inevitable source in the hands of the people. It has played a vital role in supporting the movement relating to women's empowerment by highlighting the pitiful conditions of the neglected and the marginalized in society. Today, communication is essential for ensuring the development of women, and mass media plays a significant role. The emancipation of women through education and their involvement in business has also led to the growth of media. However, media can also cause oppression, the way women are objectified in the name of item no. Songs of Bollywood are also used in a derogatory manner, stereotyping the images of women. The contribution of women is overshadowed by the news of the hardship they face in daily life. Women for decades have been objectified and represented in a derogatory way, showing a lack of gender sensitivity by the media. National Commission for Women recommended an amendment to the Indecent Representative of Women Prohibition Act (1986); it was further amended in 2022. It included TV series MMS and other electronic media, which was left out and played a prominent role in stereotyping women. Women's increasing participation in decision-making and self-expressing through media and news technology has empowered them. Media as a tool for Women's empowerment and gender equality should be supported. (Singh, 2017)

Media plays a pivotal role in steadfast women's empowerment; the usage of mass media, especially social media, is variedly used to uplift the conditions of women; it can help us to enlighten people about the struggle and discrimination they face in day-to-day life to educating their masses about the positions and treatment they deserve in the society. Media campaigns can help in ensuring the prevalence of gender parity develops in the minds of the people. Contents which promote gender equality can help us to overcome the differences between men and women they face in day-to-day life as mass media has always allowed people to influence people unconsciously in society; it is the duty of the media to emphasise the success stories of women who have achieved different heights of success in different strata of lives. Media is an essential agent of socialization shaping gender roles. Mass media should undertake projects to ensure that women are represented dignifiedly rather than portraying them negatively and stereotyping them. A robust legislative effort and social awareness can be used to spread awareness in society, entrusting ethics and morality to fight the evils in the community which objectify women's bodies and treat them as commodities rather than living beings with rights and emotions to live a dignified life. (Ahamad, 2016)

According to Bain and Company and Google report it is speculated that the women entrepreneurs can generate 150-170 million job opportunities which would help to create 25% nw job opportunities by the year 2030 (Bain & Company, 2020). To encourage the Indian women to take up entrepreneurship and begin their start-ups the NITI Aayog, a think tank of the Government of India established a platform for women's entrepreneurship, where they receive diverse support, entrepreneurship skills, market knowledge and financial assistance with the emerging use of mass media, particularly social media it would help to enhance the growth of the women entrepreneurs (Chakraborty & Biswal, 2022). According to Goyal & Jai (2011), women entrepreneurs have strong aspirations to contribute to family expenses and society, which is the basic quality required for women entrepreneurs and helps them to sustain all the difficulties that come up on their way. Ajjan (2014) pointed out the fact that social media has helped women entrepreneurs to venture out their own small online businesses, which, in a way, helped them to have control over their lives and decision the choices they make by making their financially independent and providing her alternatives to work from her own reserved space eradicating the rigid corporate set-up which one had to follow or opt up to while exploring the entrepreneurship.

In Barriers to Development and Progression of Women Enterprises in Pakistan, the author states that similar opportunities are not available to both the sex as discrimination has been deeply rooted through sociocultural values and traditions. Women entrepreneurs have to suffer a setback as they need primary access to capital, land, premises, Information and technology training. The attitude of the people that women should only be confined to the house's four walls and need more encouragement from their male counterparts creates formidable challenges. The research in this paper shows that cooperation at the multi-agency level is required to foster women's development. The mass media can be used to change the perspective of the people. They can also encourage women to come forward and take up entrepreneurship combined with government policymakers to provide improved access to business development sources and facilitate local, regional, and national media and networks to enhance the growth of their businesses. Mass media can also integrate women's enterprises, which can eventually help contribute to the country’s economy. Mass media plays an essential role by displaying the images of a modern, empowered woman who has the right to own property and the right to own and run enterprises. By publishing news on such women and making online content, web series or movies on such women who had turned down all the odds and stood up for their dreams. Such content would inspire more women and create a conducive environment where even the family members are encouraged to see their women achieving heights of success. They promote their female counterparts in every arena of their careers. (Roomi & Parrott, 2008)

The advent of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has given new hope to women taking up entrepreneurship and defeating all the odds which had hampered their career growth. Web 2.0 has enabled them to expand their network and business online further, which eventually helped overcome social capital challenges. Social media helps to establish business through contacts and communications with peers on social network platforms; it helps entrepreneurs to reach out to customers directly and allows them to invest more time and capital in new ventures and business ideas rather than on different mechanisms to set up the business in an offline mode. It has helped small and medium entrepreneurs establish social platforms for marketing and selling and building direct customer relationships ((Della Corte, Iavazzi, & D’Andrea, 2015). This article talks about the drastic increase in internet users in Indonesia, which made it 4th country in terms of using Facebook in 2012 after the US, Brazil, and India. There were 19.5 million Twitter accounts in Indonesia in 2012. Thus, social media had a prominent social impact on Indonesians, particularly those engaged in networking, such as women entrepreneurs. With the social media business not bound to be prevalent only to a geographical boundary, it will help the company to reach the remotest part of the country as well as help to make its roots in the most cosmopolitan areas in a way that will boost the online industry and will allow all those women entrepreneurs to expand their business without going around much. This article highlights that in Indonesia, Open business is growing sporadically through social media. Facebook alone records 549,740 users in Indonesia who are owners of small and medium enterprises, and 176,300 of them are women (Facebook 2013). Social media provides immense flexibility to women, as they can access their accounts and run their business swiftly from home while managing the household chores and looking after their infants, who require instant care from their mothers. Social media helps to display their products in virtual stores, which eliminates the requirements of a physical store, which would have been more costly and would have required women's physical presence daily; by cutting down that cost, social media helps small women entrepreneurs start their online businesses with little capital and sell their products through Facebook, Instagram and YouTube etc. Social media business allows women to be more self-actualised, which helps to increase their self-esteem. These will eventually make women financially independent and lead them to a stronger position in family and society. (Melissa et al., 2015)

The Pre and Post Independent India has witnessed Indian housewives entering into business through their kitchen recipes like papad , spices and catering now with receiving education and gaining knowledge in technology helped them to turn towards e-business, which helped them to work in the flexible work environment with no rigid time duration. Women are able to quit their 9 to 9 jobs and venture out to new start-ups in baking, jewellery designing, fashion stylists, interior decorators, social journalism, apparel manufacturers, and social media influencers, heading towards financial independence and contributing to the economy of the country. Social media has played a pivotal role in making women adopt entrepreneurship and utilise their leisure time more productively (Rai & Yadav, 2019).

It has been noticed that the emergence of women entrepreneurs using social media to retail their products is highly noticeable in emerging economies like India, Indonesia, Nigeria, Egypt, Malaysia, Kenya, and South Africa. Women's subordination, marginalization, and lack of inclusion have boosted the number of women who opt for social media platforms to pursue economic independence (Cesaroni, Demartini, & Paoloni, 2017).

In Africa, women entrepreneurs have used social media tremendously to convert their informal businesses into formal ones (Ukpere, Slabbert, & Ukpere, 2014) Women have the capacity to take up community-based approaches more than their male counterparts, which helps them to take full advantage of social media.

As social media helps women to take the basic steps to their financial independence, which in a way leads them to be empowered, it was noticed that in countries like Saudi Arabia, women have used social media like Instagram and Facebook tremendously to start and flourish their online businesses, a country with rigid bifurcation between the sexes helped women to contribute to the labour forces and boosting the economy (Alkhowalter, 2016), similarly women weavers online a Moroccan network uses social media to retail their handcrafts online even fro the remotest part of the country to worldwide (Ukpere et al., 2014)

It is highly noticeable that women opt for social media to expand their businesses or start-ups as technological knowledge is limited to them. Upkere et al. (2014) pointed out the feasibility of social media for women entrepreneurs- it has low running costs, basic technology literacy is convenient for managing businesses, social media helps to establish wider social networks and increases the visibility of business ventures. Moreover, it helps women to manage work-life balance in a better way without any rigid, tight schedule of the corporates. Social media is extensively being used by companies which turned out to become unicorns as well as small and medium-scale enterprises which had a minimum amount for investment in the products only (Cesaroni et al., 2017)

COVID-19 and the lockdown had restricted people's movement and business activities, and many were closed; many ladies had to shut down their enterprises for a certain period due to a lack of finance and a fall in demand of the customers as the needs and priorities were shifted to health care and basic amenities required for survival. This article discussed the response of women's enterprises and the challenges they faced due to the pandemic. They could not support their family as there was a steep decline in beauty salons and boutique products, and healthcare and safety products were emphasized immensely. Entrepreneurs were left with no choice but to shut down their businesses. Women need more support and knowledge to arrange the finances to support their businesses. Most women entrepreneurs used digital technology, which helped them survive. They shifted their enterprises and businesses to a virtual space, which only required a proper internet network and product page and website maintenance. A study by Papadopoulos and colleagues (2020) states that by using digital technology, most entrepreneurs could overcome the negative consequences of COVID-19. Women who transformed their businesses and enterprises on a digital platform and used different sources of mass media and social media platforms could survive and cope with the uncertainty. They used social media to advertise and sell the products to maintain the product quality as promised on the media platform, and they garnered the people's trust. Women entrepreneurs used social media to directly communicate with customers and ensure the promised quality helped them sell their products in different parts of the country, which could not have been possible without social media. Service-oriented jobs like teaching consultancy were also transformed online, women were given online classes, and we attained online meetings through Skype, Google Meet, etc., while working from home during the pandemic. (Afshan et al., 2021)

Social media has become very popular as it is elementary to open an account, and just by a click of a button, we can reach millions of people around the globe at a minimal cost. It has empowered women financially, emotionally and socially. It has helped increase women's political, cultural, social and business participation. It has allowed capacity building and trained them to be up to the same level as their male counterparts. Social media has also helped new businesses to boom and compete with international brands ruling the market for decades; women, too, have taken advantage of the technology to establish and flourish their startups. Many women played a dominant role and achieved immense growth in their online business, which was started and promoted on social media. In this list, most of the Indian women have also made their place, such as Richa Singh, CEO and co-founder of YourDost; Richa Kar, founder of Zivame, which is an online undergarments store for women; Sabina Chopra, co-founder of Yatra.com which is is an online travel agency, Vineeta Singh co-founder of Sugar cosmetics, Falguni Nayar owner of Nykaa, Ghazal Alagh co-founder of mama earth brand which deals with skincare and cosmetics. Such women had no fanbase like most Bollywood and Hollywood celebrities and actresses who opened their own skincare and cosmetic brands. Yet, they made their way and successfully turned their start-ups into unicorn companies.(Mandal,2022).Source of income through YouTube, women like Tanya Khanijow who make vlogs on her travelling and owns a YouTube channel which has 1.25 million subscribers. We have also seen female YouTubers like Prajakta Kohli, Kusha Kapila, Dolly Singh, and many more who made comedy videos and content that garnered huge subscribers and made them famous, which helped them to land projects in Bollywood movies and music videos. (Kumari, 2020)

An increase in the use of mobile phones and the availability of data at low costs has led to sporadic growth in the creator economy, especially for women creators. Social media has empowered amateur creators to make their content and earn from it. They aren’t dependent on TV networks, producers or directors anymore; it's all Do It Yourself (DIY) from your social media accounts through different social media platforms. Global platforms like Patreon, Substack, YouTube Premium, and many others help creators get financial support from their followers. There are 50 million content creators on platforms such as YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, etc. However, this will increase as the young generation who have been using these platforms since childhood are keener to put forward their talent on these platforms as a form of passion or pursuing passion and career. We have women entrepreneurs who are the CEOs of fashion and tech brands and have used social media to build their brands from scratch. They inspire people and prove that one doesn’t need to be from a privileged background to think big; all one needs is a clear idea and knowledge to connect to their audience. One of the most significant benefits of social media is that it has led to democratisation of the creator economy, as social media is not limited to a few. It has helped women from diverse backgrounds and geographic boundaries to put forward their best. It has helped to build up personal brands and promote their business cost-effectively and conveniently. This works for all those women with little or no knowledge of marketing and advertisement channels. It also helps make meaningful contact with diverse cultures and regions, which wouldn't have been easy without the invention of social media. Social media has also helped women who struggle to balance their work and other commitments like family or pursuing their passion; they can opt for part-time or full-time content creators and can make money from it while fulfilling their family and other obligations. Women who start their business online later on simultaneously go offline when their product demand goes up like Sugar cosmetics and many more. (Merchant, 2023b)

Women entrepreneurs now quickly return to work after their maternity break while not compromising their role as mothers to newborns. A report by the World Conference on Technology, Innovation and Entrepreneurship states that online business through the use of different social media has helped women maintain a balance between personal life and work, flexibility in work through working from home has allowed women to give more time to their infants which helped to reduce their stress in a way enabled them to be more satisfied and productive with their jobs. Social media has helped promote fashion, jewelry brands, home bakers, paid tarot card reading, etc. It has allowed women to connect with the masses and take their start-ups and businesses on a larger scale, which couldn’t have been possible without social media. Indian women have used social media to attract customers for their new businesses; 63% have used Facebook and Instagram to promote their products or fairs, which they are organising by collaborating with different local women (2019). Similarly, data shows that in 2019, 163 million women became entrepreneurs and commenced business; this cultural shift has been more inclusive. (Agarwal, 2020b)

Global Entrepreneurship Monitor India Report, 2019 showed that India is third among the countries in having new firms; India stands in the 48 position regarding ease of business (Shukla, Chatwal, Bharti, Dwivedi, & Shastri, 2020). In India, 15% of the population is considered to be entrepreneurs and owners of new businesses, 11.9% is the business ownership rate, which shows the ease of doing business in India; the intention to start a business venture has grown from 20% in the year 2018-2019 to 33% in the year 2019-2020.

The Gender Inequality Index (2018) ranked India in the 123rd position; it also highlighted that 20.5% of females are part of the labour market as compared to 76.1% of males. Thus, social media can help increase the women in the labour market which in a way also help to increase the gender equality in India and uplift its ranking.

15.7 million SMEs and agro-based businesses are owned by women; social media would help them expand their business to help them take it all over the state and make it pan India as well. According to the International Telecommunication Union (2020), 15% of women had access to the internet, government of India through the Digital India aims to encourage Digitalization, it has helped $1trillion business opportunities to flourish efficiently.

An article, “Women Entrepreneurs and the Usage of Social Media for Business Sustainability at the Time of Covid-19”, states that in Indonesia, mobile phones have become an instrument and most convenient device entrepreneurs use for online business. These digital devices have become socio-economic development pillars, providing further business opportunities and smooth transactions; women entrepreneurs used digital platforms to thrive during the lockdown; 45.55% have used WhatsApp with Facebook and Instagram to connect with their customers and suppliers directly, 31.1% used WhatsApp and Instagram combinedly, 7.7% used Facebook, 6.7% used other platforms, 26.9% of women have used WhatsApp exclusively to reach out their customers. The COVID-19 crisis pushed women entrepreneurs to a digital realm, which helped them to form a broader customer base. (Rahayu et al., 2021)

Research has noted the increase in online shopping, which has reduced traditional shopping, as nowadays people lack time to hop from one store to another; social media has helped a lot in boosting e-commerce. Many brands and start-ups promote with the help of social media influencers with millions of followers on Facebook, Instagram and other platforms; it also helps the influencers earn good money through brand promotion from their accounts. Social media and the Internet have also helped young female students take up entrepreneurship, which helps decrease poverty, unemployment, and sexual harassment issues at their workplace. Research has shown that the young generation is keener on social media usage; 88% of consumers read and trust online reviews. Women in developing countries face so many prejudices and obstacles that social media entrepreneurship may alienate their steep problem and increase the opportunities to live a better life. (Emmanuel et al, 2022)

Women who have been discouraged and not allowed to work outside or build their businesses independently can start their micro-businesses based on social media. Studies show that Indonesian women rely on social media to attract new customers. 63% of enterprises use sites like Instagram and Facebook to promote their products. Motivational cases like The Unique Thread Sarees ventures by Shanmuga Priya began with 200 resellers who were doing business by selling cotton and south silk sarees, started with 11 WhatsApp professional groups, then extended its operations with Facebook had notably sold worth $600,000 plus sarees as self-producers as well different small resellers, it had expanded its operations USA UK and Australia. Another such case is seen in The Myshka Enterprise, founded by Pankhuri Raj, which was an online men's and women's fashion clothing brandon e-commerce portals; it started with 10 lakhs in 2016 and was able to generate a revenue of Rs 1 cr in 2019. Pankhuri Raj was also awarded an Extra Mile Award for her business venture through Amazon, the Indian Business Award 2019 and the Times SheunLTD Entrepreneurship Award 2019 (Verma et al., n.d.)

According to the Women's World Bank report, social media allows female entrepreneurs to connect with women in the online business and customers who are often women. Gusto reports that 49% of new companies were started by women in 2021 during the Covid-19 pandemic, which was 28% in 2019. Only some of the businesses and start-ups will thrive in the long run. Still, many women are creating sustainable enterprises that will continue to grow and turn into Unicorn companies. (Social Media Guide for Women-Owned Businesses, n.d.)

A study conducted by Naguib Samali shows that small businesses owned by women are successful due to the effective implementation of social media. The low operation cost and investment encourage them to run their business fully fledged. Instagram Business is a significant source of women's economic independence and part of the informal economy. Social media has helped Saudi Arabs to overcome social, cultural and financial restrictions. Women often use Facebook to make direct contact with suppliers and clients online. Assaf (2017), women utilise social media to fulfil the dynamic needs in the contemporary world. (Iqbal, 2020)

One of the recent studies in Bengal found that 52.4% of users said that Facebook is a valuable medium for business, and 54.8% of women enterprises from the consortium suggested that Facebook was a handy platform during the lockdown. According to women entrepreneurs of the consortium, 52.4% think Facebook helps make business strategy. After the COVID-19 lockdown, women entrepreneurs have increased by 5% in consortium than personal timeline mode. Consortium mode allows women to create business strategies that personal timelines do not provide. (Dey & Banerjee, 2021)

Technology has revolutionised the education sector; new EdTech companies like Unacademy, Physicaswallah, Byjus and many more are coming up and generating employment for women teachers. Many female teachers have also used YouTube to teach students and help them crack competitive exams. The analysis of EdTech reviews shows that the percentage of women founders in the EdTech industry is 30%, which is twice the number of founders in any other sector. Women-led EdTech companies receive small investment capital, i.e. 2% -6% of capital funding. Women are talented and can impart knowledge but must keep up other commitments at home; EdTech has allowed them to take classes from home. Courses like science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) are considered male-dominated subjects; now, with the help of EdTech, female students can learn from the best teachers in the country on the online platform. They can excel in that department as well. (Kumar, 2023).

Conclusion

Thus, we can conclude that, undoubtedly, mass media has empowered women, but there have been many repercussions as well; females who get quick fame and money at a very young age hamper their character development, which eventually causes mental sickness in the future, as they don’t know how to deal with this quick success. (Durham, 2009) , many women entrepreneurs lack knowledge of the use of mass media, especially social media; they do not understand the use of the internet, mass media and how it works, so they cannot put their foot in it, and entrepreneurs who have little knowledge and have taken their business online sometimes face fraudulent deals from online wholesale and retails, their private information are used in mischievous ways which make many people go for online shopping. Influencers who use YouTube and Instagram and earn huge chunks from brand promotion go for obscenity and adult content to attract more subscribers; they become the pawns of online sexual predators. Every coin has two sides; the drawbacks and disadvantages are there such as many women with limited knowledge do fall into the trap of some fraudulent groups hawking online and loot with them with irregular transactions, while many women still do not have the basic knowledge of using social media or following with the trends and algorithms of social media, which we cannot deny, but we cannot ignore the fact that mass media has led to women's empowerment, as discussed in this paper.

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