Abstract

Media is an important force that endeavours to shape the impressionable minds of children. Cartoon animation programmes have a great influence on the behaviour of children as they prefer to watch cartoon programmes rather than doing any other physical activity. In this context, the current research seeks to explore the behaviour of heavy viewers regarding gender-specific roles and characteristics. The researcher has employed survey method to collect the data and 1528 respondents in the age group 8-13 years have been selected for this research. The findings of study suggest that heavy viewers of cartoon programmes have a more stereotypical approach regarding gender-specific roles and characteristics. They more significantly assign the roles of doing household chores, nurturing children, and the traits of being beautiful, submissive, and failing frequently to female members of the family as compared to male members. The study provides valuable insight into the impact of cartoon programmes on the characteristics and gender roles' socialization of heavy viewers.

Key Words

Television, Cartoon Programmes, Gender-specific Behaviour, Heavy Viewers, Survey

Introduction

The present study is conducted to investigate the beliefs and opinions of heavy viewers of cartoon programmes related to gender-specific behaviour. The influence of television on the conception of gender roles and characteristics is an important area for investigation. As media shapes children’s view of what it meant to be a man or a woman, in the same way, it has great influence on the gender-specific behaviour of children. Since the advent of digital technology era, the children's exposure to TV programmes and its impact on the conception of gender roles and characteristics has become a matter of grave concern for social scientists. This is because TV, social media and video games have become very important and popular among children.




The Role of Media in Society

In the modern era, media has become very important just like daily needs. It plays a significant role in shaping public opinion and influencing viewer's behaviours. Considering this, the researcher has attempted to explicate the role that media plays in a society with the help of past research studies. 

Signorielli (1990) contends that television provides us with a vivid learning environment. It is like a storyteller or it can be said that television is a wholesale distributor of popular culture. Now, in every household, a centralized commercial institution in the form of television is present which tells most of the stories to children rather than school and parents. TV shows tell us about people, places, politics, power and fate. This storytelling function of television is very important as it guides the people about the world and people living in it. As TV plays a major role in developing views about the world, consequently, the influence of TV on the behaviour of the viewers has been a matter of great concern for media scholars, media practitioners and common people since a long time.







Children and Television

Television is a major source of information and entertainment for children. Children also learn various behaviour which can be appropriate or inappropriate for them. In this part, the researcher attempts to discuss the role of TV in the life of children with the help of arguments made by media scholars in previous research studies. 

Schramm and associates (as cited in Lowery & DeFleur, 1995, pp.252-260) state that brilliant children learn a lot from television. They further argue that a great amount of learning takes place when children are between ages of 3-8 years and according to them, TV is an effective source of incidental learning because TV is quite real to them and the incidents happening on TV are quite real. Moreover, another factor that affects the incidental learning is identification with a TV character. A child is more likely to learn from some entertainment programme if he finds the programme useful for him. So it can be said that if behaviour presented by media appears feasible and rewarding then there are great chances that a child would learn the behaviour and would try it when he finds some proper occasion. Furthermore, Klein and Shiffman (as cited in Hassan & Daniyal, 2013, p.8) state that there are different factors that influence children’s behaviour such as their likings and disliking of various cartoon characters. Children are mainly influenced by the activities of those characters that they admire or like a lot. Moreover, the costumes of cartoon characters, their languages, physical attractiveness, intelligence, their behaviour have a great impact on child viewers. Moreover, Gonzalez-Mena (as cited in Njiiri, Mberia & Muchunku, 2018, p.101) states that TV has great socialization impact and it has surpassed other mediums in influencing young children.




TV Viewing Patterns of Children

Infants usually pay attention to television for a very short time. Toddlers pay more attention to the TV. At this stage, children try to copy what they watch and hear on television. 3-5 years old children watch TV for exploration. They actively try to find out the meaning in content. Children become more sensitive to the influences of television when they are eight years old. Children in adolescent age are less likely to imitate television characters. Adolescents mostly do not believe in the reality of television content (Josephson, 1995). In the same way, Abelman & Atkin (as cited in Hammermeister et al., 2005, p.254) state that when children are awake, TV viewing is their major activity. The viewing time of children and adolescents is 19 hours and 40 minutes per week.




Cultivation Theory

Gerbner, Gross, Morgan & Signorielli (1984) find that the people who spend more time with television develop ideas, beliefs, assumptions and views more congruent to those which are presented by television. According to them, TV viewing is the main contributing factor that affects the conception of social reality especially the conception of violence and sex-role stereotypes. Furthermore, Gerbner (as cited in Morgan & Shanahan, 2010, p.339) draws the attention of readers towards three main entities for analysis which are an institution, public and message. Cultivation analysis only explores the way TV influences the minds of people regarding social reality. With time, the area of cultivation research expanded to investigate health-related beliefs, minorities, religion, sex role stereotypes etc. A Meta-analysis research proved that TV viewing has a small but great influence on the minds and beliefs of viewers.




Gender-specific Behaviour

Animated cartoons have great importance in the life of many children. The present research study attempts to explore the way animated cartoons broadcasted by cartoon channels have an impact on the gender-specific behaviour of children. Furthermore, in this section, the researcher has also discussed the factors other than media that influence gender-specific behaviour of children regarding gender roles and characteristics.

Pingree (1978) argues that TV commercials have a great influence on the attitudes of viewers regarding gender role stereotypes whereas Signorielli (1990) tries to investigate the role of communication in gender role socialization. The study reveals that adults and children perceive the gender-typed images from TV programmes and children want to be like those stereotyped characters. Furthermore, Smith (1994) contends that advertisement is an important medium through which children get socialization regarding gender roles. Moreover, the study of Ahmed and Abdul Wahab (2014) reveals that Cartoon Network presents male and female characters in a stereotypical and biased manner. The researchers further maintain that this representation plays a major role in constructing ideas about the position and characteristics of male and female members of society.




Significance of the Study

Media is considered to be an important tool for change. Cartoon programmes have a great impact on children’s minds as all children love to watch cartoons. So it can be said that media today can help the parents in fostering the desired social values and behaviours in the children of our country. 

The current research is important due to several reasons. Even though a lot of research studies have been conducted on the effects of TV on children during 1970s and 1980s but the plethora of knowledge available has focused mainly on the children belonging to the developed world and less attention has been paid to the impact of TV on the behaviour of children living in developing world where the education system, socio-economic condition and culture of people is different from that of the developed world.

Although, Pakistani media has progressed a lot in the modern digital era, yet there is not a single specific channel dedicated to children programmes only. For entertainment, children of Pakistan are bound to watch cartoon programmes telecasted by foreign media owned by the developed world. In doing so, they are exposed to foreign culture and content through cartoon programmes. So less attention is paid by Pakistani researchers towards the content, images and behaviour patterns portrayed by cartoon programmes telecasted by various foreign cartoon channels and their impact on the health and behaviour of children living in Pakistan. Furthermore, current research also has practical relevance to Pakistan. It will be helpful for parents, teachers and programe producers to understand the fact that cartoon programmes telecasted by foreign media convey certain values, behaviours and attitudes that can be harmful to the children living in Pakistan.




Statement of Problem

Television is considered to be a very important social phenomenon in Pakistan. Despite its great importance, its impact on child viewers has not been empirically tested on a large scale. Behavioural and educational scientists have been studying children cartoon programmes to know about the content presented to children and its impact on the behaviour, language and health of children. Children living in various parts of the world are mostly entertained by cartoon programmes and animated movies. They are exposed to cartoon series through various cartoon channels. These cartoon programmes have a great impact on the behaviour of children. Cartoon programmes also affect the knowledge related to their cultural values, norms, and language of children. Furthermore, many studies proved that heavy viewing of television has a great impact on the health, cognitive skills and behaviour of children (Mistry et al., 2007).

Considering all above mentioned arguments, it has become very important to analyse the views of heavy viewers related to gender-specific roles and characteristics. Furthermore, the findings of the research will prove to be a useful guide for parents, teachers, policy makers and PEMRA (Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority).

 

Objective of the Research

TV cartoons, nowadays, have become the most popular among children and they play a significant role in teaching them gender roles and characteristics. While considering the developmental needs of children and the role of media in developing socially acceptable behaviour regarding gender roles, the current study mainly attempts to examine the following aspects:

1. While considering the large viewership of cartoon programmes in Pakistan, the current study tries to examine the influence of cartoon programmes on the conception of heavy viewers regarding gender roles and characteristics.

Literature Review

Several studies suggest that TV has a great impact on the social behaviour of children. In this section, the researcher discusses the research studies related to the impact of TV viewing on gender-specific behaviour particularly on gender role socialization of children. 

The study of Beuf (1974) supports the fact that there is an association between the time spent in watching television and the conception of traditional gender roles. The researcher further asserts that the heavy viewer children are more likely to have a stereotyped conception of occupational roles. Similarly, Williams (1981) strongly believes that heavy viewers of TV have developed increased stereotyping about gender roles and characteristics. The study of Rothschild (as cited in Signorielli, 1990, p. 56) explores that the children who are heavy viewers of TV tend to exhibit sex-role stereotyped approach regarding gender-related activities like playing sports and cooking related activities. Furthermore, Chung & Bissell (2010) state that media while disseminating messages give preference to beauty over intelligence. TV has successfully made up the minds of the new generation that the main power lies in beauty by abundantly showing beautiful women in various roles. Moreover, people have a general consensus that media are an important source of socialization and it has a major contribution in shaping gender roles. TV presents very powerful images of gender. By the age of six, children develop clear idea about gender stereotypes and their roles in society (Saxena, 2011). According to Cultivation theory, when viewers are highly exposed to TV programmes, then this exposure affects the behaviour and social perception of viewers. As a result, they develop a kind of world view that is consistent with the message of TV (Mangwere, Wadesango & Kurebwa, 2013). Moreover, Ahmed and Abdul Wahab (2014) suggest that the more the children watch stereotypical materials, the more they learn and adopt stereotypical behaviour.




Research Questions

Q.1: What are the beliefs and opinions of heavy viewers of cartoon programmes regarding gender-specific roles of doing household chores and nurturing children?

Q.2: What are the beliefs and opinions of heavy viewers of cartoon programmes regarding-gender-specific traits of being beautiful, submissive and failing frequently?




Hypotheses

H1: It is highly likely that the heavy viewers of cartoon programmes will be assigning the role of doing house hold chores more to female members as compared to males.

H2: It is highly likely that the heavy viewers of cartoon programmes will be assigning the role of nurturing children more to female members as compared to males.

H3: It is highly likely that the heavy viewers of cartoon programmes will be assigning the quality of being beautiful more to female members as compared to males.

H4: It is highly likely that the heavy viewers of cartoon programmes will be assigning the quality of submission more to female members as compared to males.

H5: It is highly likely that the heavy viewers of cartoon programmes will be assigning the quality of failing frequently more to female members as compared to males.

Research Methodology

This chapter mainly discusses the research methods used to collect the data for analysis. It also comprises the information related to techniques of collecting and analyzing data, population, sample size and sampling techniques used to select sample for analyses.




Research Design

While considering the nature, needs and objectives of the current study, the researcher has selected the survey method as a research design to discover the views and opinions of heavy viewers of cartoon programmes living in Punjab regarding gender-specific behaviour.




Population

The population of this study consists of young children living in Punjab in the age group 8-13 years.




Sample

A sample of 1528 school going children having an age of 8 to13 years have been selected as respondents of research.

Data Analysis

The collected data was analyzed after the entry of data into the computer by employing a z-test. The statistical analysis was done with the help of SPSS version 12.0. Descriptive statistics proved to be very beneficial in summarizing the results obtained from the survey of students.

 

Presentation and Analysis of Data

This section deals with the presentation and analysis of data obtained by employing a survey method to investigate the views and beliefs of heavy viewers of cartoon programmes regarding gender-specific traits and characteristics.

Table: 1. Viewership-based Responses related to Doing Household Chores

			Male	Female	Both	No one	Unsure	Total
Viewership	light viewer		57	571	128	5	3	764
			7.5%	74.7%	16.8%	0.7%	0.4%	100.0%
	heavy viewer		38	572	147	3	4	764
			5.0%	74.9%	19.2%	0.4%	0.5%	100.x0%
Total			95	1143	275	8	7	1528
			6.2%	74.8%	18.0%	0.5%	0.5%	100.0%

 

Who do you believe is/are Responsible to do Cooking, Washing and Cleaning for Household?

The results in Table.1 reveal that 7.5% light viewers and 5.0% heavy viewers opined that males are responsible to do cooking, washing, and cleaning for household whereas 74.7% light viewers and 74.9% heavy viewers believe that females are responsible to do household tasks. 16.8% light viewers and 19.2% heavy viewers opined that it is the duty of both male and female members to do cooking, washing and cleaning for household whereas 0.7% light viewers and 0.4% heavy viewers opined that no one is responsible for cooking, washing and cleaning for household. Furthermore 0.4% light viewers and 0.5% heavy viewers opined that they are unsure about it.

Table: 2. Viewership-based Responses related to Nurturing Children

			Male	Female	Both	No one	Unsure	Total
Viewership	light viewer		48	441	269	3	3	764
			6.3%	57.7%	35.2%	0.4%	0.4%	100.0%
	heavy viewer		35	389	329	5	6	764
			4.6%	50.9%	43.1%	0.7%	0.8%	100.0%
Total			83	830	598	8	9	1528
			5.4%	54.3%	39.1%	0.5%	0.6%	100.0%

 

Who do you think is/are Responsible to look after little Children at home?

The results in Table.2 illustrate that 6.3% light viewers and 4.6% heavy viewers think that male members are responsible to look after children at home whereas 57.7% light viewers and 50.9% heavy viewers think that females are responsible to look after children at home. 35.2% light viewers and 43.1% heavy viewers opined that it is the duty of both male and female members to look after children at home whereas 0.4% light viewers and 0.7% heavy viewers think that no one(neither male nor female) is responsible to look after children at home. Furthermore, 0.4% light viewers and 0.8% heavy viewers opined that they are unsure about it.

Table: 3. Viewership-based Responses regarding Beautiful Looks

			Male	Female	Both	No one	Unsure	Total
Viewership	light viewer		68	290	373	14	19	764
			8.9%	38.0%	48.8%	1.8%	2.5%	100.0%
	heavy viewer		58	282	396	7	21	764
			7.6%	36.9%	51.8%	0.9%	2.7%	100.0%
Total			126	572	769	21	40	1528
			8.2%	37.4%	50.3%	1.4%	2.6%	100.0%

 

Who do you think have Beautiful Looks?

The results in Table.3 show that 8.9% light viewers and 7.6% heavy viewers opined that only males have beautiful looks whereas 38.0% light viewers and 36.9% heavy viewers opined that only females have beautiful looks. 48.8% light viewers and 51.8% heavy viewers believe that both male and female members have beautiful looks whereas 1.8% light viewers and 0.9% heavy viewers are of the view that no one (neither male nor female) have beautiful looks. Moreover, 2.5% light viewers and 2.7% heavy viewers opined that they are unsure about it.

Table: 4. Viewership-based Responses related to the Personality Trait 'Submissive'

			Male	Female	Both	No one	Unsure	Total
Viewership	light viewer		135	297	185	86	61	764
			17.7%	38.9%	24.2%	11.3%	8.0%	100.0%
	heavy viewer		169	319	154	78	44	764
			22.1%	41.8%	20.2%	10.2%	5.8%	100.0%
Total			304	616	339	164	105	1528
			19.9%	40.3%	22.2%	10.7%	6.9%	100.0%

 

Who do you think is/are passive by nature and easily submit to the orders of others?

The results in Table.4 illustrate that 17.7% light viewers and 22.1% heavy viewers think that males are passive by nature and submit to the orders of others whereas 38.9% light viewers and 41.8% heavy viewers think that only females are passive by nature and submit to the orders of others. 24.2% light viewers and 20.2% heavy viewers opined that both male and female are passive by nature and submit to the orders of others whereas 11.3% light viewers and 10.2% heavy viewers opined that no one (neither male nor female) is passive by nature and submit to the orders of others. Furthermore, 8.0% light viewers and 5.8% heavy viewers opined that they are unsure about it.

Table: 5. Viewership-based Responses related to the Personality Trait 'Failing Frequently'

			Male	Female	Both	No one	Unsure	Total
Viewership	light viewer		102	316	173	117	56	764
			13.4%	41.4%	22.6%	15.3%	7.3%	100.0%
	heavy viewer		74	318	154	157	61	764
			9.7%	41.6%	20.2%	20.5%	8.0%	100.0%
Total			176	634	327	274	117	1528
			11.5%	41.5%	21.4%	17.9%	7.7%	100.0%

 

Who do you think fails in the Achievement of goals Frequently?

The results in Table.5 reveal that 13.4% light viewers and 9.7% heavy viewers think that only males fail frequently in the achievement of their goals whereas 41.4% light viewers and 41.6% heavy viewers opined that only females fail frequently in the achievement of goals frequently. 22.6% light viewers and 20.2% heavy viewers opined that both male and female fail frequently in the achievement of goals. Whereas 15.3% light viewers and 20.5% heavy viewers opined that no one (neither male nor female) fails frequently in the achievement of goals. Furthermore, 7.3% light viewers and 8.0% heavy viewers opined that they are unsure about it.

 

Hypotheses Testing

H1: It is highly likely that the heavy viewers of cartoon programmes will be assigning the role of doing house hold chores more to female members as compared to males.

Table 6. Relationship between Heavy Viewership and Assigning of Gender-specific Role (Doing Household Chores)

Gender-specific Behaviour	Proportion of male members	Proportion of female members	z-value	p-value
Doing household chores	0.04	0.37	17.5055	0.0000 *

The results in Table.6 obtained after employing z-test analysis reveal that 37% heavy viewers are of the view that females are responsible for doing household chores whereas 4% heavy viewers are of the view that males are responsible for doing house hold chores. As the obtained P-Value 0.0000 is less than 0.05, so the research hypothesis  is supported and it can be inferred that heavy viewers more significantly assign the role of doing household chores to females as compared to males.

H2: It is highly likely that the heavy viewers of cartoon programmes will be assigning the role of nurturing children more to female members as compared to males.

Table 7. Relationship between Heavy Viewership and Assigning of Gender-specific Role (Nurturing Children)

Gender-specific Behaviour	Proportion of male members	Proportion of female members	z-value	p-value
Nurturing children	0.03	0.29	14.8247	0.0000 *

As far as the task of nurturing children is concerned, the results mentioned in Table.7 reveal that 29% heavy viewers are of the view that females are responsible for nurturing children whereas 3% heavy viewers are of the view that males are responsible for nurturing children. As the obtained P-value 0.0000 is less than 0.05, so the research hypothesis  is supported and the researcher can conclude that heavy viewers more significantly assign the task of nurturing children to females as compared to males.

H3: It is highly likely that the heavy viewers of cartoon programmes will be assigning the quality of being beautiful more to female members as compared to males.

Table 8. Relationship between Heavy Viewership and Assigning of trait (beautiful)

Gender-specific Behaviour	Proportion of male members	Proportion of female members	z-value	p-value
Beautiful	0.04	0.19	9.4547	0.0000 *

The results mentioned in Table.8 related to the quality of being 'beautiful', reveal that 19% heavy viewers are of the view that females are beautiful whereas 4% heavy viewers are of the view that males are beautiful. As the obtained P-value 0.0000 is less than 0.05, so the results support the research hypothesis  and it can be concluded that heavy viewers more significantly assign the quality of being beautiful to females as compared to males.

H4: It is highly likely that the heavy viewers of cartoon programmes will be assigning the quality of submission more to female members as compared to males.

Table 9. Relationship between Heavy Viewership and Assigning of personality trait (submissive)

Gender-specific Behaviour	Proportion of male members	Proportion of female members	z-value	p-value
Submissive	0.09	0.19	5.6921	0.0000 *

The results mentioned in Table.9 related to the quality of submission, reveal that 19% heavy viewers are of the view that females are submissive whereas 9% heavy viewers are of the view that males are submissive. As the obtained P-value is less than 0.05, so in the light of obtained results the research hypothesis  is supported and it can be concluded that heavy viewers more significantly assign the quality of submission to females as compared to males.

H5: It is highly likely that the heavy viewers of cartoon programmes will be assigning the quality of failing frequently more to female members as compared to males.

Table 10. Relationship between Heavy Viewership and Assigning of personality trait (failing frequently)

Gender-specific Behaviour	Proportion of male members	Proportion of female members	z-value	p-value
Failing frequently	0.07	0.21	8.0513	0.0000 *

As far as the quality of failing frequently is concerned, the results mentioned in Table.10 reveal that 21% heavy viewers are of the view that females fail frequently whereas 7% heavy viewers are of the view that males fail frequently. As the obtained P-Value 0.0000 is less than 0.05, so the results support the research hypothesis  and it can be concluded on the basis of obtained results that heavy viewers more significantly assign the quality of failing frequently to females as compared to males.

Findings, Discussion and Conclusion

Findings and Discussion  

The present study intends to explore the influence of cartoon programmes on the conception of heavy viewer children living in Punjab regarding gender-specific roles and characteristics. 




Research Question 1 states that

Q.1: What are the beliefs and opinions of heavy viewers of cartoon programmes regarding gender-specific roles of doing household chores and nurturing children?

To investigate the conception of heavy viewers regarding gender-specific roles (doing household chores and nurturing children), the researcher formulated two hypotheses:

H1: It is highly likely that the heavy viewers of cartoon programmes will be assigning the role of doing household chores more to female members as compared to males.

The empirical findings obtained by employing z-test analysis mentioned in Table.6 strongly support the hypothesis as heavy viewers more significantly assign the role of doing household chores to female members as compared to male members. The empirical findings reveal that heavy viewers more significantly assign this task to female members (37%) as compared to male members (4%).

Another hypothesis formulated to analyse the views of heavy viewers regarding gender-specific role nurturing children is:

H2: It is highly likely that the heavy viewers of cartoon programmes will be assigning the role of nurturing children more to female members as compared to males.

As far as the responsibility of nurturing children is concerned, the obtained empirical results as mentioned in Table.7 reveal that heavy viewers of cartoon programmes more significantly assign the tasks of nurturing children to female members (29%) as compared to male members (3%)

The obtained results are consistent with past research studies such as the study of Freuh & McGhee (1980) explores that there is an association between the time children used to spend in watching television and conception of traditional gender roles. Similarly, Katz & Boswell (1986) assert that media is an effective medium to teach gender roles to children. Furthermore, Morgan (1987) reveals that television plays the main role in educating the children that men are more ambitious than women and women feel great happiness at home while raising children.




Research Question 2 states that

Q.2: What are the beliefs and opinions of heavy viewers of cartoon programmes regarding gender-specific traits of being beautiful, submissive and failing frequently?

The researcher has formulated three hypotheses to investigate the beliefs and opinions of heavy viewers regarding gender-specific traits and characteristics of being beautiful, submissive and failing frequently.

H3: It is highly likely that the heavy viewers of cartoon programmes will be assigning the quality of being beautiful more to female members as compared to males.

The empirical findings related to the personality 'beautiful', as mentioned in Table.8 indicate that the heavy viewers of cartoon programmes more significantly assign the quality of beautiful to female members (19%) as compared to male members (4%).

H4: It is highly likely that the heavy viewers of cartoon programmes will be assigning the quality of submissive more to female members as compared to males.

As far as the personality trait 'submissive' is concerned, the empirical results mentioned in Table.9 indicate that heavy viewers of cartoon programmes are of the view that female members (19%) are significantly more submissive than male members (9%). 

H5: It is highly likely that the heavy viewers of cartoon programmes will be assigning the quality of failing frequently more to female members as compared to males.

Finally, the empirical findings mentioned in Table.10 again show similar pattern as the results reveal that heavy viewers more significantly assign the quality of 'failing frequently' to female members (21%) as compared to male members (7%).

The obtained results are again found consistent with past research studies such as Rothschild (as cited in Signorielli, 1990, p.56) explores that the children who are heavy viewers of television tend to show traditional gender-stereotyped qualities and views regarding gender roles and characteristics. Similarly, Rivandeneyra and Ward (2005) found an association between television viewing time and more traditional views regarding gender roles and characteristics. According to researchers, soap operas perpetuate gender role stereotypes. Furthermore, Signorielli (as cited in Signorielli, 1990, p.56) contends that the children who watch more television tend to have more sexist views as compared to light viewers.

So, in the light of above mentioned results, it can be inferred that heavy viewers more significantly assign the task of doing household chores, nurturing children and qualities of being beautiful, submissive and failing frequently to female members of society. This shows that heavy viewers have stereotypical approach regarding gender-specific traits and tasks. Considering this, it can be inferred that TV is playing considerable role in cultivating gender-specific images particularly related to gender roles and characteristics. Here it can also be inferred that the role of TV in cultivating gender-specific behaviour is not wholesome. There is a possibility that some other factors such as religious teachings, cultural norms, parental guidance, and the environment at home and school can play an important role in educating the children about gender roles and characteristics.




Conclusion

The findings of the present research study are very significant as they provide deep and valuable insight into the impact of cartoon programmes on the beliefs and opinions of heavy viewers related to gender-specific behaviour.

The overall findings related to the gender-specific behaviour of heavy viewers reveal that TV plays a major role in educating the children regarding gender roles and characteristics. The results indicate that in case of doing household chores, nurturing children, the qualities of being beautiful, submissive and failing frequently, heavy viewers more significantly assign these qualities and tasks to female members as compared to male members. Moreover, the results also indicate that heavy viewers have stereotypical approaches regarding gender roles and characteristics and it could be inferred based on the findings that this gender-stereotypical approach could also be due to the influence of cultural and societal norms or due to the stereotypical atmosphere at home. Apart from the influence of TV, there is a possibility that the family system, culture, daily routine activities of male and female members of family also exert great influence on children's minds regarding gender roles and characteristics.

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