Publication

Abstract :

Language is a cultural phenomenon and it reflects all the shades of the social establishment and its provincial manifestations of the collective consciousness. Any language use is bound to obey the framework that prevails in within the establishment. It also encompasses the use of language in information industries such as mass media, especially in newspapers where the use of language is direct and predominant. Gender bias is also one of the provincial manifestations and as such newspapers are bound to reflect the phenomenon as it prevails in the language of a society. Numerous studies conducted to identify and study the gender bias present in newspapers throw light on this topic. This research paper is one such attempt to identify and study gender bias that prevails in Tamil newspapers during the times of the Corona Pandemic 2020. The study manually analyzes news stories published in the five best Tamil newspapers in the context of gender representation and the subsequent prevalence of gender bias in the content and the language. The results show that there are a few commonly identified forms of gender bias in Tamil news stories in keeping with gender bias that exists in English newspapers. However, the study also reveals that there are a few unique gender bias forms that prevail in the Tamil news stories that merit scholarly investigation. The paper testifies the scope for further research in this area in order to encourage the practice of writing gender-neutral news stories.