The growth of television in the developing world over the last two decades has been extraordinary. Estimates suggest that the number of television sets in Asia has increased more than six-fold since the 1980s, increasing from 100 million to 650 million. In China, television exposure grew from 18 million people in 1977 to 1 billion by 1995. In more recent years, satellite and cable television availability has risen dramatically. Again in China, the number of people with satellite access increased from just 270,000 in 1991 to 14 million by 2005. Further, these numbers are likely to understate the change in the number of people for whom television is available, since a single television is often watched by many. India has not been left out of the cable and satellite revolution: A recent survey finds that 112 million households in India own a television, with 61 percent of those homes having cable or satellite service.
The research by Jensen and Oster differs from these mostly anthropological studies by providing a more quantitative analysis that measures how large an impact television has on the status of women. “It’s one thing to ask people if they think TV affected gender attitudes and behaviors,” explains Oster. “Even if they say yes, it’s quite difficult to say anything about magnitudes.” The authors also emphasize identifying causal effects by trying to ensure there aren’t any factors in their data driving both the expansion in access to television and changes in the status of women that would lead to the wrong conclusion that the former causes the latter.
[This article has been reproduced with permission from Capital Ideas, the research journal of University of Chicago's Booth School of Business http://www.chicagobooth.edu/capideas/ ]
the bottom line issue will always be the instigator of behavior adjustment, TV programming or real, old-world happenstance
on Dec 8, 2011It is good to see improvement in rural area women attitude. The TV serials, along with their profits & ratings also should consider these women orthogonal development.
on Mar 21, 2011