Third International Conference on Communication & Media Studies

Abstract

Women have a momentous role in Iran’s society. Soap operas on national TV are very popular entertainment among Iranian women. “Pedar” is a recent TV serial show which the main story is about a young woman and her problems with society. She falls in love with a man and they marry but she loses his husband because of man’s death. We analyzed qualitatively the content of this soap opera. In the story, we observe that women’s identities are defined on bases of their husband or father. Women are economically dependent on men. They do not try to obtain independent but tries to attach to different men for their economic needs. Also, they are portrayed as totally needing men to solve their problems; waiting for a man to come and solve problems. The main character is a mother with no job and she is in a depressive situation in a role that shows she cannot survive without a man’s help. On the other hand, the government’s support is minimal and even violates victim women sometimes. The public representation of women constructs how we think about women and what we expect from them and their desires and motivations. In this paper, we explore how the current portrayal is problematic. If we plan for a powerful society, we have to represent women as powerful actors in society.