Construction of Gendered Identities through Matrimonial Advertisements in Pakistani English and Urdu Newspapers: A Critical Discourse Analysis

Abstract

Matrimonial ads serve as a rich data source to observe the construction of gendered identities and to find out socially expected gender roles in any patriarchal society, where men and women used to offer those personality traits which are sought by members of the opposite sex.

The current study focuses on gender differences in desired and declared expectations for males and females such as education, caste, age, height, sect, property/residence, financial stability and personality traits. These findings related to gendered expectations were interpreted through the lenses of gender, social exchange, and social role theories. Both qualitative and quantitative methods have been  used for a thematic analysis and analysis of numerical categories of the desired and demanded attributes for the males and females respectively. A sample of 300 matrimonial ads was collected using stratified random sampling technique from English and Urdu newspapers ‘The Nation’ and ‘Daily Jang’. Results clearly demonstrate that men offer financial stability in exchange for women’s physical attractiveness. A strong preference for beautiful, fair, slim and homely girls by male advertisers and demand of well-settled men by female advertisers were observed in Urdu matrimonial ads.  

On the other hand, in English matrimonial ads, education is the most demanded variable for both the males and females. This study concludes that matrimonial ads as socio-cultural indicators clearly reflect socially expected roles and inherent gender-biased attitude in Pakistani society because socially expected roles are very different for a man and a woman to be an ideal husband and wife, as a well-settled man is seen as an ideal husband but a woman has to bear the burden of both social and physical satisfaction.