The perils of too many hours spent in front of the boob tube are well known: obesity, poor grades, and overexposure to sex and violence. But when it comes to the developing world, television may be an unexpectedly valuable tool for liberating women. According to new research, access to satellite TV is of surprising value to the lives of rural Indian women—about six years of education, to be precise. Researchers analyzed three years’ worth of data collected in 180 rural Indian villages, 21 of which gained access to satellite television. In villages that acquired the new medium, school enrollment among girls increased and women had fewer children. The newly wired women also became less accepting of spousal abuse, a bias in favor of having boys declined, and they were more likely to be able to spend money without a husband’s permission. It is well known that women acquire more liberal attitudes with each additional year of education, and the changes in attitudes and behaviors the researchers observed were as great as if the women had received six years of schooling.
The study concludes that the content of the programming likely makes the difference in altering attitudes. Shows on satellite TV tend to focus on urban areas, where women’s status is higher, explains Emily Oster, an economist at the University of Chicago and a coauthor of the study. “People are getting exposed to a set of attitudes that are more liberal—that are more favorable toward women—and . . . they are changing their minds in response to that,” she says.
Television certainly can’t cure all the social ills that come with poverty and low social standing, and it may alter attitudes more quickly in some places than others. But it could be a cheap alternative to many costly (and often unsuccessful) government programs meant to empower women. For some, says Oster, the best option might simply be “more TV!”
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