Gender Discrimination in Death Reportage: Reconnoitering Disparities through a Comparative Analysis of Male and Female Paid Obituaries of Pakistani English Newspapers - Article

Oct 15, 2026

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The study examines gender discrimination in the post-death framing of obituarial discourse, focusing on how Pakistani English newspaper paid obituaries recognize and project men versus women after death. A corpus of 601 paid obituaries published within one year was analyzed, and 10 qualitative interviews were conducted to support interpretation. Results from quantification indicate that males receive more obituaries and stronger projected representation than females. The study finds that differences are shaped by contextual factors rather than pure discrimination alone, including familial traditions, religious beliefs, cultural traditions, and socioeconomic environments.

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Literature Review

Advances in Language and Literary Studies ISSN: 2203-4714 Vol. 5 No. 2; April 2014 Copyright © Australian International Academic Centre, Australia Gender Discrimination in Death Reportage: Reconnoitering Disparities through a Comparative Analysis of Male and Female Paid Obituaries of Pakistani English Newspapers Sajid M. Chaudhry (Corresponding author) Awang Had Salleh Graduate School ofArts and Sciences Universiti Utara Malaysia E-mail: [sajid_ch@hotmail.com](sajid_ch@hotmail.com) [Anne A. Christopher](Anne A. Christopher) School of Education & Modern Languages College of Arts and Sciences, Universiti Utara Malaysia [E-mail:althea@uum.edu.my](E-mail:althea@uum.edu.my) [Hariharan A/L N.Krishnasamy](Hariharan A/L N.Krishnasamy) School of Education & Modern Languages College of Arts and Sciences, Universiti Utara Malaysia [E-mail: hn1084@uum.edu.my](E-mail: hn1084@uum.edu.my) Doi:10.7575/aiac.alls.v.5n.2p.29 URL: [http://dx.doi.org/10.7575/aiac.alls.v.5n.2p.29](http://dx.doi.org/10.7575/aiac.alls.v.5n.2p.29) Received: 14/02/2014 Accepted: 24/03/2014 Abstract The study examines the issue of gender discrimination in the post death scenario of obituarial discourse. It aims to identify the way Pakistani newspaper obituaries recognize and project males and females after their deaths. A total of 601 paid obituaries published in a year’s time span in Pakistani English newspapers were evaluated for the purpose. 10 qualitative interviews were also conducted to supplement the findings and discussion. Quantification of the data suggests that males not only get more obituaries but also get added projection when compared to females. To understand the reasons behind this varied treatment, the participants ’ responses were analyzed. The findings reveal that the observed differences in the death reportage of both genders do not purely fall in the line of gender discrimination. Males get situational advantage due to the factors like familial traditions, religious beliefs, cultural traditions and socioeconomic environments. Keywords: Obituarial Discourse, Obituary Announcement, Gender Discrimination, Socio-cultural Norms, Familial Traditions, Situational Advantage 1. Introduction Obituary announcements are community oriented social texts authored according to certain accepted and established social and, in many cases, religious conventions. It is widely believed that religious beliefs, cultural values and societal practices of a particular society form the basis of the language employed and content written by the writers of these socio-cultural and religiously oriented announcements. Moses and Marelli (2004, p.123) consider the obituary “a window that provides a view into a culture.” Being social and cultural products, these announcements help their readers understand social realities and measure prevailing societal norms, trends and change in these practices of the societies they belong to. Researchers consider these necrology twins (obituaries and death notices) as an undisputable data source for the purpose since these “summarize what is said about and done for people immediately after death”(Haley, 1977, p. 207) . Considering the newspaper obituary a socio-cultural product, which reflects the societal norms, the current study aims at exploring the way Pakistani society remembers and honors its male and female populace in the post-death scenario of obituarial discourse. Specifically, this study examines if women get equal public recognition in obituarial literature as compared to men or if they are subject to discrimination and ostracism. This research area has been explored by many researchers during the last couple of decades. By examining the contents of newspaper obituary announcements and death notices, many attempts have been made previously to study this complex anthropological phenomenon from varying perspectives. However, still there is a scarcity of contextual understandings like ho

FAQs

What is the main research focus of the study?

The study focuses on how Pakistani English newspaper obituaries portray males and females after death, and whether women receive equal public recognition or face discrimination and marginalization.

How was the data collected and evaluated?

A total of 601 paid obituaries published in Pakistani English newspapers over a one-year span were evaluated, supplemented by 10 qualitative interviews to support the findings.

What factors explain the observed differences between genders?

The findings suggest differences are not purely gender discrimination; males may gain situational advantages from familial traditions, religious beliefs, cultural traditions, and socioeconomic environments.

Oct 15, 2026

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