Gender Matters: Eritrean Women and Mediated Messages of Foreign Television Channel

There is no consensus among the scholars on how the globalization challenges cultures. Traditionally, culture has been considered evolving as result of day today routines of the people of a particular community of a specific geographical location. As result of globalization of media, folks are subjected to the influences of the cultural forms from across the globe, resulting in dislocation of the existing cultures [4].


Introduction
Globalization is a complex term as it is a socio, economic, technological, and cultural phenomena. No other concept, ever since its inception in the early nineties had influenced the countries of the world like globalization and there are hardly few parts of the globe that remained immune to this factor. Scholars in general are looking at it as an economic process, strengthening the power of private players by limiting the governments to policy making [1][2][3]. They are observing this phenomenon as 'beyond postmodernism that is connecting the global economy and culture through wired networks.
Never before in the world there was a free flow of people, trade and commerce, technology, images and text using satellite technology. While the developed world is looking at it as a process that promotes modernization and progress, developing and the less developed countries of the world are considering it as domination of an align culture on diversified local cultures.
There is no consensus among the scholars on how the globalization challenges cultures. Traditionally, culture has been considered evolving as result of day today routines of the people of a particular community of a specific geographical location. As result of globalization of media, folks are subjected to the influences of the cultural forms from across the globe, resulting in dislocation of the existing cultures [4].
Although there are divergent views on how the globalization of media is leading to homogenization of cultures, there are scholars that firmly believe in hybridization of cultures as a result of these processes [5].
Impact of globalization on culture is generally measured with the help of tendencies like mass consumption of imported products from other nations and cultures, including foreign television programs, films, books, and recorded music. However, the images, pictures, sounds and concepts that are flowing through the global media via transnational TV channels are not having unifying impact on local cultures.

Eritrean women through ages
Italians colonized a small piece of land adjacent to the Red Sea and named it as Eritrea in 1885. Eritrea was under the Italian occupation until its defeat in the World War II. British Military Administration ruled it till 1952 and declared Eritrea as 14 th province of Ethiopia with regional autonomy. This autonomy was short lived as Ethiopia abolished its independent status by 1962. Eritrea fought one of the bloodiest wars in the history of the modern world, where two splinter groups named Eritrean Liberation Front (ELF) and the Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF) fought guerilla warfare with Ethiopia. All sections of the Eritrean population including women took an active part in this struggle and 35% of women played a major role in the warfront, fighting on par with men. Eritrean freedom materialized with the UN sponsored referendum, in which People of Eritrea voted for complete freedom in 1991. Eritrea is a mosaic of languages, ethnicity, religion, geography and culture. While the highland Eritrea lives a sedentary life, lowland Eritreans are pastoral, semi pastorals and nomad. Tigrinya, Tigre, Saho, Nara, Kunama, Afar, Bilen, Hidarab and Rashaida are the nine major ethnic groups that live in Eritrea, speaking a language named after their ethnic group. Except Kunama, all the other ethnic nationalities are patriarchal, where father takes all major decisions related to family. Mother is confined to home and looks after the needs of the family. Although three decades of revolutionary ideology could break certain norms like extended family system and welcomed the women to the war front, the society is obsessed with rebuilding the war affected nation. The proposed reforms for equality of opportunities are well laid out in the yet to be implemented constitution and women's rights and equality of genders are not the immediate issues of the society and the government [6,7]. The one and the only native NGO working for the women in Eritrea named as National Union for Eritrean Women (NUEW) has no independent agenda to work for the betterment of the women, as they are strictly controlled by the government [8]. Mobility of women is restricted in lowland Eritrean families, where young girls in Muslim community are expected to veil themselves, limiting their opportunities in education and employment. This is hindering their attendance in schools [9]. Female literacy is very low and there is a serious lack of job related training for women as majority vocational courses are aiming at men [10].
Although women ventured to take up male jobs due to the absence of men in the families, male did not volunteer to share domestic work, as they are feminine. Nothing drastically changed except few women taking to ministerial position, despite the government's decision to reserve thirty-five percent of seats for the women in all government positions, including national assembly [11].
Native and the foreign journalists, apart from EPLF narratives glorified the participation of women in the warfront. They described the women's participation in the struggle for independence as an ultimate achievement in their lives, portraying them as creators of their own destiny. The ground realities in Eritrea however are entirely different; traditional practices like child marriages and preference for male child are still continuing. There is no law prohibiting heinous practices like Female Genital Mutation. 89% of women of all ethnic groups practice this to preserve her virginity [12].
Although domestic violence is a crime by law, wife beating is very common in Eritrea. There is no effective enforcement of law that punishes such violence and tremendous social pressure prevents women from reporting it publicly. Families and religious clergies generally address such issues and it was estimated that more than 65 per cent of women in the Asmara, the capital are victims of domestic violence [13].
Women have legal rights to education, equal pay for work, and property rights; however, in practice men retained privileged access to education, employment, and control of economic resources. Women are not enjoying the social status equal to men. Women do not report sexual harassment and rapes due to cultural and social pressures. Existing laws prohibiting sexual harassment are not severely punishing those who are violating them [14].
Eritrean Constitution does not specifically mention gender issues and gender based household divisions of labor have remained static. The demobilized women fighters were not accommodated in the postliberation period, as the society was not ready to accept them [15].
The war in Eritrea shattered the family structure to a considerable extent. The human tragedy was inconsolable, as tens and thousands have died and several thousands of them are disabled and displaced. As per the EPLF's estimations, 70, 000 combatants have died and there were massive civilian deaths crossing over 2, 50,000 [16].
Women in the post-independent Eritrea inherited a war ravaged society. At the end of the war, 50% of the families in urban Eritrea are female headed [17]. Having lost their men, 35% of the women turned widows and are left with children. 30% of the married women are living in the absence of men due to labour migration and compulsory military services. 25% of the women are divorced and are single parents [18].
Urban centers are adapting to small family norms and gradually shifting towards nuclear family. Majority women in Eritrea are working in unorganized sectors for very poor salaries. Women are accepting jobs in hotels, bars and restaurants as waitress and turned domestic servants to feed their families. Prostitution is rampant and women are vulnerable to dreadful diseases like HIV/AIDS [16,19].
Family as an institution is very strong in Eritrea even today. Eritreans attach great importance to their motherland and family. Although urban centers are witnessing nuclear families, children stay in the close vicinity of the parents that play a crucial role in the process of acculturation.
The 30 years war in Eritrea brought with it several changes. The revolutionary ideology of the warring fronts could break the feudal institutions of lineage and kinship in the highland Eritrea to a considerable extent [9] and put an end to the aristocracy in the lowland Eritrea [20]. It could also break the gender barriers by paving the way for women's political participation [21,22]. Heterosexual practices are allowed. Although polygamy is accepted as per the customary law, cohabitation, and homosexual practices are not prominently visible.
EPLF's marriage law in 1977 initiated love marriages for the first time in Eritrea, permitting the solders to pick up a partner of their choice. This was a radical departure from the traditional marriage practices in Eritrea. EPLF not only forbade the repudiation of nonvirgin brides, it encouraged premarital sex among its members and made contraceptives available and it is reported that most fighter couples engaged in sex before marriage [23][24][25].
There is enormous change in their attitudes towards love marriages today. Young men and women are selecting the partners of their choice. Single women and divorces are on rise, while children out of wedlock are discouraged. Authors found substantial evidence for mediated TV messages altering the culture of the society in general and the youth in particular. Since the present study is intended to focus on Impact of foreign TV messages among youth, it is essential to present a brief review of available literature on aspects like TV viewing habits of youth, TV in the families, gender differences in understanding mediated messages, sexual norms projected in the messages, youth lifestyles in TV content and studies based on music preferences of youth.
TV viewing is a major leisure time activity among youth across the globe [26,27]. Youth watch TV for various reasons. Rubin identified six television viewing motivations of adolescents: habit, relaxation, companionship, pastime, arousal and escape [28].
Youngsters of this 'Transnational' period are nurtured and naturalized in an image laden world and mass media is providing a base for constructing these images. Youth are exposed to extremely rich and slick environs in which attractive young adults are projected making intense love. Research evidence proves that constant exposure to pornography on the screen is compelling the young people to think beyond the marital relations [29]. The research also dealt at length on the changed youth attitude towards marriage, sex, relationships, and human values, causing serious concern. Zillmann et al. argues that the value system projected in erotic photographical media is antithetical to a value system, which acts against the a safe and healthy family environment [30].
It is imperative to understand family relations in foreign television programmes to measure its effects. Comstock and Strzyzewski analyzed family interactions in prime-time TV programmes and noted that parent, child, and sibling relations were defined by high levels of conflict with mutual blaming and providing negative criticism [31]. Frequent absence of mother and daughter relationship is observed in soap operas [32].
Majority people believe that parent's willingness to discipline children in the families on television has diminished in the last decade and the present day children care for their parents is less than in the past [33][34][35]. Family relations have become more conflictual so that members of modern families are more likely to ignore, evade and withdraw from each other [31,36].
With the direct satellite technology, American programmes are available to audiences worldwide exposing different kinds of family relations to the youth.

Gender differences exist in the way the audience view and interpret messages from TV
Morley attempted to study the differences in viewership across genders in Great Britain and tries to document the way male hegemony prevails and occupies the space at home. He observes that men preferred to view TV attentively in silence without interruption in order not to miss anything, while women are viewing it fundamentally as a social activity, involving ongoing conversation and performing at least one other domestic activity. Adolescent girls believed to be particularly vulnerable to promotional messages of the thin ideals to form selfidentity. Harrison and Cantor applied social learning theory in a study of college students to examine the impact of magazines and television exposure on body image. They found overall TV viewing related to body dissatisfaction but not a drive for thinness or eating disorder behaviour. Implications for women's TV drama viewing practices and the (re)production and negotiation of women's identities are discussed in many studies: The melodramatic serial, or the soap opera, has long been considered almost exclusively as women's genre [37]. Key debates in the feminist media research literature revolve around the negative social impact of soap operas. Many feminist researchers held the view that TV soap operas are reinforcing traditional gender roles and values. Despite recent arguments about the empowerment of women or feminist content of the soap operas, Livingstone and Tamar argue that American daytime soap operas are projecting traditional images of women [38].
TV images and content is offering messages related to sex to the young audience: It is offering teenagers a "script" for sexual behavior that they might not be able to observe anywhere else [39]. The most recent content analysis of television found that more than 75% of primetime shows on the major networks contain sexual content, but only 14% of incidents include any mention of the risks or responsibilities of sexual activity or the need for contraception [40].
There are significant changes in the youth lifestyles over the years and the cultural industries are playing a major role in shaping them. Cohen studied the youth lifestyles at Indiana University concluded that sub-cultural lifestyles among the youth are emerging as a result of disadvantaged backgrounds [41]. Young studied the drug-taking subcultures in the context of UK [42]. Cohen particularly argued that media exaggeration and sensational labeling of 'Mods and Rocker's culture has actually provided necessary direction in increasing the deviant qualities among them [43]. The satellite television has made its greatest impact among the college and university students of Pakistan. This group is most affected in language, fashion and behavior. The children of the middle class, with their demand for Nike shoe, Docker Levis Jeans and Calvin Klein T-shirts look much the same eroding the identities of economic and social class [44].
Music plays an important role in the lives of youth. It acts as a socializing agent and it is part of their daily life [45]. Music entertains youth and serves as a stress buster. Young people are using music to manage their emotions, to kill boredom and solitude [30,46]. As per the uses and gratifications approach, young people use music videos to meet their personal satisfaction, mood shifting and forgetting or deviating from their problems [47]. Music helps youth in building relations and provides the necessary background to express the romantic feelings [46].

Methodology
Based on exploratory survey, the present study tried to assess the impact of foreign TV on Young Eritrean women on five variables namely the family norms, social roles for Eritrean women, Sexual norms, Lifestyles and Music Preferences. 425 respondents that are in the age group of 18-25 , residing in major urban centers of Eritrea such as Asmara (capital city), Massawa, Gindae Agurodut, Keran, Barantu, Mandifera and Tessany.

Data presentation and analysis
425 respondents are classified into three categories, namely, the heavy, moderate, and low viewers. Further, the respondents are classified based on the gender. The data collected is furnished below Table 1.
Out of 425 respondents included in this study 225 (52.9%) are male and 200 (47.1%) are female ( Table 2). 48% of the respondents are in the age group of 18-20 years and 52% are in the age group of 20-25 years.
As per the Table 3, 40.9% of male in the age group of 18-20 years and 59. 1% in the age group of 20-25 has participated in the study. Similarly, 52.8% of the girls in the age group of 18-20 and 47.2% of the girls in the age group of 20-25 took part in the study.  Table 4, majority (49.2%) respondents are high viewers, compared to 38.4% of medium and 12.5% of low viewers of the foreign TV programmes.
According to the Table 5, female respondents are spending more time viewing foreign TV channels than male in low and high categories. The table indicates that 9.3% of the male respondents are low viewers compared to 16% of the female viewers. 50.7% of the male respondents are moderate viewers as against 24.5% of the female viewers and 59.5% of the female are high viewers compared to 16% of male respondents. Table 6 represents the relationship between the educational background of the respondents and their gender. It is evident that female respondents are competing with their male counterparts at the secondary education level but their numbers have decreased at higher secondary and university level education as only 35% of female respondents compared 47.1% of male have higher secondary education and it is reduced further to 22.5% at university level, as 26.7% of male respondents have degrees. Female respondents are slightly better in attaining technical education as 7.5% female compared to 4.4% of male have technical education. It is evident that female higher education was not impressive compared to their male counterparts.

Hypothesis testing
For the purpose of this study the construct 'western norms' has been conceptualized as having five dimensions like Family Norms, Social Roles for Eritrean Women, Sexual Norms, Lifestyles and Music Preferences.
Keeping the significance of gender in mind the following hypothesis has been proposed.

1.
Young heavy viewers of Global Television tend to accept the family norms projected in Global TV than moderate and low viewers 2.
Gender differences exist in accepting the family norms among heavy viewers 3.
Heavy viewers of Global Television tend to accept the Social Roles for Women projected in Global TV than moderate and low viewers 4.
Gender differences exist in accepting the western social roles for Eritrean women among heavy viewers

5.
Heavy viewers of Global Television tend to accept Western Sexual Norms for women in Eritrea 6.
Gender differences exist in accepting the western sexual norms for the women in Eritrea 7.
Heavy viewers of Global Television tend to accept lifestyles projected in Global TV than moderate and low viewers 8.
Gender differences exist in accepting lifestyles projected in Global TV than moderate and low viewers 9.
Heavy viewers of Global Television tend to accept Music Preferences projected in Global TV than moderate and low viewers 10. Gender differences exist in accepting Music in the Global TV than moderate and low viewers.
ANOVA is a common statistical procedure used extensively in the social sciences. It can handle a variety of situations. It is generally used to test the statistical significance between means, we are actually comparing (i.e., analyzing) variances.      For each respondent the mean response score on each question was calculated with respect to the selected group or category. If the mean score is close to 5, it indicates the acceptance of western norm. If it is close to 1, it indicates rejection of western norm. In order to have a criterion for classification of respondents according to their opinions, we have used the following cut-off values (Table 6.2).

Evaluating attitudes towards western norms: All the five
Since the response to each question is likely to differ according to the level of viewing and gender, ANOVA has been used to compare the mean scores of the group of questions with respect to the above two factors.
Hypothesis 1: Young heavy viewers of Global Television tend to accept the family norms projected in Global TV than moderate and low viewers: P-value in the Table 7 indicates significant differences among low, medium and heavy viewers of Global Television with respect to acceptance of Family Norms. The mean value of the heavy viewers is high compared to the others hence it can be concluded that heavy viewing of Global Television leads to the acceptance of family norms projected in Global Television.
Hypothesis 2: Gender differences exist in accepting the family norms among heavy viewers: After observing the impact of viewership on the acceptance of family norms, Independent t-test was conducted to find out the gender difference in accepting the family norms and output is summarized in Table 8. The result implies that there is no gender differences in accepting the family norms projected in global TV among heavy viewers. Table 9, p-value indicates significant differences among low, medium and heavy viewers of Global Television with respect to acceptance of Western Social roles for Eritrean women. The mean value of the heavy viewers is high compared to the others hence it can be concluded that heavy viewing of Global Television leads to the acceptance of western social roles for women in Eritrea as projected in Global Television.

Hypothesis 3: Heavy viewers of Global Television tend to accept the Social Roles for Women projected in Global TV than moderate and low viewers: From the
Hypothesis 4: Gender differences exist in accepting the western social roles for Eritrean women among heavy viewers: After observing the impact of viewership on their acceptance of western social roles for Eritrean women, Independent sample t-test was conducted to find out the gender difference in accepting the western social roles for women and output is summarized in Table 10. The result implies that there are no gender differences in accepting the social roles for women projected in FTP. Table 11 indicates that there is significant difference among low, medium and heavy viewers of Global Television with respect to acceptance of sexual norms projected in the FTP. Mean value of the low viewers is high compared to others hence, it can be concluded that with the rise in the exposure to global TV, acceptance of sexual norms depicted in global TV is reduced.

Hypothesis 5: Heavy viewers of Global Television tend to accept Western Sexual Norms projected in Global TV than moderate and low viewers: P-value in
Hypothesis 6: Gender differences exist in accepting the Sexual Norms among heavy viewers: After observing the impact of viewership on the acceptance of sexual norms depicted in global TV programmes, independent sample t-test was conducted to find out the gender difference in accepting the sexual norms and the output is summarized in Table 12. The result implies that there is no gender differences in accepting the sexual norms projected in global TV.

Options Values
Strongly Agree 5 Agree 4 Undecided 3 Somewhat Disagree 2 Strongly Disagree 1

Hypothesis 7: Heavy viewers of Global Television tend to accept lifestyles projected in Global TV than moderate and low viewers:
From the Table 13, p value indicates that there is significant difference among low, medium and heavy viewers of Global Television with respect to acceptance of lifestyles projected in the FTP.
Hypothesis 8: Gender differences exist in accepting the lifestyles projected in the FTP among heavy viewers: After observing the impact of viewership on their acceptance of lifestyles depicted in global TV programmes, independent sample t-test was conducted to find out the gender difference in accepting the lifestyles and the output is summarized in Table 14. From the results one can understand that gender differences exist in accepting the lifestyles that are projected in Global TV.
T-test is performed to identify the individual variable for which the mean scores of lifestyles differ significantly with respect to young male and female heavy viewers (Table 15).
In order to determine whether the young male heavy viewer's acceptance of lifestyles projected in FTP is greater than that of the female heavy viewers, mean scores were examined and the results were given below. The perceived significant difference between the young male and female heavy viewers was found on four out of ten dependent variables. They are 'I relate myself with the characters/actors/singers that appear in FTP', 'I consciously imitate the mannerisms of characters/ actors/singers in FTP whom I like', 'I try the foreign recipes shown in the FTP', and 'I use the jargon used in the FTP'. No other dependent variable on accepting Lifestyles differed significantly for young male and female heavy viewers.
The perceived difference between the young male and the young female heavy viewers was found with respect to: The results given above indicate that the young male heavy viewers of FTP have scored higher mean scores in three aspects than the young female heavy viewers. The mean value of the young female heavy viewers is greater than their male counterpart in the aspect that 'I use the jargons used in FTP'. Hence the hypothesis is partially supported Male heavy viewers showed greater acceptance for aspects like: relating themselves to the characters shown in the TV, consciously imitating the mannerisms of the characters shown FTP, and trying foreign receipts shown in the films.
It is clear from the above scores that male viewers are consciously imitating the characters and their mannerisms shown in FTP and they are personally associating themselves with the characters shown on the screen. This clearly indicates the fact that impact of western lifestyles on male heavy viewers is greater than that of female heavy viewers. Table 16, p value indicates the significant differences among the Low, medium and heavy viewers in accepting the music projected in the Global TV. Table 17 shows gender differences exists in accepting the music projected in FTP.

Hypothesis 10: Gender differences exists in the accepting the Western music shown in the global TV:
T-test is also performed to identify the individual variable for which the mean scores differs significantly with respect to young male and female viewer heavy viewers on Western music in FTP (Table 18).
The perceived significant difference is found in seven out of nine items. They are: 'Learning western music is necessary today', 'Learning western music helps to dance in the parties and in socialization', 'Learning western music and dance gives a person recognition in the peer group', 'Western music is noise', 'Exposure to western music leads to disinterest in Eritrean music', 'It encourages youth to participate in discotheques', and 'I enjoy the western music more than the indigenous music'.
The perceived difference between the young male and young female heavy viewers was found with respect to:

1.
Learning western music is necessary today:      Except in the case of one aspect stating 'Exposure to western music leads to disinterest in Eritrean music', in all other cases, the mean score of the young male heavy viewers is higher than that of their female counterparts.

Quantitative Data Findings
The sample was fairly uniform in terms of percentage of heavy, moderate and low viewers. Similarly, care has been taken to ensure that the number of male and female respondents is almost equal Major findings of the hypotheses testing are presents under various headings pertaining to the dependent variables used.

Western family norms
The dependent variable 'Western Family Norm' was operationalized into 17 components: attitudes towards decisions on major issues are to be made by father not mother, Mother must also be consulted in decision making, young people must have a say on issues pertaining to them, father has to decide the career of the young people, It must be left to the young People to make their career decisions, young people can depend on the parents economically, young people should try to be financially independent as soon as possible, young people should obey elders, young people must use polite language in conversing with parents, young people can argue with parents if necessary, it is the responsibility of the adult children to take care of their parents, arranged marriages are better, self-choice marriages last longer than arranged marriages and the rituals associated with the marriages are farce and should be scrapped.
The first hypothesis stated that young heavy viewers of global television tend to show a greater degree of acceptance of western family norms projected in global TV than moderate and low viewers. The data analyzed using ANNOVA found significant differences among low, medium and heavy viewers of global television with respect to acceptance of Western Family Norms. The mean value of the heavy viewers is high compared to the others hence it can be concluded that heavy viewing of global television is leading to acceptance of family norms projected in global Television. No great gender differences were traced in accepting the western family norms projected in the global TV messages.

Western social roles for eritrean women
The dependent variable 'Western social norms for the Eritrean women' was operationalized into 13 components to determine the attitude of the young heavy viewers of Global TV programmes in Eritrea towards women. It includes opinions on the working women, economic independence of the women, sharing of domestic work by both the husband and the wife, women standing for her rights, social image of the working women, and ideal family were studied. Three hypotheses have been formulated for this purpose.
The second hypothesis assumed that the young heavy viewers of FTP show a greater degree of acceptance for western social roles projected in the global TV than the moderate viewers. The hypothesis was found significant as there was statistical support to state that there exists significant difference among three categories of viewers in the acceptance of western social roles for the women projected in FTP. The mean scores for the heavy viewers are higher than the moderate and low viewers. Hence this can be concluded as rise in FTP is leading to acceptance of social roles for women projected in FTP among young heavy viewers of Eritrea.
The second hypothesis states that because of heavy FTP viewing female viewers are showing a greater degree of acceptance of western social roles for women in Eritrea. This statement did not gain enough statistical support as there was no significant difference among the genders in the acceptance of social roles for women as projected in FTP. Hence this can be treated as, irrespective of genders, the young heavy viewers of FTP are accepting the western social norms for women in Eritrea.

Western sexual norms
Acceptance of western sexual norm was operationalized into 10 components like stimulation of interest in sex, indulging in casual sex, opinions about cohabitation, dating, pre and extra marital affairs, and opinions on gay and lesbian practices among the young heavy viewers of FTP.
The third hypothesis tested the significance of FTP viewing among the young heavy viewers in accepting the western sexual norms mentioned above as a result of exposure to FTP. The statement found sufficient statistical support to state that there exists a significant difference among the young heavy viewers in accepting western sexual norms projected in FTP. The mean scores of low FTP viewers are higher than that of the mean scores of medium and high viewers. This can be concluded that exposure to new sexual practices are leading to a clear understanding of their implications and with the rise in the viewership, young heavy viewers are able to take better judgment regarding their sexual affiliation.
The third hypothesis states that young male heavy viewers are quick in accepting the western sexual norms projected in FTP than their female counterpart. This statement proved invalid as there was not enough statistical support to strengthen it. Hence this was concluded as, irrespective of genders, young heavy viewers of the FTP are accepting the western sexual norms as project in the programmes.

Western lifestyles
The construct 'Western Lifestyle has been operationalized into 10 dependent variables such as young heavy viewers relating themselves with the characters, hairstyles, body language, dress designs, accent, and jargons shown FTP. There were questions pertaining to trying  western recipes and aspiring to travel abroad. Three hypotheses have been developed to test its validity. The first hypothesis stated that young heavy viewers of foreign TV channels are awe consumers of western lifestyles compared to moderate and low viewers. The statement found statistical support as there was a significant difference among the three categories of viewers of FTP in accepting the western lifestyles projected in FTP. The mean score for low viewers is high compared to medium and heavy viewers. This can be interpreted as the imitation of western lifestyles is very high at the initial stages of exposure to FTP and it is getting refined with the rise in viewing levels. Over the years of exposure, the young heavy viewers are educated and are well informed and therefore they are choosy and selective in imitating western lifestyles.
This hypothesis stated that young heavy male viewers are accepting the western lifestyles than female viewers. This statement found significant support as there was statistical support to state that significant difference exist among the genders in accepting western lifestyles. The mean scores for the young male viewers were found greater than the young female viewer and hence this trend was concluded as acceptance of western lifestyles was high among the young heavy male viewers than their female counterparts.
The perceived significant difference between the young male and female heavy viewers was found on four out of ten dependent variables. No other dependent variable on accepting Lifestyles differed significantly for young male and female heavy viewers.
It is clear from the mean scores that male viewers are consciously imitating the characters and their mannerisms shown in FTP and they are personally associating themselves with the characters shown on the screen. This clearly indicates the fact that impact of western lifestyles on male heavy viewers is greater than that of female heavy viewers. This is due to the fact that male dominated Eritrean society grooms their young daughters only to get married and they must remain submissive.
In patriarchal societies like Eritrea, it would be surprising to observe male viewers showing keenness in trying various food recipes. Female viewers are not equally eager in this case. It is reflecting the fact that young male heavy viewers who are exposed to FTP are gradually gearing up to share domestic work like cooking, which is a female job in Eritrea.
Female heavy viewers are agreeing that they are imitating the jargons uttered by the characters in FTP. This reflects the fact that Eritrean girls are coming out of the cultural and social cocoons in which they are shut so far. They are opening themselves to the world outside and are exposed to various aspects in FTP. This has gone to the extent of imitating the jargons uttered by the characters in FTP.

Music preferences
Preference to western music was measured with the help of 9 dependent variables that state that learning western music is necessary to attain recognition among the peers, knowledge of western music is helpful in participating dance concerts and Western music is considered as novel and modern when compared to indigenous music and acquaintance of western music leads to disinterest of local music. Attitudes of the young heavy viewers towards western music was also tested on aspects like 'western music is noise, and it encourages the youth to take part in pubs and discotheques. Three hypotheses have been formulated to test the validity of these statements.
The first hypothesis proposed that young heavy viewers are keen in preferring western music compared to low and moderate viewers. This statement was found valid as there was significant difference among the three categories of FTP viewers in accepting the western music. The mean score values for the low viewers is high compared to moderate and heavy viewers. This can be concluded as; the innovation in the western music is alluring the young heavy viewers towards it and a rise in the exposure to western music is turning young heavy viewers to be choosy and it is slightly degenerating with the rise in the level of viewing. Hence the hypothesis was partially supported.
The second hypothesis in this category states that gender differences exist in preferring western music. This statement found statistical support as there is significant difference in accepting the western music among the young heavy male and female viewers.
The perceived significant difference is found in seven out of nine items. They are: 'Learning western music is necessary today', 'Learning western music helps to dance in the parties and in socialization', 'Learning western music and dance gives a person recognition in the peer group', 'Western music is noise', 'Exposure to western music leads to disinterest in Eritrean music', 'It encourages youth to participate in discotheques', and 'I enjoy the western music more than the indigenous music'. Except in the case of one aspect that states that 'Exposure to western music leads to disinterest in Eritrean music', in all other cases, the mean score of the young male heavy viewers is higher than that of their female counterparts. This can be interpreted in this way.
Majority young male heavy viewers are saying 'Learning western music is necessary today' as young male viewers are increasingly switching over to western music and dance. Traditionally, each ethnic group in Eritrea has its peculiar dance form that encourages the participation of both the sexes. Acceptance of western music and dance among young male heavy viewers denotes the fact that westernization is making inroads into Eritrean youth culture, particularly among male viewers. Yet, Eritrean culture allows the participation of both the sexes in the presence of other family members also. Participation of western dance and music is taking place in pubs and dance clubs where participation of women is minimal compared to male in Eritrea. Hence, young heavy male viewers are showing greater interest in western music than young female viewers.
Young heavy male viewers are of the opinion that 'learning western music helps them to dance in the parties and in socialization'. This acceptance reflects the bitter truth that there exist huge difference in the way the boys and girls socialize in Eritrea, where there are many restrictions on the mobility of young girls. Young boys are further stating that knowledge of western music and dance help them in getting recognized among the peers. In African societies, recognition as responsible young man would be attained on fulfilling certain social or community's responsibilities as the African societies are known for their collective value system. With the globalization of media and with the exposure to western social norms, they are attaining recognition among the peers by acquiring knowledge of western music and dance, which reflects individual achievement.
Young heavy male are also making certain statements that are closely related to the previous statements such as Western music is noisy, it encourages them in participating in discos and they enjoy listening to western music to indigenous ones. Heavy metallic western music is highly distractive. Although Eritrean music is known for its drum beats, where instruments like 'krar' is used in playing them, Indigenous music follow a monotonous beat with little variation. Western music on the other hand uses variety of instruments and genres like Hip-hop is very popular among Eritrean youth. In the past, there were local heroes, who served as role models to Eritrean youth. Today, western singers and dancers are filling that gap. This must be the reason why Eritrean young heavy female viewers have agreed on the statement that exposure to western music leads to disinterest in Eritrean music.

Conclusion
Eritrea is a new born African nation known for its traditional values of kinship, extended family system and Patriarchal social system. While Italian and British rule opened up this conservative society to accept western educational system and administration, warring fronts with their Marxist ideology could revolutionize the society on various aspects, including participation of women in schools, jobs, administration, and warfare. While the local media in Eritrea is euphoric on the Eritrean struggle for Independence, young Eritreans are exposed to messages and Images of global TV that projects highly individualistic, liberal, consumer culture. Heavy exposure to foreign TV programmes is changing viewer's perceptions and attitudes towards family norms, sexual norms, social roles for women, lifestyles and music preferences considerably. There exist considerable gender differences on the way the male and female viewers interpret and accept the messages. Young heavy male viewers of global TV are freely accepting the western lifestyles and music compared to young heavy female viewers. Low literacy levels, patriarchal family system, lack of professional skill to enter in organized job market and severe economic and military compulsions at home are hindering women in Eritrea to ripe the complete benefits of independence. Although global media is projecting an independent image of the women, women empowerment in Eritrea is not fulfilled. They are accepting certain values like lifestyles and music compared to family norms and social roles for women. Although concepts like dating, marriage by choice and small family norm are gaining acceptance, they are not taking place strictly as per the western norms and there still exist inequalities in terms of literacy, wages/salaries, sharing domestic work and equality. Local social system is playing instrumental role in interpreting global messages and they are adopted in a different local context.