Gendered Portrayal of Political Actors in Nigerian Print Media – What Impact on Women’s Political Participation?
No Thumbnail Available
Date
2015
Authors
Eshiet I.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA)
Abstract
The objective of this paper is to investigate the gendered portrayal of political actors in Nigerian print media and its impact on women’s political participation based on an empirical study. The study adopted a combination of methods – content analysis and cross-sectional survey. A case study of the coverage of the corruption charges of two former Speakers of the lower legislature (male and female, respectively) during the 2007-2011 administration was conducted on two purposely selected daily newspapers – The Punch and The Guardian. To complement the findings of the content analysis, a cross-sectional survey was conducted on a sample size of 100 respondents on their perception of media portrayal of female politicians. Findings of the content analyses revealed that the coverage of the cases was gendered, with the female Speaker’s case being sensationalised, hyped and trivialised. However, the findings of the survey indicate that a majority of the respondents saw the coverage as justifiable, believing the media simply reported the truth about the female Speaker.
Description
Keywords
Citation
Eshiet, I. (2015). Gendered Portrayal of Political Actors in Nigerian Print Media – What Impact on Women’s Political Participation? Africa Media Review: Special Issue on Gender and Media 21(1&2):135 -149. Senegal: Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA).