Abstract
Journalism is considered an exclusive preserve of men with salutation phrase of ‘Gentlemen of the press’ an indication of gender discrimination or men profession only. Religion, culture, gender disparity, role as mother and insecurity among others are factors influencing the performance of women journalists in Nigeria. The core objective of the research is to appraise the gender inequality in the practice of journalism with a case study of Oyo State National Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ). Survey research method was used while 120 copies of questionnaires were administered to 120 respondents who were purposively selected with 60 respondents from the print media and another 60 from broadcast media respectively. It is very clear from the findings that women journalists are performing like their male counterparts in all aspect of journalism despite the fact that women’s role as mother alongside religion, political atmosphere are some of challenges limiting the potentials most especially in Africa. Yet the impacts of women journalists to the development of broadcast media cannot be overemphasized as they anchor of women related programmes such as “Today’s Women”, Maggi Kitchen, Women Half Hour, Women in Politics, Best Mom, anchor of Health/Children Programme, entertainment, family show, religion programme. It is recommended that the media employers should ensure gender equality while recruiting for media establishment.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
- Background of study
The unequal power relations that work to naturalize the categories that are used to understand the world, such as, gender, class, race, nation and a particular way of seeing the world, result in the marginalization and oppression of certain groups of people (Volcic, 2008). It is perceived that women constitute the majority of the category of persons marginalized. Okunna (1992) states that “…a combination of cultural and religious factors have reduced women to mere appendages of their male counterparts” (p. 49). This assertion has been lent credence in various researches (Malik, 2002; Amuche, 2015; Enwefah, 2016; Safa & Akter, 2015).
Also, it is claimed that there exist diverse forms of marginalization and oppression towards women journalists. Safa & Akter (2015) assert that “the female journalists recognized stereotyped attitudes, unreasonable treatment, harassment by male colleagues, were paid less as compared to male colleagues in media houses and job insecurity as the other reasons that prompt them to give up the profession” (p.207). Djerf-Pierre (2007) concurs when he avers that “newspaper journalism was clearly gendered in the early years of the past century, with certain positions and areas of coverage designated for men and women” (p.84).
At this instance, it is pertinent to examine the salient role ascribed to women by society, which, to an extent, has shaped the designated role prescription. Damean (2006) sees gender as consisting of constructing an image and assuming a social role. Nwosu (2012) avers that “the role and importance of women in society have remained issues of serious concern and debate” (p.1240). MacBride & Sean (1981) posit that in every society, public attitudes regarding the role of women in society are a major factor in deciding the status of women.
