Gibson Mhaka recently in Nairobi, Kenya
RESEARCH on media coverage of women in politics and the campaigns of those women running for high public office showed that they continue to be under-represented in news coverage, and are often stereotypically portrayed when they are included.
In addition the research shows that news coverage of female politicians focuses more on character traits and less on their policy arguments than it does for their male counterparts.
This concern was expressed at the just-ended celebrations of the Maputo Protocol@20: High Level Intergenerational Dialogue on Women in Political Participation (WPP) in Nairobi, Kenya.
The commemoration event was being held in the form of an Intergenerational Dialogue linking the gender stalwarts that were present during the development of the protocol, the women politicians who have seen the protocol at work and young women in politics who aspire to be in political leadership under the theme: “Raising the Bar on Accountability: Twenty years of Strengthening Women’s Rights in Africa”.
It was reflecting on, among others, the achievements and challenges of Women’s rights in Africa over the 20 years of the Maputo Protocol, holding Member States accountable for their human rights obligations to guarantee gender equality and women’s empowerment in Africa, identifying emerging issues of women’s human rights in Africa as well as defining impactful strategies and actions to consolidate gains and accelerate implementation.
Concerns raised by panellists comprising women politicians, gender stalwarts and women in media revealed that for the past few decades women in politics continued to be sidelined when it comes to media coverage.
They roundly noted that female politicians were not given the same treatment as their male counterparts in the media.
Gender Links regional networking manager for Local Action for Gender Justice Priscilla Maposa said women in politics continue to be under-represented in news coverage, and those included are often portrayed as the inexpert delegates of influential men.
“Women politicians are less visible than men in political news coverage.
“At the moment the media coverage is quite low and from the research that was conducted from southern Africa it shows that media coverage is still a long way to go.
“This a challenge that we have and since the media is the watchdog of society and the messages they transmit can change or reinforce social norms and behaviours, and mobilise citizens to take progressive actions, we want it to profile women politicians as this will also help other females to join politics.
“We are, however, appealing to the lawmakers, governments and civil societies in African countries to lobby the media or journalists to ensure that they deliver fair and balanced media coverage of women and men in politics.
“On the other hand we also want to encourage those female politicians and those aspiring candidates that they should not shy away from the media, they need to ensure that they get to the media so that their stories are heard,” said Maposa.
She, however, insisted that there was a gender bias in the amount of coverage of politicians in proportional electoral systems, where women politicians lag behind men in media attention.
Executive director at the Association of Media Women in Kenya (AMWIK) Patience Nyange said there was a need to create safe spaces for women in politics as they were often discouraged from getting involved in politics because of gendered media reporting.
“Women in politics are experiencing overwhelming levels of abuse and gender disinformation campaigns, which traditional and social media often fuel and perpetuate.
“The problem started at journalism schools where journalists are taught to look for something that sells.
“Most of the time, we talk about gender issues but this is not the story that the media can talk about all the time and whenever they include or talk about women in politics the stories are often based not on their positions or achievements, but on how well or poorly they fit expected gender roles,” said Nyange.
Gender Links Voice and Choice programme manager Tarisai Nyamweda said when it comes to coverage of women in politics the media can also be part of the problem and the solution.
“While, ideally, the media should strive for accuracy and impartiality, in reality there are often imbalances in coverage, including in terms of women and their participation in politics.
“Politics is one of the most topical issues in the media but not much of this is on Women’s political participation.
“Raising women’s voices is often lacking in the media and research has shown that one in five women is a news source or people who are seen or heard in the media.
“Although social media has been a double-edged sword for women, through it (social media) women in politics are now able to control their own narrative and speak for themselves and express their political opinions,” said Nyamweda.
She said human rights instruments such as the Maputo Protocol which amplifies and defines the rights of women and girls across Africa should not only be discussed during commemorations or anniversaries.
“Human rights instruments such as Maputo Protocol should not only be discussed during commemorations and anniversaries.
“This is because lack of media attention on this contributed to the lack of public awareness which poses difficulties in their meaningful implementation.
“It would also be particularly interesting to organise training activities for the benefit of media personnel on these instruments like we have done in Sadc at Gender Links.
“We designed a media Centre of Excellence (COE) programme that was linked to the Sadc Protocol and media training was tailored around these themes,” said Nyamweda.
Pan African women’s rights organization, African Women’s Development and Communication Network (FEMNET) executive director Memory Kachambwa echoed the same idea and said good unconscious bias training would help journalists realise their biases toward women in politics adding that trainings would help balance the celebration of female politicians’ accomplishments without discrediting it by pointing out their gender.
Meanwhile, a general observation by International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) in Zimbabwe, Swaziland and Botswana media landscape shows an improved positive coverage of women’s political participation in print and electronic media.
An in-depth analysis by the organisation of the stories published in 2020 in the three countries shows reassuring efforts by the media to prioritise gender-neutral coverage meant to generate an environment of equality in the political field.
The improved coverage of women in leadership and political participation was a direct result of the training sessions for media practitioners of Women Political Participation facilitated by Gender Links in the three countries and was supported by IDEA.
