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Women: International
on African women’s constitutional and
legal demands, and on African women
and their decision-making. Including
African men in such sections and shows,
when it is relevant professionally,
clearly marks an important shift: Gender
is now portrayed as being a key
variable to all critical public policy debates,
and this enables public support
to increase for these various causes.
Outside of the mainstream (public
and private) broadcast media significant
changes have occurred as well,
but concerns remain, including issues
of access to media production. In Africa,
with its disproportionately low
literacy rates, most new electronic
media do not extend their reach beyond
capitals and large urban areas.
This means that African women of lower
income levels, in both urban and rural
areas, suffer from lack of access to
information. They also do not have the
means to express their own realities,
debate their interpretations of those
realities, and engage in discussions
about potential solutions with decision-
and policymakers at the national
level.
In an attempt to remedy this situation,
community broadcast media have
emerged. These are participatory, community-based
and -managed broadcast
media with a developmental agenda.
Development Through Radio in Zimbabwe,
for example, links a series of
rural women’s listening and production
groups with one another through
a public broadcaster. In Mali, open
media regulation has allowed for the
formation of six women’s community
radio stations, similarly linked to exchange
programs and ideas. There are
now women’s community radio stations
in Malawi, Senegal and South
Africa. Most of the community radio
stations are not specifically managed
by women, but women’s representa-
Changing the Way Women’s Lives Are Portrayed
‘Ordinary women only are considered news when something they’ve done is “bad”….’
By Lettie Longwe
Khayelitsha township, Cape Town. Photo by Monica Bekwapai.
While there are a good number of
women who work in the media in Africa,
their impact is still not yet significant.
To some extent, the reasons
emerge out of the cultures in which
these women work. But other challenges
seem more a by-product of the
ways in which these occupations operate
and the skills that are required and
rewarded. For example, some attributes
are admired and encouraged in men,
yet seen as unacceptable in women.
And when the media focus on these
qualities, it is women who are normally
punished for having them. Perhaps
this is most visible in coverage of
politics: Women who “play” the media
are seen as being manipulative, while
men are merely regarded as politicians.
Within the African media, many
women who have achieved influential
positions do not want to assist other
women below them. Now that they are
in high positions, they believe they
should associate only with people who
will further enhance their positions.
They do very little to encourage, help
and associate with other women. They
literally turn a blind eye and deaf ear to
discrimination going on around them.
And those people—men and
women—who make decisions about
media programming do not see a financial
gain in focusing on women, so
coverage of women does not become a
priority. Programs targeted at women
are dominated by stereotypical notions
of women’s interests—such as taking
care of the house. And women’s sports
receive little attention, often none at
all, yet women are very active in netball,
basketball, tennis, even football. Nor is
there much coverage of violence against
women. As news, a story about rape is
rare, and when it does appear, its presentation
is stereotypic. Earlier this year,
when a public message about rape was
screened on South African TV, it raised
such an uproar from men that it was
finally removed from broadcast.
For those of us who work in community
radio in Africa, the audiences we
serve often have high rates of illiteracy.
Therefore, radio is the primary source
of information, and members of the
76 Nieman Reports / Winter 2001