University of Cape Town

Gender Studies

COVERSHEET
COURSE CODE:

AXL 2103S

COURSE NAME:

Gender Studies

STUDENT NAME:

Shivani Naidoo

STUDENT NUMBER: NDXSHI011

TUTORS NAME:

Mary Fawzy

TUT. GROUP #: 1

PLAGIARISM DECLARATION

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I know that plagiarism is wrong. Plagiarism is to use anothers work and pretend
that it is my own.
I have used the footnote referencing guide for citation and referencing. Each
contribution to, and quotation in this essay/report/project/ from the
work(s) of other people has been contributed, and has been cited and
referenced.
This essay/report/project/ is my own work.
I have not allowed, and will not allow, anyone to copy my work.

Signature:

Date:

7/8/2015

Outline the ways that research on gender and media in Africa would benefit from linkages
between academic scholarship and civil society in terms of contributing to a more equitable
development agenda on the continent.
In the last few decades, there has been a rise in media production in Africa resulting from the
liberalisation incidental to the democratic developments throughout Africa during the 1990s
(Gadzekpo, 2011). African gender and media research has therefore emerged as a space for
academic analysis where gendered practices in media production can be examined from
different African perspectives situated in varying socio-cultural contexts (Gadzekpo, 2011).
Presently, much of the gender and media research has been dominated by a Western feminist
perspective despite the rise of research on gender and media located in the context of Africa
(Gadzekpo, 2011). By analysing where research is being produced and the prevailing trends
in research, this essay will show the ways that research on gender and media in Africa would
benefit from the nexus between academic scholarship and civil society in terms of
contributing to a more equitable development agenda in Africa (Gadzekpo, 2011).
Western feminist perspectives in academia and activism can be ascribed for the use of the
media as the platform on which womens marginalization and equality has been challenged
(Gadzekpo, 2011). Particularly consequential was the internationalising of the focus on
gender in media through the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women, which
recognised the inadequate addressing of gender stereotyping in public and private media
production on a national and international level (Gadzekpo, 2011). The conference
necessitated the increased engagement of women in media production and decision-making
in newer communication technologies with the intention of developing less predisposed and a
more equitable depiction of women in the media (Gadzekpo, 2011). The diverse and complex
viewpoints offered by the academia who employ gender as an important consideration in the
examination of the representations in mass media content, show how the imbalance in the
power relations between men and women is perpetuated in media production (Gadzekpo,
2011).
Research on gender in media has shown how reality as depicted in the news is shaped by the
gendered perspectives offered by news organisations and reporters (Gadzekpo, 2011).
Another noteworthy contribution to the field suggests that women are representatively
eliminated by the media by disregarding them and consigning them to stereotypical roles
(Gadzekpo, 2011). Furthermore it is argued that sexual objectification and exploitation of

women in media can be attributed to the unequal power relations between men and women,
with the former as the viewer and the latter as the viewed (Gadzekpo, 2011). Some feminist
media has been structured around the theories of Lisbert van Zoonens theories which
examine the ways in which feminist theory and research in media production and content is
articulated by the relationship between gender and media (Gadzekpo, 2011). Through the
examination of these and many other feminist academic contributions, it has become clear
that media is gendered and has contributed to womens relegation as well as perpetuating sex
roles and perceptions by stereotypes through representative practices and media production
(Gadzekpo, 2011).
African gender and media research has mostly explored the old terrain of Western feminist
scholars which has therefore skewed the body of research on gender and media in Africa
towards a Western feminist agenda (Gadzekpo, 2011). As a result of colonialism, a further
language barrier contributes to further the gap in African media and gender research, resulting
in much of the valuable theory produced in a bloc being inaccessible to another bloc, causing
a divide in the shared knowledge production of African media and gender research
(Gadzekpo, 2011).
Civil society organisations have significantly contributed to research on gender and media
and is suggestive of the relationship between activism and research and how the former can
contribute to intellectual analysis in that it shows that academia can act as a form of activism
and that scholarship can benefit from activism (Gadzekpo, 2011). Research on gender and
media in Africa come from varied sources but has been largely dominated by research on
representation in print and broadcast news, film and new media content (Gadzekpo, 2011).
Furthermore, more work needs to be done in terms of collaboration when it comes to the
research efforts from different disciplines working together to create innovations that
integrate and go beyond discipline-specific attitudes with a common goal of solving a
problem (Gadzekpo, 2011). More of a focus on the theory of journalism and the sociology of
newsrooms has come from the relationship between academics and journalism, which has
resulted in the production of valuable experimental information (Gadzekpo, 2011).
This collaboration can be seen to benefit the language divide across Africa and research in
gender and media has the potential and space for creativity and responsivity to African
developmental demands (Gadzekpo, 2011). Research through activism does not limit

research to purely academia but also seeks to inform policy and practical solutions, which
will contribute to furthering the position of African women, which is especially significant in
the African context whereby academics are still treated with privileged and are seen to
produce research that is removed from African developmental demands (Gadzekpo, 2011).
Research on gender and media must also connect with broader social justice issues that
reinforce womens marginalization and exploitation and their inequality in Africa (Gadzekpo,
2011). There must be a consciousness around how the media portrays these issues for public
engagement (Gadzekpo, 2011).
Furthermore, it has been an old issue of to get more representation of women in newsrooms
and decision-making positions in media (Gadzekpo, 2011). Research around this matter has
focused on representation in terms of numbers rather than quality in the sense of the number
of women in newsrooms contributing positively towards furthering womens position in
media, instead of perpetuating stereotypes (Gadzekpo, 2011). Due to the fact that gender
studies does not only focus on studying women, research on gender and media should be
inclusive of masculinities and also cultivate an understanding of gendering men in African
media (Gadzekpo, 2011). In these ways, not only will new perspectives be offered into how
media practices and production is gendered but also the change and developments that are
happening in both media academia and gender academia in Africa, which when coupled with
activism in civil society, contributes to a more equitable development agenda in Africa
(Gadzekpo, 2011).
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Bibliography
Gadzekpo, A. (2011). Battling old ghosts in gender and African media research.African
Communication Research, 4(3), pp.389-410.