Skip to content
1981
Volume 16, Issue 2
  • ISSN: 2040-199X
  • E-ISSN: 1751-7974

Abstract

Historical and contemporary scholarship paint a picture of women in media as under-represented, misrepresented and lacking the opportunity to influence what happens in media and their own status in media. This is despite years of interventions – including pushing for affirmative action – targeted at improving their status and working conditions. In this study, we argue that part of the solution lies in conscientizing women in media to become more aware of the inequalities they face. Through a nationwide survey of women in the Ghanaian media and premised on feminist media theory, we show that though progress is visible in the status of women, inequalities persist. Respondents were ambivalent about status parity with males, pointing to the possibility that they acquiesce to unfair practices because they are unaware of the embedded inequality. We discuss these findings and their implications for scholarship and practice.

Funding
This study was supported by the:
  • US Embassy and US Embassy Small Grants Program
© 2024 Intellect Ltd
Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1386/jams_00109_1
2024-02-26
2026-04-22

Metrics

Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Akrofi-Quarcoo, S. (2015), ‘Women’s engagement with radio broadcasting in post-colonial Ghana, 1960–1975’, Ph.D. dissertation, Accra: University of Ghana.
     [Google Scholar]
  2. Andı, S., Selva, M. and Nielson, R. K. (2020), ‘Women and leadership in the news media 2020: Evidence from ten markets’, Reuters, 8 March, https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/women-and-leadership-news-media-2020-evidence-ten-markets. Accessed 12 May 2021.
  3. Barragan, S., Mills, A. and Runte, M. (2010), ‘The Mexican class ceiling and the construction of equal opportunities: Narratives of women managers’, Journal of Workplace Rights, 15:3–4, pp. 255–77.
     [Google Scholar]
  4. Beam, R. A. and DiCicco, D. T. (2010), ‘When women run the newsroom: Management change, gender and the news’, Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 87:2, pp. 393–411.
     [Google Scholar]
  5. Bleske, G. L. (1991), ‘Ms. Gates takes over: An updated version of a 1949 case study’, Newspaper Research Journal, 12:4, pp. 88–97.
     [Google Scholar]
  6. Blumell, L. E. and Mulupi, D. (2021), ‘“Newsrooms need the metoo movement”: Sexism and the press in Kenya, South Africa, and Nigeria’, Feminist Media Studies, 21:4, pp. 639–56.
     [Google Scholar]
  7. Blumell, L. E. and Mulupi, D. (2022), ‘“A playing field where patriarchy plays”: Addressing sexism in South African and Nigerian newsrooms’, Journalism Practice, 16:4, pp. 582–602.
     [Google Scholar]
  8. Bosch, T. (2016), ‘Gender in South African newsrooms’, Journal of African Media Studies, 8:3, pp. 295–304.
     [Google Scholar]
  9. Busby, L. (1975), ‘Sex-role research on the mass media’, Journal of Communication, 25:4, pp. 107–31.
     [Google Scholar]
  10. Butler, M. and Paisley, W. (1980), Women and the Mass Media: Sourcebook for Research and Action, New York: Human Sciences Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  11. Byerly, C. (2011), Global Report on the Status of Women in the News Media, Washington, DC: International Women’s Media Foundation.
     [Google Scholar]
  12. Charles, M. (2003), ‘Deciphering sex segregation: Vertical and horizontal inequalities in ten national labor markets’, Acta Sociologica, 46:4, pp. 267–87.
     [Google Scholar]
  13. England, P. (2010), ‘The gender revolution’, Gender & Society, 24:2, pp. 149–66.
     [Google Scholar]
  14. Eurostat (2016), ‘Gender pay gap statistics’, http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Gender_pay_gap_statistics. Accessed 18 April 2021.
  15. Ferguson, M. (1990), ‘Images of power and the feminist fallacy’, Critical Studies in Mass Communication, 7:3, pp. 215–30.
     [Google Scholar]
  16. Friedan, B. (1963), ‘The problem that has no name from The Feminine Mystique’, in W. K. Kilmar (ed.), Feminist Theory: A Reader, New York: W. W. Norton & Company, pp. 198–203.
     [Google Scholar]
  17. Friedman, L. J. (1977), Sex Role Stereotyping in the Mass Media: An Annotated Bibliography, New York: Garland.
     [Google Scholar]
  18. Gadzekpo, A. (2011), ‘Battling old ghosts in gender and African media research’, African Communication Research, 4:3, pp. 389–410.
     [Google Scholar]
  19. Gadzekpo, A. (2013), ‘Ghana: Women in decision-making: New opportunities, old story’, in C. M. Byerly (ed.), The Palgrave International Handbook of Women and Journalism, London: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 371–83.
     [Google Scholar]
  20. Gadzekpo, S. A. (2001), ‘Women’s engagement with Gold Coast print culture from 1857–1957’, Ph.D. dissertation, Birmingham: University of Birmingham.
     [Google Scholar]
  21. Geertsema, M. (2008), ‘Women making news: Gender and media in South Africa’, Global Media Journal, 7:12, http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/ccom_papers/4. Accessed 14 May 2021.
     [Google Scholar]
  22. Kanter, R. M. (1977), ‘Some effects of proportions on group life: Skewed sex rations and responses to token women’, American Journal of Sociology, 82:5, pp. 965–90.
     [Google Scholar]
  23. Kimani, R. and Yeboah, A. (2011), ‘Beyond unequal visibilities: Are women treated differently from men in the news’, African Communication Research, 4:3, pp. 433–48.
     [Google Scholar]
  24. Love, J. F. (2017), ‘Investigating the glass ceiling: How women in top media management shattered the glass ceiling’, MA thesis, Oxford: MS: The University of Mississippi.
     [Google Scholar]
  25. National Communication Authority (NCA) (2018), ‘Communication Industry Report (CIR)’, https://nca.org.gh/reports/#1666175704244-28adc7a2-3e40. Accessed 3 September 2021.
  26. National Watch on Images of Women in the Media (MediaWatch) Inc. (1995), ‘Global Media Monitoring Project (GMMP)’, Who Makes the News (WMTN), https://whomakesthenews.org/wp-content/uploads/who-makes-the-news/Imported/reports_1995/gmmp_1995.pdf. Accessed 14 May 2021.
  27. National Watch on Images of Women in the Media (MediaWatch) Inc. (2000), ‘Global Media Monitoring Project (GMMP)’, Who Makes the News (WMTN), https://whomakesthenews.org/wp-content/uploads/who-makes-the-news/Imported/reports_2000/gmmp_2000.pdf. Accessed 14 May 2021.
  28. National Watch on Images of Women in the Media (MediaWatch) Inc. (2005), ‘Global Media Monitoring Project (GMMP)’, Who Makes the News (WMTN), https://whomakesthenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/gmmp-report-en-2005rev.pdf. Accessed 14 May 2021.
  29. National Watch on Images of Women in the Media (MediaWatch) Inc. (2010), ‘Global Media Monitoring Project (GMMP)’, Who Makes the News (WMTN), https://whomakesthenews.org/gmmp-2010-reports/. Accessed 14 May 2021.
  30. National Watch on Images of Women in the Media (MediaWatch) Inc. (2015), ‘Global Media Monitoring Project (GMMP)’, Who Makes the News (WMTN), https://whomakesthenews.org/gmmp-2015-reports/. Accessed 14 May 2021.
  31. National Watch on Images of Women in the Media (MediaWatch) Inc. (2020), ‘Global Media Monitoring Project (GMMP)’, Who Makes the News (WMTN), https://whomakesthenews.org/gmmp-reports/gmmp-2020-reports/. Accessed 14 May 2021.
  32. North, L. (2016), ‘The gender of “soft” and “hard” news: Female journalists’ views on gendered story allocations’, Journalism Studies, 17:3, pp. 356–73.
     [Google Scholar]
  33. Otoo, K. N. and Asafu-Adjaye, P. (2011), Wages and Working Conditions of Media Workers in Ghana, Accra: Labour Research and Policy Institute.
     [Google Scholar]
  34. Richard, R. R. (2008), ‘Riding the waves: A trans-generational approach to the feminist movement in the United States’, Ph.D. dissertation, Chicago, IL: Loyola University Chicago.
     [Google Scholar]
  35. Scott, B. K. (2016), ‘Histories of feminism’, in B. K. Scott, S. E. Cayleff, A. Donadey and I. Lara (eds), Women in Culture: An Intersectional Anthology for Gender and Women’s Studies, Chichester: Wiley, pp. 92–98.
     [Google Scholar]
  36. Steiner, L. (2002), ‘Newsroom accounts of power at work’, in C. Carter, G. Branston and S. Allan (eds), News, Gender and Power, New York: Routledge, pp. 145–59.
     [Google Scholar]
  37. Steiner, L. (2014), ‘Feminist media theory’, in R. S. Fortner and P. M. Fackler (eds), The Handbook of Media and Mass Communication Theory, Chichester: Wiley, pp. 359–77.
     [Google Scholar]
  38. Thompson, E. E. and Yeboah, A. A. (2013), ‘Health information from elite to popular media: Are Ghanaian media creating more space for health information/education?’, Critical Arts, 27:3, pp. 370–85.
     [Google Scholar]
  39. Vokić, N. P., Ćorić, D. S. and Obadić, A. (2017), ‘To be or not to be a woman? Highly educated women’s perceptions of gender equality in the workplace’, Revija za socijalnu politiku, 24:3, pp. 253–76.
     [Google Scholar]
  40. Women’s Media Centre (2017), ‘The status of women in the US media’, https://www.womensmediacenter.com/assets/site/reports/10c550d19ef9f3688f_mlbres2jd.pdf. Accessed 16 April 2021.
  41. Yeboah, A. A. (2011), ‘Reporting women: Do female journalists have a gender agenda’, African Communication Research, 4:3, pp. 469–84.
     [Google Scholar]
  42. Yeboah, A. A. and Thompson, E. E. (2012), ‘An exploration of the “gendered” dimensions of women’s success in Ghana’s media/communication industry’, Africa Media Review, 21:1–2, pp. 171–91.
     [Google Scholar]
  43. Yeboah-Banin, A. A. and Amoakohene, M. I. (2018), ‘The dark side of multi-platform advertising in an emerging economy context’, in Information Reso Management Association (ed.), Brand Culture and Identity: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications, Hershey, PA: IGI Global, pp. 14–32.
     [Google Scholar]
  44. Zuiderveld, M. (2011), ‘“Hitting the glass ceiling”: Gender and media management in sub-Saharan Africa’, Journal of African Media Studies, 3:3, pp. 401–15.
     [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.1386/jams_00109_1
Loading
Status of women in the Ghanaian media: Are women conscious of their own inequalities?
Journal of African Media Studies 16, 197 (2024); https://doi.org/10.1386/jams_00109_1
/content/journals/10.1386/jams_00109_1
/content/journals/10.1386/jams_00109_1
Loading

Data & Media loading...

  • Article Type: Article
Keyword(s): feminist media theory; gender inequality; Ghana; nationwide survey; news; perceptions; status of women in media

Most Cited Most Cited RSS feed

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a success
Invalid data
An error occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error
Please enter a valid_number test