Women's roles in the media : attitudes towards gender issues in six Tanzanian newspapers

This study investigates women’s roles in the media: attitudes towards gender issues in six Tanzanian newspapers. Firstly, the study examines the situation of female journalists in the aspects of education, employment status, job position and working conditions. Differences between female and male reporters in sourcing women in general issues and women issues, as well as obstacles facing these reporters in sourcing women are analyzed. Further, the study investigates journalists’ attitudes towards the coverage and portrayal of women in newspapers under study. In addition, this work looks into the roles performed by female journalists in the coverage and portrayal of women in the media. The findings of the study establish that the general situation of female journalists in the newspapers under study is poor, in the sense that they are not well educated and the majority of them are in lower echelons. Their attitude towards women in the media is that women are still covered less compared to men and portrayed in stereotypical roles and as sexual objects. Specifically, findings reveal that in broadsheets women are covered less compared to men and portrayed in stereotypical roles while in tabloids women are covered more compared to men but portrayed in not only their stereotypical roles but also as sexual objects and entertainment tools. The study shows that female journalists play important roles in improving the coverage as well as portrayal of women in print media, as individual journalists, and they perform more and effective roles as members of a media-women association-TAMWA. The findings also disclose that the management of the newspapers under study and the government play important roles, which enhance the roles performed by female journalists. The study also reveals many factors which hinder female journalists in improving the coverage as well as the portrayal of women in print media. These are: patriarchy in terms of ownership and control; poor working conditions in terms of poor pay, poor facilities, poor education; professional constraints such as agenda setting and framing theories, deadlines and lack of enough space in the media; also the absence of women in senior positions in the media as well as poor participation of women (as subjects of media content) in the media