MEDIA REPRESENTATION: IS IT AN AVENUE FOR ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT OF AFRICAN WOMEN?

There has been growing concerns about the fact that African media has failed to commit itself to ensuring that the gender question becomes a standard of measure for press freedom and access to information on the continent. The use of the female body as a mere decoration or as an attention-getting device diminishes women's self-esteem and ignores other aspects of women's personality, their human potential and contributions to economic empowerment for development. Women are underrepresented in political, social and economic reporting; this results in limiting the freedom of expression caused by self-censorship by a male dominated industry. It is a cause of concern on the portrayal of women in household-related roles, mostly in advertisements for household products, particularly because of the repetitiousness of the housewife image. The media does not fully recognize the dynamism that women display in the economic, cultural and social lives of their communities through their associations and informal networks channeled into creating new models of participation and leadership. This paper therefore explores the need for positive women access and use of the media for economic empowerment in Africa; it examines the challenges facing the portrayal of women in the media and makes recommendations on how increase women's representation in decision-making structures in media houses and develop structures and frameworks for gender mainstreaming based on laws and policies for sustained economic empowerment of women. This paper explores secondary data from text books, and journals to conclude that, without meaningful commitment in the form of policy changes and the provision of resources to address women conditions and involvement in the media representation; Africa cannot hope to see a breakthrough in its development and renewal. It recommends that, greater awareness and supportive environment needs to be enhanced by the media for women to be more self-reflective and have a greater awareness of their own weaknesses, challenges, strengths and opportunities. Women should be exposed to more in-depth training and development to gain not only knowledge and skills but also wisdom in order to be authentic leaders with integrity. Also, there should be is an urgent need to increase the knowledge and ability of mass media professionals to create more awareness on gender issues