The media has often been criticized over how it portrays women in the news, sometimes perpetuating stereotypes about women politicians and in effect limiting their participation in public affairs. Certainly, women are underrepresented in media reports, making many of them invisible to the public. But when women attempt to raise their voices in the public space, the media tends to generate all sorts of descriptions that are unfavourable to them.
At the moment there are two rival women’s initiatives arising from last year’s handshake between President Uhuru Kenyatta and ODM leader Raila Odinga. The two groups are also embroiled in the Uhuru succession.
Inua Mama is allied to Deputy President William Ruto and supports his ambition to succeed Uhuru in 2022.
Team Embrace, on the hand, is spearheaded by women MPs who support the handshake and the BBI, which Inua Mama and Ruto are critical of.
The two groups of women MPs have been going around the country popularizing their respective agendas. They have been criticized for splitting Kenya’s women by pushing the agendas of the respective male politicians they are aligned to instead of campaigning for women’s empowerment.
On November 12, the Standard splashed a sensational headline titled, “Women MPs in nasty fights over Raila, Ruto.” The paper carried the pictures of a number of women fronting Inua Mama and Team Embrace groupings. It had a prominent picture of Narc Kenya leader Martha Karua and her critical comment dismissing the women’s groups as “praise choirs for male groupings.”
This Standard story formed the morning discussion on Citizen TV on November 12. Women leaders from Inua Mama and Team Embrace were invited to discuss the story and politics in general.
There are male politicians like former Kakamega Senator Boni Khawale or Dagoretti North Simba Arati who fiercely defend their political masters. But no one writes a headline that says they are engaged in nasty fights over their sponsors. The headline and, indeed, the story, had sexist undertones of women fighting over men. This depiction is likely to perpetuate negative stereotypes about women in politics and other spheres of life in general.
The media ought to cover the activities of women politicians fairly and avoid framing that might distract from women’s important public work and misrepresent their intentions. By describing the Inua Mama and Team Embrace Women as fighting over men, headlines like that of the Standard run the risk of portraying women as weak and dependent on men.
The media should deliberately provide space for women because they have historically been marginalized in politics. Good journalism should reinforce women’s voices and encourage their involvement in politics.
