By Vera Origa and Damaris Kipchumba
Women’s participation in media conversations is a clear indicator of inclusivity and responsible journalism as stipulated by the Code of Conduct for Media Practice in Kenya. However, recent trends reflect a worrying trend where stations continuously ignore female voices in their programming. Her is the evidence:
Hot 96’s The Docket, a breakfast show hosted by Jeff Koinange and Patrick Igunza, airs Monday to Friday and focuses on important discourses such as education, politics, tech and environmental issues.
The issues discussed are of public interest, yet female voices are sidelined. The guests in the show are always Fanya Mambo Kinuthia and Philip Murutu, reinforcing the patriarchal nature of our society. The result is a totally imbalanced debate. A review of recent episodes reveals a recurring pattern in which panels are exclusively male, despite the availability of qualified women experts across the very sectors the show seeks to interrogate. This continued exclusion risks framing men as the only voices of reason in nation building, portraying women as weaklings, victims and whose views are inconsequential.
The station is not alone. A closer look at vernacular radio stations broadcasting in Kalenjin language reveals a persistent absence of women as hosts, guests, and callers, exposing a systemic gap in representation that narrows community discourses and limits the diversity of perspectives available to listeners.
Women make more than half of Kenya’s population although they remain significantly underrepresented. Therefore, women should be included in conversations as leaders, experts and opinion players.
As platforms that interrogate issues of public interest, stations carry an ethical responsibility to reflect the diversity of the society they serve. Media ethics and public interest broadcasting principles emphasize fairness, balance, and inclusivity, particularly on programmes that shape public understanding of education, governance, technology, and environmental policy sectors that directly affect women and men alike.
Kenya is home to accomplished women in academia, law, politics, technology, environmental advocacy, and community leadership whose expertise and lived experiences qualify them to contribute meaningfully to national discourse. Their absence from influential media platforms cannot reasonably be attributed to a lack of expertise, but rather to persistent structural and editorial exclusions that demand urgent reconsideration.
The continued exclusion of diverse voices from the shows risks breeding familiarity and boredom within the shows as the issues are important and impact every member of the society. Because the media plays an important role in agenda setting, there are risks of biased perspectives that value male voices at the expense of the opposite gender. The Code of Conduct states that both women and men should be treated equally as news subjects and news sources.
Vera Origa and Damaris Kipchumba are media analysts at the Media Council of Kenya
