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Where are the women? Evaluating visibility of Nigerian female politicians in news media space
October 2017
Mercy Ette
Summary
This article examines how female politicians in Nigeria receive less coverage than male politicians, as well as more gender-stereotypical coverage. This poor coverage harms women’s political success, as voters are not aware of the issues that they represent. Additionally, this lack of success reinforces poor media coverage, as there are then fewer politicians to cover.
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Policy Implications
By examining Africa’s most populous country, the author hopes to insight into how the issues of gender and media coverage play out on the continent. The results of this study are consistent with other studies, conducted in other parts of the world. All over, female politicians and candidates receive less meaningful media coverage than male ones. This hurts women’s electoral success. Therefore, media outlets should work to close these gaps, in order to increase fairness in the electoral process.