Gender Disparity in Nigeria: The Demand for Media Attention

By Rabiat Aminu Adam

Paraphrasing the words of Lianas and Nina, the media play an important role in society. They report current events, provide frameworks for interpretation, and mobilize citizens with regard to various issues, produce predominant culture in the society, and entertain.

As such, the media can be an important platform in the promotion of gender equality, in terms of employment and promotion of female staff at all levels and the representation of women in some key sectors of the federation.

Incidentally, in Nigeria, gender equality does not work effectively as expected. In our society women are not given adequate opportunity to contribute to the development of the society, rather they are being neglected, and what a man can do a woman can do better, so says an adage.

In the journalism profession for example, hardly you see female journalists as editors, or covering serious beats like hard news stories. Most times they are given soft news to cover.

Again, in some parts of Nigeria, many married women are not allowed to go to the hospital because they might be examined by a male doctor, and this is due to lack of female doctors in some hospitals. Thus, the lack of women in some professions has a lot of negative implications in our society thereby making the society retrograde.

Furthermore, in a country like ours (Nigeria) the male gender are more advanced than the female gender because women are not given that chance to showcase their talent or carry out functions that are sensitive in nature.

Today, if one moves round the 36 states in Nigeria, hardly one will come across a single female governor out of the 36 states simply because of gender disparity, and the gap is widening day-by-day.

The wide scope of gender disparity has created a scenario whereby some parents no longer believe in girl child education. Some parents bluntly refuse to send their female children to school thinking that it will amount to a complete waste of money and time, since it is the men that are occupying top position in this country.

Yes, this might be true, but the media in conjunction with stakeholders, religious bodies, and non-governmental organisations need to spring into action to help bridge this gap in terms of advocacy.

Rabiat Aminu Adam, a level 200 student, Department of Mass Communication, Skyline University, Nigeria.