Audience Perception of the Media in Mobilizing Women for Political Participation
CHAPTER ONE
Purpose of the Study
The purpose of this study is to ascertain the audience perception of mobilizing women for political participation. In view of this, the study has the following specific objectives:
- To examine the role of women in enhancing social change and modernization in Nigeria.
- To find out the role of the media in mobilizing women for political participation.
- To find out how Nigerian women are marginalized in the political process.
- To stress the role of the media in enhancing gender equality in Nigeria.
- To find solutions toward evolving media strategies in mobilizing women for political participation.
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
Theoretical Framework
This study is theoretically grounded on The Agenda-setting, The Social responsibility theory and The Status Conferral theories.
Agenda-setting
Theory The agenda setting theory propounded in the year 1968 by Maxwell McComb’s and Donald Shaw posits that the media may not always determine what we think but what we think about. This theorist also posits that the media influence affects the order of presentation in news reports about news events, issues in the public mind. This theory, no doubt, still retains its steam till date. The import is that the nature of broadcast media’s depiction of an issue or individual determines to a large extent, how the public will perceive such an issue or individual. This study is linked to this Agenda Setting theory of communication because the media is a very vital tool of informing and educating the public about the plight of women who are in focus in this study. The role of the mass media, the radio in this case cannot be over emphasized, people need information and without communication through the media, information which is vital cannot be easily disseminated. The above then brings to the fore some of the issues that were deliberated upon at the Beijing Conference of 1995. Key among these issues is women’s empowerment and political participation. This Beijing Platform for Action, nineteen years ago made concrete plans to ensure women’s equal access to full participation in power structure as one of its strategic objectives.
The Social Responsibility
Theory In mid-20th century most of the developing countries and third world nations adopted the social responsibility concept. The media social responsibility theory is associated with “the Commission of the Freedom of Press” in the United States of America, 1949. Social responsibility theory allows free press coverage but at the same time this freedom is moderated by responsibility which the press as an obligation owes the masses and the political systems they serve. Media contents hence are regulated and a modicum of censorship in place before it reaches the mass audience. The theory lies between both authoritarian theory and libertarian theory because it gives total media freedom in one hand but the external control by the public on other hand. The social responsibility theory moves beyond the simple “Objective” reporting that is facts reporting to “Interpretative” reporting which is investigative, analytical, critical reporting. The relevance of this theory to the study lies in the fact that if the millennium development goals are to be achieved, especially MDG 3, which is related to this research work, women need to be informed in order to participate, as the political development of any country is a joint effort, which cannot be achieved singlehandedly, in this case, there is a need for gender balance in political activities which in Nigeria remains a male dominated system.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research design
The researcher used descriptive research survey design in building up this project work the choice of this research design was considered appropriate because of its advantages of identifying attributes of a large population from a group of individuals. The design was suitable for the study as the study sought to audience perception of the media in mobilizing women for political participation.
Sources of data collection
Data were collected from two main sources namely:
Primary source:
These are materials of statistical investigation which were collected by the research for a particular purpose. They can be obtained through a survey, observation questionnaire or as experiment; the researcher has adopted the questionnaire method for this study.
Secondary source:
These are data from textbook Journal handset etc. they arise as byproducts of the same other purposes. Example administration, various other unpublished works and write ups were also used.
CHAPTER FOUR
PRESENTATION ANALYSIS INTERPRETATION OF DATA
Introduction
Efforts will be made at this stage to present, analyze and interpret the data collected during the field survey. This presentation will be based on the responses from the completed questionnaires. The result of this exercise will be summarized in tabular forms for easy references and analysis. It will also show answers to questions relating to the research questions for this research study. The researcher employed simple percentage in the analysis.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Introduction
It is important to ascertain that the objective of this study was on audience perception of the media in mobilizing women for political participation. In the preceding chapter, the relevant data collected for this study were presented, critically analyzed and appropriate interpretation given. In this chapter, certain recommendations made which in the opinion of the researcher will be of benefits in addressing the challenge of audience perception of the media in mobilizing women for political participation
Summary
This study was on audience perception of the media in mobilizing women for political participation. Five objectives were raised which included: To examine the role of women in enhancing social change and modernization in Nigeria, to find out the role of the media in mobilizing women for political participation, to find out how Nigerian women are marginalized in the political process, to stress the role of the media in enhancing gender equality in Nigeria and to find solutions toward evolving media strategies in mobilizing women for political participation. In line with these objectives, two research hypotheses were formulated and two null hypotheses were posited. The total population for the study is 200 residents of Mando, Igabi Local Government Area of Kaduna state. The researcher used questionnaires as the instrument for the data collection. Descriptive Survey research design was adopted for this study. A total of 133 respondents made married men, married women, politicians and youths were used for the study. The data collected were presented in tables and analyzed using simple percentages and frequencies
Conclusion
Women’s Participation in Nigerian politics is an issue of great importance. Women have been put at the background politically for years; this has engendered a consciousness of women under-representation in public life. Some of the problems responsible for this situation are entrenched in the fears most women have, some of which borders on insecurity, lack of finances, inadequate political support and many more. This study showed that the intent of the Beijing Conference of 1995 which was to ensure that women have equal opportunities with men has to an extent been reached. There is positive indication from this study that radio political programmes has indeed been effective in mobilizing women for political participation in Nigeria. There is still more to be done in mobilizing women to participate in politics, emphasizing that no sex or gender is more important than the other because in politics, intellectual ability counts more than physical energy. The media must be fair and objective in reporting issues that affect women. It was in recognition of the power of the media to eliminate stereotype images of women and provide women with easier access to information that paragraph 206 of the ‘Nairobi Forward Looking Strategies for the Advancement of Women’ called for ‘the participation of women at all levels of communication policy and decision-making, in programmes design, implementation and monitoring’. The Nigerian media can adopt this and help in realizing these nationally necessary objectives in their performance towards political periods to come.
Recommendation
- In the course of this research work, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC formulated a new policy to encourage women to participate in politics, although this does not have a link with the data gathered but then it is still pertinent to this study. The implementation of this Gender policy by INEC would go a long way in accommodating women in different political positions, therefore this implementation should be carried out and more media attention must be created to create awareness about the existence of this new policy.
- The Federal Government should encourage gender equality not only in political participation but in all walks of life by not only making laws and decrees but ensuring implementation
- The radio as a powerful agent of social mobilization should be utilized more to motivate and champion the course of women towards full political participation. To this end more media political programmes should be created as women are highly motivated to participating in politics through those used in this study.
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