The History of Women TV Presenters in Nigeria and the Challenges They Face - Essay Example

? RESEARCH PROPOSAL: AN INVESTIGATION OF CAREER BARRIERS FACED BY FEMALE TELEVISION NEWS ANCHORS IN NIGERIA Submitted by: Submitted Institute: Name of course: Date of Submission: 1. INTRODUCTION This paper proposes a dissertation, exploratory in nature in order to identify the factors which hinder the females in Nigeria from joining television as a news anchor. The study also aims at exploring the barriers in professional/career development of female news anchors that are already in the television news industry. 1.1 History of Female TV News Anchors in Nigeria: Television since its inception in Nigeria back in 1959 has witnessed the professional success of some great female broadcasters such as: Bimbo Oloyede, Eugenia Abu, Ruth Bedamesia Opia, Sienne Razak Allwell Brown, Julie Coker and Anike Agbaje Williams, who also happens to be the first female television news anchor in Nigeria, and was known as Africa’s first lady of the tube. The fame which followed the emergence of female television news anchors was such that it encouraged the participation of numerous female broadcasters, actresses and journalists to enter the television field in private, state owned and federal television houses nationwide (Charles, 1989). Television, having introduced women on the screen, in roles often contradictory to the stereotypical domestic role of the women in society has also given rise to some fundamental, social, cultural, professional and ethical issues, which have come to affect the career path of women in the industry. Gender stereotyping is not limited to the field of television. This is an issue which transcends all strata of organizational, social and family life in Nigeria (Agnes & Ijeoma, 2010). Historians believe it to have stemmed from our cultural bias, values and belief system. For instance, before the advent of television in Nigeria, parents believed in sending their sons to acquire formal education in Law, Medicine or Engineering while encouraging their daughters to learn the family trade and then get married. Society believed that a woman’s place resides squarely in the home and in rare cases when they were allowed to go to university, such conventional courses as mentioned above were the accepted courses to study. This was due to the image of prestige, dignity, integrity and decorum associated with such traditional career paths (Charles, 1989). The advent of WNTV in 1959 brought a fresh wave of courses such as Mass communication, public relations, Advertising etc, and with it, a new image of glamour and celebrity status was introduced into the Nigerian society. Schools teaching Mass communication and television houses started sprouting all over the country, making it possible for women who hitherto stayed at home after standard six to find a seemingly less demanding but glamorous career path (Charles, 1989). This resulted in women being offered jobs as actresses on stage (theatre) and on TV, journalists and TV news anchors catapulting them from home based to stardom overnight and bringing to light the reality of being a mother, wife and working woman. Gone were the days of mothers being at home or owning their time, Television became the mistress, demanding 110% of the news anchors’ time (Bradshaw, 2009). 1.1 Gender Role Conflict: Work-life balance is at the heart of the conflict between the home and a woman’s career. The stereotyping of the role of women in the Nigerian society is directly linked to a complex historical process influenced by such factors as family, culture, religion, politics and economy (Charles, 1989). In Nigeria, a woman’s role starts within her family as the girl-child, then to being a wife and a mother. She is expected to keep the home together, take care of the children and her husband. She is expected to have no other ambition than to be a dutiful wife, an active mother, contribute to the economic growth of her family and community through keeping a viable family business of either petty trade or farming and be a role model to other women in the community (Asiyanbola, 2005). Regardless of culture, religion, political views, economic situation and ethnicity, Nigerian women were expected to take care of the home and, in most regions, run the family business of trade. Post colonialism ushered in television, introducing a new way of life and also changes perceived by most Nigerians as non conforming to the values, traditions and culture of the Nigerian society with its traditional view on the role of women in the home and society (Agnes & Ijeoma, 2010). 1.3 Barriers in career development of female news anchors: A brief look at the relevant literature highlights many barriers in the career path of females as news anchors. Culture appears to be the most powerful barrier in the pursuit of a profession in TV sector among Nigerian women. The Nigerian culture encourages submissiveness in women and the Nigerian women have faced a lot gender stereotypes in their society, which are even present till date (Poindexter & Meraz, 2008). One barrier appears to be physical appearance. According to Bal (1993), women on the TV are expected to be young and attractive while there are no such expectations from males. This poses a challenge for women who seek a career as TV news broadcaster. In addition to expertise, looks are a factor in the profession, specially for women (Bal, 1993). Ageism is another problem that television anchorwomen encounter. An example is the case won by Miriam O’Reilly against BBC, which exposed ageism at the BBC (Guardian, 2011) . This gives rise to the question, ‘how old is too old and how old is too young to be a female television news anchor?’ Engstrom & Ferri (1999) state: ‘Giving that those who appear on television news obviously must contend with cosmetic concerns, it seems women bear the burden of looking good more than men. This illustrates a general societal attitude that women are valued for their looks rather than skills.’ 1.4 Rationale for research There is a lot of literature proving gender discrimination in the TV related professions in Nigeria, but there is a gap in the literature, regarding the exact causes/factors of this. To elucidate the factors influencing the success and failure of female careers on television, this proposal intends to look at the barriers that affects and continues to affect the career path of pioneer women and women currently working as TV anchors, how their role in society, religion, governance, family influences their role as media woman. This thesis will also examine the factors affecting work-life balance and how this affects the shift in public perception of these women over time, with focus on the perception of women working in television as a chosen career path. 1.5 Problem Statement The problem statement for this proposed study is: ‘To study the barriers in the career of women news anchors in Nigeria’. 1.6 Research Objectives 1. To ascertain factors that women news anchors perceive as obstacles or challenges to their career development. 2. To ascertain if family life and ageism are the key factors influencing the career growth of women television news anchors. 3. Analyze other causes of sudden career death or growth as the case may be for women news anchors. 1.7 Research Questions 1. What factors do women news anchors in Nigeria today perceive as obstacles to their career development? 2. Does family life pose as a hindering factor in career development of female news anchors in Nigeria? 3. What is the public perception of women in Media? 4. What alternative career paths are open for women who leave the industry? 2. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK On detailed review of certain social theories, quite a number of theories were found to be relevant. A theoretical framework based on possible explanations of the professional barriers faced by female anchor persons in Nigeria is given below. Theories of social stereotyping perhaps best explain the reason why women’s professional growth as TV persons is hindered in Nigeria. According to the social role theory, people in a society develop and maintain certain roles specific to both genders. The reasons for this are mainly the cultural implications related to gender roles and the portrayal of gender roles in the media. These gender roles are often misperceptions and false portrayals of reality (Allport, 1954; cited in Eckes, et al, 2000). As a result, gender stereotypes are formed and any behaviour out of line with the gender specific expected behaviour is met with criticism (Eckes, et al; 2000). Stereotyping is not limited to gender. Ageism is also a common form of stereotyping when it comes to female anchors on the TV. According to the socio-emotional selectivity theory, as people age, they tend to shrink their social networks do not attempt to take new initiatives for expansion, since they are in the phase of concluding their careers; while the young personnel is full of initiative, trying to grow in all ways (Nelson, 2004). According to the multiple threshold model (Whitbourne and Collins, 1998; cited in Nelson, 2004), behavioural shaping and identity accommodation occurs naturally along with aging and old people change themselves as they accept their age factor along with each developmental milestone they cross. Old people are stereotyped on basis of these theories, since it is logical according to these two theories that younger people can prove to be more productive. According to the disparate impact theory, cited in Bal (1993), discrimination also exists in TV news on basis of physical appearance. A person with unique physical appearance has more chances of selection in TV than a person with ordinary looks. Several studies have shown that there is gender discrimination in appearance factor as well. Men can appear old or fat or bald in the news, but women are expected to appear attractive always (Bal, 1993). Drawing from the theoretical framework and some studies highlighted in the introductory section, the detailed review of relevant literature will be based on the following: Television, its history, influence and importance Women, their nature, characteristics and expectations Societal values, norms, cultural bias Stereotypes, preconceptions, conformity and the public image of female TV anchors The western world and its far reaching influence Case study of actual events relating to this thesis 3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Exploratory research is pursued where a diagnosis is needed; it results in a theoretical explanation of the phenomena under study (Zikmund, 2002). In the current study, the aim is to identify the barriers in the career of women as anchor persons in Nigeria; therefore the current study will be an exploratory one, attempting to explore all possible barriers. 3.1 Research design Mixed research design has been chosen for the study. Mixed research method combines both quantitative and qualitative research methods (Azorin & Cameron, 2010). This method has been chosen because it will enable the researcher to explore the barriers in-depth (qualitative) as well as to obtain a general public opinion regarding the barriers (Quantitative). 3.2 Sample The regions of Ondo and Lagos have been chosen to draw the sample from. The underlying rationale is that Lagos is the most populated city in Nigeria and contains the highest number of television stations while Ondo enjoys the history of being the region where television was first introduced in Nigeria. Data for the qualitative part of this study will be drawn from a certain class of the population, namely men and women belonging to the TV sector, therefore purposive sampling appears to be the best option (Teddlie & Yu, 2007). According to Creswell () the main advantage of purposive sampling is that it enables the researcher to select the best suited participants for the research. The researcher will conduct nine in-depth interviews with the following category of women and men working in television to have a robust data for comparative analysis: Retired married anchor women Active married anchor women Single anchor women Men occupying position of authority within the television station. The women will cover the age bracket between 18yrs – 75yrs. This will aid the investigation of Ageism as a factor affecting female anchor careers. The purpose of including all of the above participants in the study is to ensure maximum variability and representativeness in the sample (Teddlie & Yu, 2007). The questionnaire will be administered to 50 individuals from any field of life, belonging to any age group, using convenience sampling, to measure the effects of public perception and the extent of its influence on women working in the media. 3.3 Research Instruments/ Techniques The qualitative part of the study will be based on nine, semi-structured exploratory interviews while the quantitative data will be collected using a structured questionnaire, containing five to six structured questions with yes/no option, investigating the public opinion on certain factors as professional barriers for female anchor persons in Nigeria. 3.4 Data Analysis Data analysis of the qualitative data will be done via content analysis, whereas simple descriptive statistics will be used to analyse the quantitative data from the questionnaires. The data will be presented with help of bar charts, pie charts and tables, and conclusions will then be drawn. 3.5 Ethical considerations The topic of this study is not emotionally damaging and the participants will be ensured that the research will not have a negative impact on them in any way. However, they will be given the right to cancel their participation at any point during the research. Their personal data will also be kept confidential and anonymous at all costs. 3.6 Limitations of the Study This project is purely academic and is being funded by the researcher. As a result of financial constraints, the researcher will not be able to interview anchor women in other states and will be only restricted to Lagos state and Ibadan in Ondo state. References Agnes, A & Ijeoma, N. (2010). Status of women in Nigerian broadcast media. Nigeria Films. [Online]. Available at: http://www.nigeriafilms.com/news/7974/20/status-of-women-in-nigerian-broadcast-media.html [Accessed May 13th, 2011]. Asiyanbola, A.R. (2005). Patriarchy, male dominance, the role of women empowerment in Nigeria. International Union for the Scientific study of Population (IUSSP/UIESP) XXV International Population Conference Tours, France, 18-23. [Online]. Available at: http://iussp2005.princeton.edu/download.aspx?submissionId=50005 [Accessed: May 13th, 2011]. Azorin, J.M & Camron, R. (2010). The applications of mixed methods in organizational research: A literature review. Electronic journal of business research methods, 8(2): 95-105. Bal, J. (1993). Providing appearance related sex discrimination on media news: a disparate image theory. [Online]. Available at: http://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?collection=journals&handle=hein.journals/uchclf1993&div=14&id=&page= [Accessed: may 13th, 2011]. Bradshaw, K. A. (2009). Local news anchors’ contribution to news task. Electronic News. 3(2), 61-79. Charles, U. C. (1989). The advent and growth of television broadcasting in Nigeria: Its political and educational overtones. Africa media review. 3(2), 54-66. Eckes, T & Trautner, H.M. (2000). The developmental social psychology of gender. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Engstrom, E. E. & Ferri, A. J.(1998) “From Barriers to Challenges: Career Perceptions of Women TV News Anchors,”Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, 75, 4, pp.789-802. Engstorm, E.E & Ferri, A. (2000). Looking through a gendered lens: Local US television news anchors’ perceived career barriers. (Abstract). [Online]. Available at: http://www.entrepreneur.com/tradejournals/article/70451815.html [Accessed: may 13th, 2011]. Guardian. (2011). Who are you calling past it? (Online). Available at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2011/feb/05/older-women-tv-radio-miriam-oreilly [Accessed: may 13th, 2011]. Nelson, T. (2004). Stereotyping and prejudice against older people. Massachusetts: Bradford book. Poindexter, P; Meraz, S & Weiss, A.S. (2008). Women, men and news: Divided and disconnected in the news media landscape. New York: Rout-ledge. Teddlie, C & Yu, F. (2007). Mixed Methods Sampling: A typology with examples. Journal of mixed methods research, 1(77): 77-100. Zikmund, W. G. (2002). Business research methods. Suison City, CA: South western publishers. Read More