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Women’s Agency and the Re-negotiation of Gender Depiction in an African Media Space

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Themes, Issues and Problems in African Philosophy

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Abstract

This paper is an addition to existing scholarly literature regarding the theme of gender depiction in media practice, particularly as it relates to the portrayal or stereotyping of the female sex and the undesirable effect of negative gender role identification by women. This paper argues for a re-negotiation of gender depiction in media practice through increased functioning of the active voices of women, who themselves are at the receiving end of skewed media practices. With the widening of the frontiers of gender discourse to include the active voices of women, this women’s agency approach to the challenge of negative media representation becomes appropriate in the quest for greater advancement of gender equity.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Younger females from the early teen years are better able to identify with cable television entertainment series and the avalanche of gendered images portrayed in the new media. This age group also influences, albeit in a gradual and tacit form, the social attitudes of older people (male and female), who in a bid to maintain currency with social trends and goings-on adapt to values propagated by postmodern media practice.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Philosophy, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria

    Benjamin Timi Olujohungbe

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  1. Benjamin Timi Olujohungbe
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Philosophy, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria

    Isaac E. Ukpokolo

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Olujohungbe, B.T. (2017). Women’s Agency and the Re-negotiation of Gender Depiction in an African Media Space. In: Ukpokolo, I. (eds) Themes, Issues and Problems in African Philosophy . Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-40796-8_12

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