REPRESENTATION OF WOMEN IN NIGERIAN NEWSPAPERS: AN APPRAISAL

Abstract

The systematic negative media portrayals of women in the Nigerian press are orchestrated by and worked out according to the conventional archetypes of the ruling elites to quench their patriarchal obsessive desire to ‘control the bodies’ of the female folks. Drawing upon the hegemonic approach and feminist critical theories, this study examines how Nigerian newspapers portray women and uncover the hidden ideological meanings embedded in these depictions. It explores the way social power abuse, dominance, and inequality enacted and reproduced in newspapers. The study used secondary data as a method of soliciting data. The findings show that the newspaper coverage in Nigeria has been consistently negative and, at times, intimidating and hateful toward women. The study also figures out that the Nigerian press does little to challenge the age-old impressions of women as ‘weak’ and ‘vulnerable’; instead, they reinforce these preexisting patriarchal perceptions