This week, in the face of momentous happenings in Nigeria, including the release of the kidnapped victims and teachers and pupils in Oyo State, I wish to let us talk about a very disturbing trend.
I promise that I will return to the release of the kidnapped victims in the coming weeks. I’m not just a student of history but am a student of gender, especially women in development. My MA (Master of Arts) was on Women in Communication and Women in Development. I have spent a long time studying how the world and, particularly, gender advocates thought to give women the rights that they now enjoy: the right to vote and the right to be independent, among several other rights. Then came the era of feminism, severely misunderstood and abused. In its ordinary meaning, it is about women having a voice, making their own decisions and taking care of themselves. Over the years, women and gender advocates have fought against sexism, sexual discrimination and abuse.
In the media space, women have fought the dominant ideology where only men know how to do things; men are reporters, men are anchors, and women are left to only cover cooking and fashion. What played out in the past in the media is that women were viewed as just pretty faces rather than people with brains. In advertising, media activists are still fighting the commercialisation of women to sell cars, paints, etc.
