Gender and Identity in the Nigerian Media

Abstract

This paper examines the construction of gender identity and roles in the Media in Nigeria. It seeks to draw attention to the connection between cultural values and the gendered choices made by the media practitioners. It interrogates the gender discourse in the context of power and disempowerment and situates this within the political economy of Nigeria and its place in the global system. By demonstrating the linkage between the nature of economic production and the problematics of disempowerment, the paper argues that gender identity is best understood for its utility as an agency of political action and mass mobilization. This utility, it contends, is however being appropriated by primary identities, in this case, ethnicity, to the extent that the gender discourse is subsumed within the contestations for power which is conducted primarily through loose ethnic coalitions in Nigeria. The media easily reflect this situation by making choices that demonstrate their immersion into the ethnic conflict and their conscious manipulation of gender identities in a way that highlights their ethnic character. This situation, the paper notes, has implications for transcultural communication. For Nigeria, the inability of the gender discourse to be couched in transcultural language reflects the salience of the National Question. It also highlights the challenge of democratizing Nigeria and of finding transcultural convergence in an era of globalization. In concluding, it questions the ability of the media in Nigeria to effectively promote gender identities that will be inclusive and at the same time recognize the organic evolutionary process of social cultures in Nigeria.