ABSTRACT
The
low rate of female participation in politics compared to that of their male
counter- parts in Nigeria creates a need to examine the situation in this
study, “The role of broadcast media in mobilizing women for political
participation in Nigeria”. This study examines the problems, first, defining
the importance of women to participate in politics. The survey research method
was employed in this study and questionnaires were used for data collection,
then the hypotheses were tested using chi-square statistical procedure to reach
a definite conclusion. The results reflect that broadcast media have positive
impact in mobilizing women to participate in politics. In summary, broadcast
media is found wanting in fostering development for gender equality in
politics. In recommendations, suggestion of ways to stimulate female
participation was made by looking at practical examples of how this was done in
the pre-colonial era. Finally, in conclusion, the study emphasizes that no sex
or gender is more important than the other because in politics, intellectual
ability counts more than physical energy.
TABLE OF CONTENT
CHAPTER ONE
1.0
INTRODUCTION
1.1
BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
1.2 STATEMENT OF RESEARCH PROBLEM
1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
1.4 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
1.5 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
1.6 RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS
1.7 DEFINITION OF TERMS
1.8 ASSUMPTIONS
1.9 LIMITATION OF THE STUDY
References
CHAPTER TWO
2.0 REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE
2.1 SOURCES OF LITERATURE
2.2 THE
REVIEW OF RELEVANT LITERATURE
2.2.1 WOMEN IN PRE-COLONIAL ERA IN NIGERIA
2.2.2 DISCUSSIONS ON GENDER AND POLITICS
2.2.3 EARLY
FEMALE POLITICIANS AND THEIR ACHIEVEMENTS
2.2.4 FACTORS
AFFECTING FEMALE PARTICIPATION IN POLITICS
2.2.5 ATTITUDE
OF BROADCAST MEDIA TO NIGERIAN WOMEN
2.2.6 ATTITUDE
OF NIGERIA WOMEN TO BROADCAST MEDIA
2.3 THEORETICAL FRAME WORK: Agenda Setting
Theory.
2.4 SUMMARY OF LITERATURE
REFERENCES
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1 RESEARCH
DESIGN
3.2 AREA OF
STUDY
3.3 POPULATION
OF THE STUDY
3.4 RESEARCH
SAMPLE AND SAMPLING TECHNIQUE
3.5 INSTRUMENT
FOR DATA COLLECTION
3.6 VALIDITY
OF THE INSTRUMENT
3.7 METHOD OF
DATA COLLECTION
3.8 METHOD OF
DATA ANALYSIS
REFERENCES
CHAPTER FOUR
4.1 DATA ANALYSIS
4.2 TEST OF HYPOTHESES
4.3 DISCUSSION OF FINDING
REFERENCES
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION, RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FURTHER STUDY
5.1 SUMMARY
5.2 CONCLUSION
5.3 RECOMMENDATIONS
FOR FURTHER STUDY
REFERENCES
BIBLIOGRAPHY
APPENDIX
‘A’
APPENDIX
‘B’
CHAPTER ONE
1.0 INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Women constitute a critical segment
of the Nigeria population. They are active in the agriculture and economic
sectors of the society and have also contributed immensely to the
decolonization and general development of this great country.
Women
struggles date back to the 19th century when women like Amina of
Zaria, Madam Tinubu of Lagos, Olufuamilayo Ransom Kute of Abeokuta, Margaret
Ekpo and Hajji Gabon Swabia among others fought to give women the pride of
place in Nigeria’s history even after the struggle for independence was over
and Nigeria became an independent soveign nation, women continued to contribute
their quota in the post- independence match towards development and progress.
In the areas of politics, the above named amongst others contributed immensely
to the mobilization and sensitization of women with a view to ensuring that
women are involved in the politics of the country.
At
present, the issues pertaining to women have contributed to draw a global
attention with the result that the problems that impede their progress are
currently being addressed concretely. Consequently, the crusted for women
empowerment has heightened the political consciousness of women. Some of them
occupy strategic positions in government where they have continued to prove
their mettle. For instance Dora Akunyili, Oby Ezekwesili of Due process Fame,
Ndi Okereke Onyilike and Ngozi Okonji Iweala among others has undoubtedly
distinguished themselves in their official assignments.
The
role of women in development has for a long been taken for granted and
relegated to the back ground. For a long time, politics in Nigeria has been
played with the usual patronizing attitude which usually does not go far in
enlightening women. Some of the factors employed are social and cultural
practices which hither to have been misinterpreted to create biases against
women. There is need for women to be properly oriented so that their numerical
strength and voting power can be profitably galvanized and oriented towards
empowerment of other women who will in turn look after the welfare of all women
by formulating gender sensitive laws to promote women’s cause.
What
is really the meaning of politics? Various scholars resulting in different
views of politics have defined it as the art of possible, a game of wits, all
that begins and ends with government. Politics is essentially the art and
science of government. That is, the study of the control, distribution and use
of power over human activities in society.
The
word politics is derived from the Greek word Polis, which means “city state”.
Winter and bellows (1968) pointed out that Aristotle (384-322 Bc) in his
treatise on human associations stated that the most sovereign inclusive
association is the polis which presupposes the establishment of government,
law- making, enforcement and eliciting obedience from the members of the
society. Aristotle observed that man is by nature, political animal. This means
that politics permeates all human actitivities. It manifests in social, economic
and cultural intersections among individual and groups and transcends
international frontiers.
The obvious maneuver associated with
the concept and practice of politics influenced the emergence of the Laswellian
theory of politics, which states that politics is who gets what and how
(Laswellian 1958).
The
Nairobi world conference to review and appraise the achievements of the UN
Decade for women in 1985, and the Beijing fourth world conference on women in
1995, both had top on their agenda issues concerning women and the media. These
conference brought to the fore the importance of the media in the quest for
gender equity in development, despite there international conferences and
polices aimed at gender friendliness however, women’s participation in Nigerian
politics is undermined by the way the media represents politics as an
exclusively male domain.
Contemporary experiences have shown
that broad- cast media is important to the political development of nations.
Broadcast is not only a means of teaching, sensitizing and transmitting message
on issues of development, but also crucial to the process of development. Considering
the fact that broadcast is increasingly being used world-wide with its power of
reaching a large mass of audience, it should not be ignored in the political
scheme of things. This might account for why Nwankwo (1996: XI) said that, ‘one
vital factor in the pursuit of gender equality in politics is the media’.
The aim here is not just to critically analyze
the impact of broadcast media in the quest for a gender equitable polity, but
to also turn the searchlight of feminists and media scholars to broadcast with
regard to gender and politics. Thus, the focus is on the gender dimension of
broadcast and the quest for a gender equitable polity.
It is here posited that broadcast media could
significantly influence the acceleration and acceptable of women in politics.
1.2
STATEMENT OF RESEARCH PROBLEM
It is not a hidden fact that women are
under represented in the field of politics. This may be because of the basic
assumption that “a women’s place is in the kitchen”. In other words, her home
duties and family responsibilities should be her sole priority, thereby
underling her active participation in national development in general.
Another
assumption militating against female participation is that, female is
biologically not designed for energy exerting and hazardous occupation. This
argument may not be true because, with the age of automation and revolution in
decision making intellectual ability counts more than physical energy.
The
issue of gender bias too, contributes enormously to the low participation of
women in politics. Beverly’ (1995), notes that the society assumes that women
should be mothers, school teachers, hairdressers, secretaries, nurse, maids and
social workers only, therefore, they do not need education not to talk of
taking part in decision making. This believe is wrong, as both men and women
need and can purse politics and projects in development, each in their own
unique ways, alongside each other.
The
home too is not left out in contributing to female lack of participation in
politics. In the home husbands attitudes can directly or indirectly influence
the choices their wives make in whether to enter into politics or not.
Many
political parties, reflecting the more general conditions in the rest of
society, do not easily accept or promote many women into their echelons, let
alone permit women’s occupation of important positions within these parties.
This issue is particularly important in view of Abdullah’s (1993) argument that
to achieve women liberation, it will be tacked within democratic movements.
Thus, if this issue is not looked
into, women will be illiterates and there will be backwardness in the economy
of the country and growth of politics will depreciate.
1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The objective of this study is to use
broadcast media to mobilize women to participate in politics also to voice out
some cultural values in Nigeria that make it difficult for women to participate
in the decision making process. There is need for attitudinal change and total
reorientation in this respect.
Another objective of the study is to
stop the issue of women being victims of violence in the home.
1.4 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
It is expected that at the end of this
study, to update knowledge within the framework of the study. Particularly, it will assist people’s views
on the usefulness of broadcast media in mobilizing women to take part in
decision-making. This study will draw the attention of government to empower
women to participate in politics through the use of radio, television, films
and motion pictures in their packaging of news reports and events, and to
academics in their practices and training of journalist. The government should
promote the welfare of women in general. Also the federal government should
promote the full utilization of women in the development of human resources and
to bring about their acceptance as full participation in every phase of
national development with equal rights and corresponding obligations least
involving 30% elective positions for women.
Another
important significance of this is for election to be conducted according to the
rules, in which all qualified individuals especially women are free to vote or
be voted for with out constraints of manipulations. (Williams, 2008).
1.5 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
In this study, an attempt will be
sufficiently made to answer the following questions.
1.
Does
colonial antecedent influences women participation in politics?
2.
To
what extent does culture affect women participation in politics in Nigeria?
3.
Do
broadcast media actually mobilize women enough towards political participation?
4.
Does
women participation in politics depend on their exposure to broadcast media?
1.6 RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS
The following research hypothesis
derived logically from the problems posed in the research questions.
This
is necessary in order give direction, focus as litmus test of the statement of
claims or prepositions contained in the rein.
H1:
Colonial antecedents influence women participation in politics.
H0:
Colonial antecedents do not influence women participation in politics.
H2:
Culture affects women participation in
politics in
Nigeria
H0: Culture does not
affect women participation in politics in Nigeria.
H3:
Broadcast media actually mobilizes women enough towards political participation.
H0:
Broadcast media does not actually mobilize women enough towards political
participation.
H4:
Women participation in politics depends on their exposure to broadcast media.
H0:
Women participation in politics does not depend on their exposure to broadcast
media.
1.7 DEFINITION OF TERMS
In this study, certain key words will
be explained into conceptual and operational definitions.
CONCEPTUAL MEANING
Role: The degree to which somebody/
something is involved in a situation or an activity and the effect that they
have on it.
OPERATIONAL MEANING
Role: Functions, expectations associated
on a given past or position
CONCEPTUAL MEANING
Broadcast: A channel through which information/ programmers are sent
out on television or radio.
OPERATIONAL MEANING
Broadcast: It include television and radio which are means of
communicating to heterogeneous and homogenous audience.
CONCEPTUAL MEANING
Mobilizing: To make people ready to pursue a particular cause.
OPERATIONAL MEANING
Mobilizing: It has to do with organizing or
preparing people for a particular purpose.
OPERATIONAL MEANING
Women: Womanly-having qualities held to be appropriate.
CONCEPTUAL MEANING
Participation: The art of taking part in an activity or event
OPEERATIONAL MEANING
Participation: Taking active part in that particular
activity or event.
CONCEPTUAL MEANING
Politics: The activities involved in getting and using power in
public life and being able to influence decision that affect a country or a
society.
OPERATIONAL MEANING
Politics: A competition between political
parties to wards who or which party assumes political leadership
1.8 ASSUMPTIONS
In my study, it is obviously seen
that the broadcast media will always be at its peak in mobilizing women for
political participation through which these women are enlightened, educated and
sensitized more on political participation.
This
will certainly correct the gender in balance in politics and promote women
participation in politics and governance.
Broadcast
media has contributed greatly to the political reforms in our country through
her numerous programmers’ on politics and women participation, ranging from her
news programmers’ such as Paradise Park, which is geared towards
institutionalizing women participation in Nigeria politics.
1.9 LIMITATION OF THE STUDY
There are many limitations ranging
form not knowing where to start, not knowing who to consult or approach for
materials not knowing what next to write in various segment of this study and
not actually knowing who to put me through in achieving my work.
Secondly,
as we know, our nations economy is very bad that finance become a serious
problem to my research study due to lack of fund to get to some places, people
and to get one thing done or the other
done. Due to that it creates a barrier to the study.
Finally,
back pains, dizziness as well as the researcher’s respondent’s inability to return
questionnaires that was given to them adequately.
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