SA Elections 2009 – Women Commentators

Date: June 15, 2009

These commentaries present a gender-aware perspective on South Africa’s general elections in April 2009.

Articles analysed

• “Towards a moral vision,” Mail & Guardian, April 24 to 29 2009
• “Love in the time of Cope,” Mail & Guardian, April 3 to 9 2009

These articles may be used to:

highlight the importance of female voices in mainstream debates;
showcase how women commentators serve to tackle stereotypes that prevent women’s meaningful participation in politics;
discuss the responsibilities of women journalists to forward the gender agenda; and
debate the role of editors in promoting and facilitating the use of female commentators.

Trainers’ notes:

These commentaries focus on the changing political landscape in the period leading up to and following South Africa’s 2009 national elections and provide examples of female commentators moving outside stereotypical coverage areas.

According to the Global Media Monitoring Project (GMMP), more women than ever are working as journalists but they do not play equal roles in news coverage – female reporters generate nearly 40 percent of “soft news” coverage (i.e. home life, family, the arts or social causes). In South Africa, 90 percent of sports journalists are male, according to a report released by the South African National Editors Forum, the “Glass Ceiling Report.” Further a concern was that at the time of the report, none of the media houses surveyed had specific plans to ensure they met gender equity requirements stipulated by law under the country’s Employment Equity Act obligations.

What women do and do not cover may be determined by a number of factors, for instance:

Newsroom culture – Every newsroom has a culture as well as every type of media. Traditionally, print journalism has been the most male-dominated journalistic arena.
Gender stereotypes – These may be notions that women, because of their “softer natures,” are more inclined to soft news writing or may lack the political literacy to comment intelligently on politics.
Disparities in newsroom development – The newsroom’s culture, coupled with stereotypes and even disparities in education may contribute to women feeling they are discouraged from entering male-dominated sections of the paper. For many of these same reasons, news editors may overlook them when opportunities for on-the-job trainings or professional development arise.

The inclusion of female commentators like these speaks to not only mainstreaming women’s voices but also breaks down these subtle stereotypes fed by their conspicuous exclusion from hard news commentary. They then open the space for newsrooms to reconsider how women are distributed among their sections and hopefully, how editors can help develop women reporters.

The changing political landscape dealt with by these journalists owes largely to longstanding divisions within the ruling party, the African National Congress (ANC), which came to a head shortly before elections. In September 2008, the ANC removed then president Thabo Mbeki from office after a controversial judgement insinuated he had been behind political interference in fellow cadre and ANC president’s corruption trial.

Those within the ANC perceived as loyal to Mbeki formed a new opposition party, the Congress of the People (COPE) – the emergence of a new opposition from within the ANC added fire to what many commentators said was already heated debate concerning the gender sensitivity of prominent ANC figures, including party president Jacob Zuma. In April 2009, Gender Links publicly congratulated both the ANC and COPE as being the only parties in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) that, to date, had attempted to meet regional gender parity targets.

Discussion questions

Do you notice correlations between by-lines and beats? Are female journalists pigeonholed as soft news reporters in your country?
What, if any, affect does the absence of female hard news reporters and commentators have on media and those aspiring to become journalists?
In light of the distribution of females in newsrooms – should gender parity quotas be redefined? Should we attach special conditions to quotas, stipulating, for instance that a certain number of women must be represented in male-dominated sections such as politics?
How much responsibility should editors take in developing and promotion women in hard news? Is it within their job description? What are the challenges in getting editors involved and what are the potential benefits from their point of view?

Training exercises:

Hit the newsroom and arrange to shadow a female reporter. What does she cover? What challenges does she face? How do her male colleagues and editors treat her and her work?
Arrange with editors at a paper to attend the morning conference, at which most daily media outlets will assign stories and discuss coverage. What do you notice about the news agenda? What do you notice about the dynamics amongst reporters as well as between reporters and editors?
Get involved and get in touch with local media organisation in your country – do they offer chances to write about gender dynamics in media? Apply what you’ve learned and offer to contribute to newsletters and journals.

Other Training Resources

Gender, elections, and media

Gender and Governance

Business Unusual: Gender and the economy

From the Gender and Media Diversity Centre
Strengthening the Voice and Visibility of women in Elections

Botswana at the coalface – women as leaders

Elections further marginalise women with disabilities
Click here and search theme “Politics” for more related research on the GMDC database.

Click here and search theme “SA Elections 2008″” for more related VRC case studies.

Related GL Commentaries
Open letter to JZ on women’s rights

New political party putting “Women Forward”

Gender parity in politics is a far cry from equal rights for women

Political parties sidestep violence against women