This is a series of headlines over time that demonstrate the gradual shift in the South African media from gender blind to gender aware reporting on women in politics.
This is a series of headlines over time that demonstrate the gradual shift in the South African media from gender blind to gender aware reporting on women in politics.

This article may be used to:

Illustrate that as it becomes more commonplace to have women in high office, so the media is forced to move with the times, and indeed to help break the prevailing notion that politics and decision-making is an entirely male domain.

Training exercises

1)      Close your eyes and think for a moment of who comes to mind when you hear the word “politics”. The facilitator will go around the room and list these on a flip chart.

2)      Now count how many of those listed are women and how many are men.

3)      With reference to the sequence of articles:

• Who are “All the president’s men” referred to in this article? For those familiar with the Mandela presidency, is this an accurate reflection of whop shaped decisions at that time?
• Who are “All the President’s Women” referred to in the Saturday Star article? What messages are sent out about men in the first article, and women, in this article?
•  Who are “All the President’s women” in the April 29 issue of the Star? How do they differ from the women referred to under an identical headline in the September 1996 article in the Saturday Star? Does this signify a change in thinking over the roles of women and men in society.
•  In the three more recent articles from the Star, This Day and Mail and Guardian that refer to men and women in decision-making what sort of shift has taken place since the 1996 Mail and Guardian article entitled “All the President’s men”? Is this significant?
• With reference to all the above articles, what role do writers of headlines and sub-editors have to play in either reinforcing or challenging gender stereotypes?   

Trainer’s notes

General: Exercises on women and men in decision-making are always a good measure of attitudes towards gender equality among media practitioners and society generally. This sequence illustrates a gradual shift away from both subtle gender stereotypes and gender blind reporting to more gender aware reporting.  

Exercise one and two: Invariably, the majority of names listed are those of men. Despite the high profile campaigns for greater participation by women in politics, politics in our region still has a distinctly male face.

Exercise two: use the sequence of articles to draw out the following:

1. This is a story written to fit a headline (taken from a title of an American book) that succeeds in obliterating the contribution of women, for example his PA who controlled his diary. It is interesting that even after Mandela retired, and all newspapers in collaborated in an eightieth birthday supplement in 2003, only one woman (his current wife) was asked to comment on his life. Much later, another newspaper interviewed Mandela’s current PA, Zelda le Grange who revealed a host of information on Mandela that tends to be glossed over in the saintly way that he is often portrayed (for example, that he is quite stubborn and autocratic in his ways).
2. In the first “All the President’s women” article, these are: his first wife, ex wife and current wife. The article appeared shortly after the one above. The messages: men are the brains behind the throne; women, the soft touch.
3. Fast forwarding to the April 2004 elections, a sister newspaper uses the same headline – “All the President’s Women” – but this time to refer to all the women in Mbeki’s new cabinet.   It is interesting how, out of all the possible angles in this story (eg former Minister of Home Affairs Buthelezi being axed, see side story) the newspaper chose to lead with women now accounting for 42 % of the South African cabinet. Other papers took the analysis further (see “Feminist and Queen Maker” in the Mail and Guardian (LINK).  
4. The three articles that refer to women and men show an awareness, missing in the earlier articles, that power and decision-making in are beginning to be shared by women and men.
5. This sequence is a brilliant illustration of the power of the headline writer and sub-editor is shaping thinking on critical issues. The first two reinforce stereotypes about the role of women and men in society. The article about the Mbeki presidency plays nicely on the assumption that the President’s “women” must be people in his private life to in fact  being the bedrock of his new cabinet. References to women and men in the latter articles underscore a new gender awareness, and are used with a touch of irony to signify a new era.

Other training resources

The GL study, “Ringing up the Changes: Gender in Southern African Politics”, Chapter two, “Vulindlela, Access to Power” has interesting insights on the societal attitudes that have prevented women from running for political office.  Fact Sheet three, “What is Keeping Women out”, LINK in the GL resource centre on Gender, Elections and the Media, is also relevant.

Download : All the presidents men
Download : All the presidents women - Apr 04