Destined to remain fettered in the absence of the ...
Destined to remain fettered in the absence of the voice, Windhoek Observer
Date: January 1, 1970
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People in Usakos live in conditions of extreme poverty with limited possibilities for income-generating activities.
People in Usakos live in conditions of extreme poverty with limited possibilities for income-generating activities.
This article may be used to:
- This article and photograph provide learning tips on story angles, sources and perspectives, and the portrayal of women.
- Give trainees a copy of the case study and analyse it using the following. The areas can be discussed in groups.
Trainer’s notes
The article reads like an opinion piece because the voice and perspective of the writer is dominant. While it seeks to comment on poverty in an area of the country and how it should be tackled, the approach taken leads to a piece which is patronizing in its tone, rather than empathetic to the poor.
The people’s plight is portrayed through the reporter’s description and interview with a middle-aged woman. The woman is unidentified, and the writer, a male, silences the woman’s voice by paraphrasing what she tells him. He further makes her invisible by indicating that he does not want to know her name or anything about her identity. The poor are often marginalized in the media either by becoming faceless statistics, or they are depicted as powerless victims without a voice.
But he does ask the woman her age, about her children and tells the reader that her eight children are ‘fathered by three different men and she never formally married any of them’. The writer therefore only recognizes the woman in her traditional gender role as a mother, but he also makes a judgement about her moral character when she reveals that the has never come someone’s wife.
The writer speaks on behalf of the poor, because he believes that they ‘are in dire need of the Voice’, which he describes as a ‘superior supreme leader’. Because the majority of the poor are women, the writer conveys a gender biased message – i.e. women need to be led and decisions made for them.
The article could have been an interesting piece about poverty in the area, especially its impact on women, told through the voices of women and men living in the community.
Another strong stereotype about women is conveyed in the packaging of the story. The story appears on the back page and is packaged with pictures of semi-nude, white women(mainly exposing their breasts). The pictures, which have no captions, have no relevance to the story and portray women as sex objects.
The article and packaging send the message that women are not worthy of respect. The story is gender-blind, because it lacks a gender balance in sources (voices); uses gender biased language and jargon; shows a lack of awareness of gender dynamics; illustrates double standards and open prejudice, ridicule and judgments against women; and it perpetuates stereotypes.
Training exercises
Exercise one: Read the article and discuss the following:
- Is the angle of the story clear? Why or why not?
- What angle is buried in the article?
- How could it be better developed?
- Does the hidden angle have a gender perspective? Explain answer.
Exercise two: Using the case study answer the following questions:
- Whose perspective is dominant in the story?
- How are women portrayed in the article and images?
- What stereotypes are reinforced?
- Is the use of the images which accompany the story ethical? Explain answer.
- What voices are missing?
- What message is conveyed in the article about poor people’s right to expression?
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