By Phares Mutembei
Women are under-represented in the media, according to a report.
The Kenya Media and Gender Report, launched Monday, says women’s views on major news are ignored.
The Kenyan media, the report said, devote a paltry 16 per cent of news items to women, compared to 84 per cent for men.
Only 19 per cent of the voices read or heard in news are women, compared to the 24 per cent global average.
The study, launched by the Baroness Vivien Stern, says women’s voices account for 15 per cent of news sources.
Kenyan women contribute only 17 per cent of female news subjects quotes as sources of information.
According to the Global Media Monitoring Project, the participation of women in the continent’s media stands at 28 per cent, compared to Kenya’s 19 per cent. There was no single topic where women outnumbered men in media coverage.
"At some places, women were found to be willing to allow males to articulate their issues," said Rosemary Okello-Orlale, the Executive Director of the Africa Woman and Child Feature Service.
