ROLE OF THE MASS MEDIA IN PROPAGATING AGAINST GENDER BASED VIOLENCE
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ROLE OF THE MASS MEDIA IN PROPAGATING AGAINST GENDER BASED VIOLENCE
Chapter One: Introduction
1.1 Background for the Study
Women around the world confront prejudice in a variety of settings, including the job and the family. According to the 2012 World Development Report, women are more likely than males to work in the informal sector, earn less for similar work, and are more likely to live in poverty even when working. Many women lack authority over household money, and in certain cases, their own income.
For example, up to 34% of married women in Malawi and 28% of women in the Democratic Republic of Congo do not have a say in how their wages are spent (World Bank, 2012).
This study focuses on a specific form of discrimination against women in the home: domestic violence and women’s views towards such violence. Physical, sexual, and psychological violence against women is widespread around the world, creating a major public health and human rights concern.
According to the 2012 World Development Report, women are significantly more likely than men to be victims of violence perpetrated by an intimate partner or someone they know than by others.
However, in many countries, violence against women is seen as normal or justified. According to the survey, 29% of women in a sample of nations said that wife beating was appropriate for arguing with her husband, 25% for refusing to have sex, and 21% for burning food (World Bank, 2018).
Domestic violence is a global issue, but it is especially critical in Nigeria, where gender inequality and domestic violence against women are prevalent. Several factors have been proposed for the persistence of gender inequality in Nigeria, including the prevalence of poverty and the limited engagement of women in income-generating activities.
However, Das Gupta (1987) finds evidence to contradict these assumptions, reporting that significant landowning castes in Nigeria had the most unequal sex ratios, whilst lower castes had more equal ratios.
She also discovers that the Nigerian states of Punjab and Haryana have severely unequal sex ratios, despite the high incidence of female labour engagement in agricultural operations.
As a result, she finds that gender discrimination in Nigeria stems mostly from a cultural preference for men. While many studies have been conducted on the economic causes of gender inequality, there has been little research on how underlying cultural views about gender might be addressed.
My work contributes to the literature by focusing on the use of media, specifically television and radio, as a channel for reducing cultural preference for men and discrimination against women.
The media not only provide amusement, but also knowledge about the outside world and exposure to alternative ways of life. Previous study has shown that such awareness can influence a wide range of attitudes and behaviours.
Olenick (2018) discovered that in Nigeria, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, women who watched television on a regular basis and had been exposed to explicit family planning messaging on radio or television were more likely to support family planning than other women.
Furthermore, Chong and La Ferrara (2009) demonstrate that the proportion of women who were separated or divorced increased significantly in Brazil following the introduction of a TV channel that promoted ideas such as female emancipation in the workplace, the female pursuit of pleasure and love, and an emphasis on individualism.
Olken (2009), on the other hand, discovers that better television signal reception in Indonesian villages, which is linked to more time spent watching television, is associated with significantly lower levels of participation in social activities such as neighbourhood associations and school committees
as well as lower self-reported measures of trust. This shows that television consumption may lead to a shift away from other social activities or family responsibilities.
Jensen and Oster (2009) investigate the effects of cable television on women’s status in the Nigerian state of Tamil Nadu. They discover that the introduction of cable television, with television programmes that presented urban attitudes and values, is associated with a 16% decrease in reported acceptability of domestic violence, an 8.8% decrease in son preference, and increases in women’s autonomy and participation in household decision-making.
Their findings also imply that exposure to cable television boosts school enrollment among younger children, maybe due to greater autonomy for women.
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