| dc.description.abstract | As agents of education and socialisation, the media shape and reflect public opinion on issues like political participation of women and electoral politics. While media are expected to be fair arbiters and watchdogs in elections, they sometimes reinforce rather than curtail stereotypes and prejudices against women candidates (Llanos & Nina, 2011
). Moreover, media are blamed for partisanship in their coverage of women candidates when they perpetuate conflicting narratives that oppose gender equality efforts (McRobbie, 2009). Thus, as more women run for higher political offices, gendered coverage of election matters has spiked scholarly interest.
One concern has been the amount of media attention given to candidates and how gender roles shape their representation. Biased coverage led to such international forums as the 1995 Beijing Platform for Action, which cited media as complicit in perpetuating gender inequality. Male-dominated media were accused of developing stories from patriarchal perspectives that foreground narratives about the ‘unfitness’ of women to lead and prop up the male candidates depicted with inborn leadership traits (Anaya, 2023). Female candidates are more often featured for superficial qualities, like physical appearance, than the substance of their campaigns. On the one hand, one study showed that the media’s underreporting and biased coverage of female candidates makes them invisible, muted, and underdogs in the electoral process (Barasa & Gitau, 2021). Fair and balanced coverage, on the other hand, enables voters to make better judgements about the merits of each candidate. This study contributes to the literature by focusing on media coverage of Kenya’s 2022 elections. | en_US |
