‘Women's pages’ in Kenya's newspapers: implications for the country's development

Abstract

Newspapers in Kenya are written for men, and about the affairs of men, whereas women remain invisible in relation to the serious issues of the day. But there have been efforts to cover women’s issues, and to sell newspapers to Kenyan women. These have taken the form of having separate and detached ‘women’s pages’ slotted into the main newspapers. The supplements are filled with stereotyped roles of domesticity, beauty, and fantasy, thus denying women’s productive role in society. This article analyses the negative and stereotyped portrayal of women in the Kenyan print media, and considers what implications this has for the country’s development.