Abstract:
Increased perceptions by scholars, policy makers as well as readers of newspapers
and magazines point to one critical issue that the media have of late become conduits
for gender stereotyping not only in Kenya but the world over. This fact that has been
proven in the recent years by sporadic protests against some media houses following
publication of cartoons that seemed offensive to sections of society. In some cases,
such protests and reactions were violent enough to claim lives and cause destruction
of property. Consequently, this study set out to establish whether editorial cartoonists
and by extension the Daily Nation and Standard newspapers unconsciously promote
gender bias and stereotypical overtones It is centred around three questions: What is
the nature of gender portrayal in the selected editorial cartoons?, What ate the views
of journalists and gender activists on gender portrayal by editorial cartoons. This
study is anchored on the relativist/interpretivist philosophical paradigm. And
qualitative case study of the two newspapers namely the Daily Nation and the
Standard newspapers respectively was applied. Data was generated through a
qualitative content analysis of the sampled cartoons published by the two dailies. It
was complimented by semi-structured in- depth interviews targeting the cartoonists,
human rights and gender activists from selected organizations. 252 cartoons out of
2184 were sampled systematically through a six week systematic sampling
mechanism. Each week represented a month amounting to three years in a row. The
findings of the study revealed that men were negatively represented in most of the
cartoons. Specifically, men were linked to greed, corruption, political violence and
land grabbing among other issues. On the other hand, women were mostly portrayed
as weak, helpless, irredeemably vulnerable and mostly afflicted. In over some of the
sampled cartoons, women were projected as sexual objects and agents of beauty. And
yet in some though only a few the very women were projected as the voice of reason
and one that could be entrusted with leadership and integrity. This study reveals the
bias and increased stereotypical overtones against both the male and female gender
and inability of the two media houses to adequately embrace gender sensitivity in the
way cartoons portray both men and women before their readers.. Thus, the study
recommends editors, reporters, cartoonists to remove bias and stereotypes in their
portrayal of both men and women. To this end, they require urgent retraining and
sensitization on gender sensitivity cartooning. Specific editorial guidelines for
cartoonist as a reminder against biased cartooning. Annual awards for cartoonists and
introduction of cartooning as learning and training module is necessary to enhancing
talent and professionalism besides promoting partnership between the media, training
institutions, Media Council and gender focused organizations such as Federation of
Kenyan Women Lawyers (FIDA), Kenya National Commission on Human Rights and
National Commission on Gender and Equality among others