ABSTRACT
Journalism is
considered an exclusive preserve of men with salutation phrase of 'Gentlemen of
the press' an indication of gender discrimination or men profession only. Religion,
culture, gender disparity, role as mother and insecurity among others are factors
influencing the performance of women journalists in Nigeria. The core objective
of the research is to appraise the gender inequality in the practice of journalism
with a case study of Oyo State National Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ).
Survey research method was used while 120 copies of questionnaires were
administered to 120 respondents who were purposively selected with 60
respondents from the print media and another 60 from broadcast media
respectively. It is very clear from the findings that women journalists are
performing like their male counterparts in all aspect of journalism despite the
fact that women’s role as mother alongside religion, political atmosphere are
some of challenges limiting the potentials most especially in Africa. Yet the
impacts of women journalists to the development of broadcast media cannot be
overemphasized as they anchor of women related programmes such as “Today’s
Women”, Maggi Kichen, Women Half Hour, Women in Politics, Best Mom, anchor of
Health/Children Programme, entertainment, family show, religion programme. It
is recommended that the media employers should ensure gender equality while
recruiting for media establishment.
