Cover Image Courtesy; Thought Catalog // Unsplash
The media landscape in Ghana has undergone significant transformations since the country’s independence in 1957.
From oral storytelling to modern digital platforms, the media continues to play a vital role in shaping culture, social values, and individual identities.
The media radically shapes societal attitudes and cultural norms.
Woman Emerge magazine
However, despite the enormous progress the Ghanaian media has made, Ghanaian women continue to face misrepresented and marginalised portrayals in the media, as they are consistently portrayed in stereotypical and limiting roles that reinforce patriarchal attitudes and perpetuate harmful gender norms.
Colonialism and traditional societal structures have contributed to these stereotypes, often depicting women as subservient, dependent, and powerless.
Likewise, despite the progress recorded over the decades, globalisation and technological advancements have intensified these issues, as international media influences have merged with local norms to create a complex web of misrepresented narratives about the African woman.
Objectification and Marginalisation of Women
The media has long been criticised for its role in perpetuating harmful stereotypes and biases against women, contributing to their systemic marginalisation and objectification.
Through various forms of media, women have sometimes been stripped of agency, autonomy, and dignity. This pervasive objectification has been particularly evident in the popular culture where movies and song lyrics often reinforce damaging attitudes toward women.
This perpetuates harmful gender norms and contributes to a culture of misogyny.
Woman Emerge
Songs such as Kidi’s “Touch It”, Brigadier OD’s “Me Tu Wo Wig”, and others like these continue to foster harmful attitudes towards female bodies and women’s lives by objectifying and degrading women through their lyrics.
Additionally, movies and TV shows often portray women in narrow, traditional roles, where they rely on men to complete them.
Even in films by progress-oriented female directors and producers like Shirley Frimpong Manso and Leila Djansi, who aim to portray the ’empowered’ Ghanaian woman, these characters are frequently reduced to their relationships with men, social standing, and unhealthy beauty ideals.
This nuanced perpetuation of patriarchy raises important questions about the complexity of female agency and the lingering influence of societal norms
Ghana’s pop culture scene is marked by a fraught intersection of feminism and cultural tradition, where progressive aspirations clash with entrenched societal expectations.
Woman Emerge
This narrative propagates a damaging message to young women and girls, as it subtly teaches society that the value of a woman is contingent upon women having to constantly prove themselves through extraordinary effort, self-sacrifice, beauty, and strategic relationships with men.
While it’s crucial to acknowledge that men can be vital allies in the pursuit of equality, equity, and women’s empowerment, a fundamental question needs reflecting upon: Can women exist by simply being human, without needing to justify their worth through external factors?
Reinforcement of Harmful Gender Norms and Attitudes
Societal expectations of women are rooted in harmful gender norms and attitudes, which systematically dismantle women’s empowerment initiatives and perpetuate discriminatory gender stereotypes.
Experts stress that the media’s portrayal of harmful gender norms, such as male entitlement and rigid gender roles, reinforces the notion that men have inherent rights and privileges over women, leading to dominance and control in relationships.
One in every three women experiences some form of physical or sexual violence in their lifetime, often justified by harmful gender norms.
World Health Organisation
Furthermore, the objectification of women reduces them to mere objects for male pleasure, emphasising the damaging dynamics of the male gaze, which strips women of their agency, autonomy, and individuality, and positions them as commodities for male consumption and gratification.
The effect of this is a watering down of women’s potential and aspirations.
Similarly, research highlights a link between harmful gender norms and limited economic opportunities for women, as gender norms perpetuate inequality, maintaining patriarchal power structures and limiting social progress for women.
Gender inequality costs developing countries $9 trillion annually. The UN Women revealed during this year’s International Women’s Day that 1 out of every 10 women lives in abject poverty.
Contribution to the Marginalisation and Exclusion of Women
The perpetuation of harmful gender stereotypes in Ghanaian media contributes significantly to the erosion of women’s contribution and the marginalisation and exclusion of women, strengthening existing social and economic disparities.
To illustrate, Ghana stood out as one of the top three economies in the 2020 MasterCard Index of Women Entrepreneurs (MIWE), boasting an impressive percentage of female business owners.
However, this achievement belies a stark reality as the media’s pervasive marginalisation of women, particularly those without formal education or social influence, fosters their exclusion from the narrative.
Despite their significant contributions to the economy, most Ghanaian women remain invisible, their multi-layered stories of womanhood and resilience untold, due to the bias in storytelling by the media.
The Role of the Media in Shaping Culture
Studies have shown that media representation plays a crucial role in shaping societal attitudes towards women.
Ghana’s leadership landscape reveals a gender disparity, where women hold a mere 12.7% of parliamentary seats and 13.6% of private sector leadership positions.
This underrepresentation is in part driven by stereotypical media portrayals crafted by male gatekeepers who propagate limited narratives that constrain women’s self-perception, imagination, and aspirations.
Additionally, the underrepresentation of women in media and decision-making positions projects the false notion that women are not capable of leadership or participating in public life.
Rooting out the Canker
Ghanaian women deserve multifaceted representations that honour our diverse experiences, assert our agency, and highlight our remarkable contributions, both big and small, outside beauty standards.
Dismantling damaging stereotypes paves the way for balanced narratives that empower women to reach their potential by creating a society where all women thrive.
Works by Ghanaian feminist scholars like Ama Ata Aidoo, Audrey Gadzekpo, Grace Diabah, and Nana Akua Anyidoho highlight the need for nuanced portrayals that capture the complexity of women’s experiences.
While Ama Ata Aidoo’s “Changes: A Love Story”, for instance, showcases the multifaceted lives of Ghanaian women navigating traditional expectations and contemporary aspirations, Audrey Gadzekpo’s groundbreaking works prioritise nuanced storytelling about women, amplifying the diverse roles women have played in shaping Ghanaian society and challenging dominant narratives.
More importantly, community-driven engagement and citizen-centric awareness campaigns are essential for social transformation.
Studies consistently show that community-led initiatives that empower citizen agency, can drive meaningful change. Accordingly, we can dismantle stereotypes perpetuated by male-dominated narratives when women tell their own stories.