Unveiling voices and visibility : women’s engagement and representation in three morning prime-time radio shows in Accra, Ghana

Abstract

While women’s status in Ghanaian media has improved in terms of the beats they cover, it is important to identify how this trend is reflected in such prime-time programmes as morning shows and how it has influenced gender sensitivity in content programming. This study investigates the engagement and participation of women in the three most popular morn-ing radio shows in Accra, Ghana. We employed qualitative content analy-sis and systematically monitored and analysed the three shows over four weeks in terms of gender roles, issue representation, and the frequency and prominence of women’s participation. The results showed that there were more men than women participating in the morning shows as hosts/journal-ists or guests on a daily basis. Female co-hosts hardly ever filled in as pro-gramme hosts in the absence of male hosts. The study further established that men are more often the participants in political discussions on prime-time radio as both hosts and resource persons. We recommend that media organisations establish a culture that guarantees gender-transformative and gender-sensitive programming and representation to increase women’s participation and engagement in media projects.