African Women in Power: An Analysis of the Representation of Nigerian Business Women in Television

Women generally have been categorized and placed under the chain of business industry, sometimes highly regarded and other times merely. The social construction of womanhood does not in all sense support a woman going into business let alone succeed in it because it is believed that it a man’s world. In a typical patriarchal setting, a woman is expected to know nothing more domestic roles. For some women this is not the case as they have been able to break these barriers to excel in business amidst these social setting and stereotypes. This study examines media representation of Nigerians business women. It is using content analysis of TV interviews as media text, framing analysis as a method.This study further aims to analyze media frames of two Nigerian business women: Folorunsho Alakija a business woman in the petroleum industry with current net worth 1.1 billion U.S dollars, emerging as the richest black women in the world 2014. Mosunmola Abudu, a media corporate owner in Nigeria who launched the first Africa’s global black entertainment and lifestyle network in 2013. This study used six predefined frames: the business woman, the myth of business women, the non traditional woman, women in leading roles, the family woman, the religous woman and the philantropist woman to analyse the representation of Nigerian business women in the media. The analysis of aforementined frames on TV interviews with these women reveals that the media perpetually reproduces existing gender stereotypes and do not challenge patriarchy. Women face challenges in trying to succeed in business whiletrying to keep their homes stable. This study concludes that the media represent and reproduce gender stereotypes in spite of the expectation of empowering women.The media reduce those women accidential case rather than a role model for women in society.