Representation of Grace Mugabe's political career : a construct of her gender ? a case of The Herald and Newsday.

Abstract

The study explores the role of The Herald and NewsDay in the representation of Grace Mugabe’s political career as a gender construct. Globally although there have been conventions, constitutional amendments and numerous advocacy movements channelled towards equal representation of both genders in social, political and economic spheres, the gap between the genders continues to exist. Although strides have made in facilitating equality on issues to do with domestic abuse, education and so forth, when it comes to the political arena women remain underrepresented and marginalised. There has been considerable research on a global scale channelled towards unearthing why women remain underrepresented. However most research that has been carried out has been done in western countries. Africa continues to rely on this research albeit the fact that reasons for political underrepresentation of women are diverse and cannot be generalised to all cultures and contexts. This study thus analyses the representation of the political career of Zimbabwean first lady and politician Grace Mugabe who has made the news for mostly the wrong reasons in the past few years. Grace Mugabe has had her name thrown into the succession nexus which is a result of her husband’s old age and ill health but Zimbabweans have not warmed up to the idea of her running for office. The study is based on the assumption that gendered representation by the media of her political career influences the way Zimbabweans regard her. The study will use content and discourse analysis to analyse relevant articles covered on Grace Mugabe in The Herald and NewsDay in order to find out how she is represented and the likely effects this has on her prospects as a candidate if she decides to run for office. The data will be presented through the use of a thematic approach.