Gendered Power Relations on Kenyan Television A Case of Selected Advertisements on Citizen Tv

Abstract

This study sought to systematically examine how power relations were portrayed, distributed and exercised among men and women in adverts. The objectives of this study were to find out the gender ideologies exhibited on Kenyan TV adverts, describe the strategies used to display them and establish how these gender ideologies in the ads revealed gendered power relations. The study was guided by Fairclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis theory which provided the framework within which an analysis was made to determine how power relations continued to circulate in adverts. The study adopted a descriptive research design approach to provide in depth information about the trends and effects of language used in adverts. Data for the research was drawn from a corpus of fourteen adverts sourced from one mainstream media station, Citizen TV. The adverts were purposively sampled, then using observation as the main tool of data collection were observed by the researcher, transcribed into data then coded. Findings were analyzed thematically using techniques of content analysis. The findings of this study indicated that power relations in Kenyan TV ads are presented in subtle and flagrant ways by predictably patterning men and women using linguistic and discursive strategies that consequently characterize men as wielding more power than women. The findings of the research can be useful to the Media Council of Kenya and Communications Authority to regulate ad creators on the type of content presented on Kenyan TV by ensuring fairness and accuracy in presentation of actors. Further, the findings of the research can be used for future researches as it forms a framework within which data from different platforms can be used to analyze other social issues. Lastly, the findings add to the existing stock of knowledge in the field of DA which can be used to inform language policies.