The Female Media Producer as an Advocate of Women’s Empowerment in Nigeria: The Cross River State Experience

This paper presents an investigation into Nigerian female journalists’ definition of their role vis-à-vis the two concepts of women’s empowerment/emancipation and feminism. It examines the level to which the country’s media and social environment are conducive to feminist journalistic expression. The paper argues that although a good number of female media producers in the country, demonstrate a strong adherence to feminism and women’s empowerment/emancipation, they are hindered from fully materialising their orientation. These hindering factors include, among others, patriarchal socio-professional fixations, weak female representation at decision-making levels in the media, and limited financial resources to create gender sensitive programmes.