Media, Gender, and Religion in the Twenty-First Century: Interrogating the Public Image of Christian Women in Nigeria

Abstract

This paper asserts that since the Nigerian media is patriarchal, they inexorably present images that give the impression that men have a superior knowledge of God than women. This idea is incidentally reechoing in contemporary Nigerian Christian practices, especially in the age of the new media. The paper examines gender, religion, and media from historical perspectives; analyses the theoretical framework at the root of the construction of the female gender and their representation in religion; and lastly, presents selected examples from day-to-day empirical evidence from Christian organizations in the Nigerian media space with the aim of deconstructing the public image of Christian women in the Nigerian public square. It thus aims to reconstruct the public image of women in religion via the media, showing the importance of equal gender representation. The narrative concerning reconstruction is deeply contextual, analytical, rigorous, and interdisciplinary.