Abstract

The development of technological innovations in the 21^st century has enabled global networking whereby gendered communication is visible in the communication process. The new media accessed through the mobile phones in Africa have created visibility of populations who would have remained voiceless in the vast world, governed and regulated by a patriarchal worldview. The later part of the 20th century and 21^st century have witnessed more growth of new media and Africa is doing well in matters of technological innovations which have enabled communication across continents and diverse cultures. It is surprising therefore that the media, both electronic and print, would continue to depict the African woman in gender insensitive ways. Research shows that for adults who have social media accounts, more than 50% users are female except for the ones that attract mainly male users. The female communicators online seem to defy the social stereotypes of females as invisible, powerless, voiceless and, in the African continent, as receivers of development. However, the visibility seems to remain virtual and the identities created live in cyberspace . This paper discusses how the new media can communicate the information that we do not see in history books. The availability and use of new media through the internet and mobile telephony based technologies are examined in relation to the role of the media in communicating the role and position of the African woman    in a digitalized world. New media choices show that despite the cyberspace’s visibility, most communicators in Africa have not used the opportunities offered by new media to transform their lives and those of others through positive communication.

Key Words: Communication, Cyberspace, Culture, Digitalization, Gender

Author’s Bio

*    Juliet Wambui Macharia, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Communication Studies and Academic Leader of Post Graduate and Undergraduate Communication and Public Relations programmes in the School of Business, Karatina University, Karatina, Kenya. She is a former Dean of the School. She holds a Ph.D. in Educational Communication Technology (Moi University), a Master of Arts (University of Birmingham, 1990), PGD in Public Relations (Presbyterian University of East Africa, 2011), PGD in Human Resource Management, (Cambridge International College, U.K., 1992) and a Bachelor of Education degree (Kenyatta University, 1985). Her research interests are: Gender, Communication, Media, Politics, and Public Relations.

^JCMR Journal of Communication and Media Research, Vol. 11, No. 2, October 2019, pp.  106 - 119