Gender Framing and Women Career Progress in the Media Industry in Kenya

The concern with gender relations has been strengthened by the affirmation that equality in the status of men and women is fundamental to the development of every society. Increasing attention is being placed on gender equality issues globally, buoyed by several legal and normative instruments – conventions and declarations. Kenya as a country has laws prohibiting gender discrimination following UN Conventions to promote gender equality in the work place. And because of these efforts, it has become common in Kenya for employers to emphasize that they are equal opportunity employers, meaning that women have similar chances of getting a job as men. Studies however, show that women still do not have equal access to jobs at the higher levels of management. In this article, Framing Theory is used to explain the disparities in gender representation in management positions in the work place. The argument is that conscious and unconscious frames may have hindered the progress of women. We draw evidence from existing literature on the media industry employment patterns in Kenya to support our argument.