Domestic Connectivity: Media, Gender and the Domestic Sphere in Kenya

Abstract

This article explores how increased media access and use influences Kenyan women’s everyday life and alters the domestic space. Based on 30 in-depth interviews with women in Uasin Gishu County, Kenya, the article demonstrates that women have incorporated newly gained media into their daily lives and routines. Increased media access has opened up the home and turned the domestic sphere from a secluded place into a connected space in which women can receive input from, connect with and interact with the world beyond their immediate surroundings whilst simultaneously remaining at home and fulfilling their traditional gender roles. Women’s media use thus reinforces their connection to the domestic sphere and the gendered division of labour. Although it has the potential to challenge gender inequalities, the extent to which this occurs depends on the individual woman’s ability to act on the imaginaries and ideas that media carry.

Quantification of Gender Bias and Sentiment Toward Political Leaders Over 20 Years of Kenyan News Using Natural Language Processing

“…In her analysis of three newspapers in Kenya from 2002 to 2003, Omari found that 94% of all articles on women in the three dailies featured urban women as opposed to rural women (Omari, 2008). Further, in rural Kenya, limited access to computers and smartphones and unreliable electricity hinders online participation, especially for women (Wyche et al, 2013;Gustafsson, 2018). It is also possible that people outside the capital, where the parliamentarians reside, are relatively sheltered from information about the leaders who reside in the capital; thus, the national survey data might differ from the views of people exposed to information on the parliamentarians in the capital.…”

Media and Communication between the Local and the Global

“…Departing from the thematic of migration and aligning with the theme of marginalised groups, Jessica Gustafsson's (2018) article "Domestic Connectivity: Media, Gender and the Domestic Sphere in Kenya" explores how increased access and use of media technologies has changed Kenyan women's everyday life in the domestic sphere. It argues that media technologies have helped transform the domestic sphere from a secluded place to a connected space where women can get input and interact with the world beyond their immediate surrounding, whilst concurrently fulfilling their domestic duties.…”