VOA慢速英语2014 Education, Gender Influence Use of Media in Africa

 

AS IT IS 2014-09-27 Education, Gender¹ Influence Use of Media in Africa

Recently, the Gallup research group joined with a United States government agency to produce a study about women and media in Africa. That agency is the U.S. Broadcasting Board of Governors, which oversees² Voice of America and VOA Learning English.

The new study found that education and language skills greatly influence which media platform, or operating system, women most often use. The study also found that daily television usage for men and women is similar in most places. But the same cannot be said about radio, the Internet and mobile telephones.

June Simms has more on the study and its findings.

Researchers looked at women and media in seven African countries. Those seven are Ghana, Ivory Coast or Cote D’Ivoire, Kenya, Mali, Niger, Nigeria and Zimbabwe.                                          

Tara Sonenshine was the main speaker at a recent conference in Washington, DC. She says the study shows that the political, economic and social involvement of women in Africa can be of great value.

“We know that if girls are educated and utilize³ media and have access to information, they will participate in the political arena⁴, they will exercise their power and leverage⁵ in the economic sector⁶ and they will make a huge difference in the global economy.”

Gallup researchers spoke⁷ with 1,000 people from each country. Magali Rheault works for the Gallup organization. She says opinions about media freedom are different from one country to the next.

“In Nigeria and Zimbabwe, where attitudes toward a free press are relatively⁸ low. Then you have Cote D’Ivoire, which tends to be in the middle, about half of the people think that there is a lot of freedom of the press in Cote D’Ivoire. And then the last group of countries, with Ghana, Kenya, Mali and Niger, where a strong majority of both women and men say that the media in the countries have a lot of freedom.”

Sonja Glockle is the director of research at the U.S. International Broadcasting Bureau. She says that while daily use of media platforms in the countries showed differences between men and women, some did not show as much of a difference, if at all. Television is one such platform. Ms. Glockle says the reason is simple.

“In Africa, if a household has a television, it tends to be a single television household still. Televisions are usually a prized possession, and are located in a common room, and hence a lot of TV viewing is actually a communal⁹ activity.”

But for radio, she notes, there are striking differences in daily use between men and women.

“Fifty-two percent of women in Cote D’Ivoire use television on a daily basis, compared to 28 percent of women who use radio.”

In general, women are less likely than men to spend a lot of time on the Internet. Sonja Gloeckle says there are many ways to communicate to women in Africa and get them involved.

“If you say well, I want to communicate with women in Nigeria, I think that is still too broad a notion. I would use our data, for example, is to target down women in northern Nigeria. I would use a different platform, a different language. I would use a completely different strategy than if I want to talk to young women in Lagos.”

But as Magali Rheault notes, reporting on issues women care about the most is also a must.

“Issues of safety, health, entrepreneurship. A lot of times, women want to see in programs is, they want to see models even if it’s not from their own country, what other women have done successfully. Seventy-three percent of women who said that they would like to start their own business than work for someone else.”

Researchers also talked about presenting information in vernacular¹⁰ or local languages. They say this could be an important tool to open up the media, especially for a country like Mali. There, only 15 percent of women speak French, the official language.

1 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。

2 oversees   

v.监督，监视( oversee的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• She oversees both the research and the manufacturing departments. 她既监督研究部门又监督生产部门。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Department of Education oversees the federal programs dealing with education. 教育部监管处理教育的联邦程序。 来自互联网

3 utilize   

vt.使用，利用

参考例句：

• The cook will utilize the leftover ham bone to make soup.厨师要用吃剩的猪腿骨做汤。
• You must utilize all available resources.你必须利用一切可以得到的资源。

4 arena   

n.竞技场，运动场所；竞争场所，舞台

参考例句：

• She entered the political arena at the age of 25. 她25岁进入政界。
• He had not an adequate arena for the exercise of his talents.他没有充分发挥其才能的场所。

5 leverage   

n.力量，影响；杠杆作用，杠杆的力量

参考例句：

• We'll have to use leverage to move this huge rock.我们不得不借助杠杆之力来移动这块巨石。
• He failed in the project because he could gain no leverage. 因为他没有影响力，他的计划失败了。

6 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

7 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

8 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

9 communal   

adj.公有的，公共的，公社的，公社制的

参考例句：

• There was a communal toilet on the landing for the four flats.在楼梯平台上有一处公共卫生间供4套公寓使用。
• The toilets and other communal facilities were in a shocking state.厕所及其他公共设施的状况极其糟糕。

10 vernacular   

adj.地方的，用地方语写成的；n.白话；行话；本国语；动植物的俗名

参考例句：

• The house is built in a vernacular style.这房子按当地的风格建筑。
• The traditional Chinese vernacular architecture is an epitome of Chinese traditional culture.中国传统民居建筑可谓中国传统文化的缩影。