What we call elected women shapes perceptions

The media, Nation Media Group included, use the term "woman representative". So it is Siaya Woman Representative Christine Ombaka, Nandi Woman Representative Zipporah Kering, Nyeri Woman Representative Priscilla Nyokabi, and so on.

It is never Women Representative Christine Ombaka, and so on, unless it is an editorial slip-up.

The Constitution, which created the position, does not tell us what the proper title is. It simply says the membership of the National Assembly shall consist of “forty-seven women, each elected by the registered voters of the counties, each county constituting a single member Constituency”.

The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission is not consistent. In the 2013 election results, it referred to such a person as a women representative to the National Assembly. In 2017, in its Kenya Gazette notices, it refers to County Woman Member to the National Assembly.

CONSISTENCY NEEDED

The National Assembly uses the term women representative. That is also the term used by the women themselves. 

We need consistency and clarity. What we call people can influence what we think about them. It can clarify or cloud our thinking as to who they are and what they do. Woman representative, the term used by the media, could mean, among other things, a representative who is a woman.

Then it becomes misleading because there are 16 other elected representatives in the National Assembly who are women, each one of whom could be described as woman representative, to say nothing of the five women nominated MPs and 18 women nominated senators.

It could also be argued that the term is sexist in the same way as calling a doctor a woman doctor.

ACCURATE DESCRIPTION

And what is the plural of woman representative? Woman representatives? Women representatives? Women’s representatives? Which of those terms accurately describe who they are, what they do, and how they are elected?

The answer depends on whether we think of them as essentially female, representing other females, representing counties, or representatives who happen to be female. The Constitution is silent on what their exact role is.

We might ask, what’s in a name? In this case everything. It shapes our perceptions about these women politicians. By clarifying what we should call them, we could help to clarify their role.

Besides, it would be nice if we could all use the same term. If we differ on what to call them then it becomes so much easier to disagree on their role. 

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What is breaking news?

John Murigi is wondering how the editor of Nation.co.ke determines what is breaking news. He thinks the editor uses the term excessively.

“When Mr Maina Kamanda was trounced in an election by Njagua you put it as breaking news. Honestly, was it breaking news deserving such a space and in colour red. You made me hold my breath when I saw red with words breaking news,” he says.

He thinks breaking news should be confined to news of great national importance such as the death of George Saitoti in a plane crash, the Garissa massacre, the Westgate attack, Uhuru winning 2013 election, etc.

Traditionally, breaking news is newly received information about an event that is unexpected or currently occurring or developing.

LOOSE USAGE

Broadcasters think breaking news warrants the interruption of scheduled programming in order to report it.

For example, when Kiambu Governor William Kabogo called a press conference before vote counting had been completed to concede defeat during the primaries, NTV correctly reported the story as “breaking news”.

However, the term has been used loosely for any late breaking news that is of interest to a wide audience.

The term is also used even when scheduled programming is not interrupted, and editors do not always agree that stories described as breaking news warrant such a designation.

Many editors, including readers like Murigi, think the term is overused. What readers should be concerned about is whether the story is accurately reported and is worthy of our attention.

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