By: Annette Camara, President of the Women Journalists Association, The Gambia
As The Gambia prepares for a consequential electoral cycle — including National Assembly and local government elections in 2027 — an important question deserves greater attention: are women being given a fair opportunity to shape the political narratives through which Gambians understand leadership, democracy and public accountability?
Women are voters, political organizers, community mobilizers, candidates, elected representatives and experts on the issues that affect their communities. Yet their numerical presence in society does not automatically translate into equal visibility in the news, meaningful participation in political debates or recognition as authoritative voices on national affairs. The media plays a critical role in determining whether women are treated as legitimate political actors or remain on the margins of conversations about power.
The Independent Electoral Commission’s published calendar places National Assembly elections on 10 April 2027, followed by councilor elections on 22 May and mayoral and chairmanship elections on 26 June 2027. These milestones make the months ahead a key period for examining how the media covers women candidates, political parties, and the barriers to women’s participation in public life.
The numbers expose a persistent democratic deficit
The available electoral data already show the scale of women’s political exclusion in The Gambia. Women constitute more than half of the country’s population and accounted for 57 percent of registered voters in the 2021 voter registration, according to the United Nations in The Gambia. Yet during the 2022 National Assembly elections, only 19 women contested seats, representing approximately 8 percent of candidates. Only three were elected, and the President later nominated two more.
The Inter-Parliamentary Union’s historical data records five women among the 58 members of the National Assembly following the April 2022 election (three elected and two presidential nominees), equivalent to approximately 8.6 percent of parliamentary representation. These figures expose a significant gap between women’s voter participation and their representation in elected decision-making.
Electoral exclusion is not only a question of party nominations, campaign financing, political networks or social attitudes. It also depends a whose political ambitions receive sustained public attention, whose policy proposals are seriously examined, and whose leadership is presented as credible. Media coverage alone cannot eliminate structural barriers to women’s political participation. However, it can either reinforce those barriers or help challenge them.
Women are increasingly reporting, but remain underrepresented in the news
Research published by Gender Links in August 2026 provides a regional illustration of this contradiction. Its 2026 Gender and Media Progress Study analyzed 2,060 news outlets across more than 200 print, online, television, and radio outlets in all 16 Southern African Development Community countries. Women accounted for 42 percent of reporters but only 29 percent of news sources. The distinction is important: increasing the number of women working in newsrooms does not, by itself, ensure that women are equally represented in news content.
The global picture is similarly concerning. The 2025 Global Media Monitoring Project found that women accounted for just 26 percent of people seen, heard, or spoken about in news worldwide. In political and government coverage, women represented only 22 percent of sources quoted.
These are regional and global findings, not measurements of Gambian news coverage. We do not know whether Gambian political reporting shows the same imbalance because no one systematically measures it. That absence of evidence is a gap in itself. Election observers count ballots, but no one counts who is invited to speak about politics on air, for how long, or on what subjects. Without that data, under-representation remains a perception that is easy to dismiss rather than a finding that demands a response.
Who gets invited to discuss politics — and who gets to speak?
For women in politics, exclusion from the news does not always mean complete absence. Sometimes it means being present but unheard.
In my experience monitoring political and current-affairs programs, the imbalance shows up in the composition of discussion panels, the distribution of questions, and the time participants are given to contribute. Consider a panel of eight people that includes a single woman. If that woman remains on the program for almost two hours but is asked only one question, her presence may improve the appearance of representation without giving her a meaningful opportunity to influence the discussion.
This is not simply a question of counting women. It is a question of measuring the quality of their participation. Was the woman invited because she has expertise on the subject? Were her views explored with the same depth as those of her male counterparts? Was she given sufficient time to explain her position? Did the presenter challenge her arguments fairly, rather than question her competence or legitimacy?
These questions matter particularly during election periods, when political talk shows, interviews, debates and news bulletins can influence how voters assess candidates.
The same scrutiny should apply to women from rural communities and political organizers who may be influential in their constituencies but less comfortable speaking English on air. Language should not become an informal barrier to political visibility. Radio programs in local languages can help ensure that women participate in public debate in ways that reflect their knowledge, experience and political realities.
Women should not merely be invited to discuss gender issues. They should also be heard on public finance, agriculture, infrastructure, security, education, health, economic policy and national governance.
Editorial power is political power
The conversation must extend beyond the number of women employed as journalists. Who decides which political story leads the bulletin? Who selects the guests for a national debate? Who determines which candidates receive follow-up interviews? Who controls editorial budgets, commissions investigations and decides which stories deserve sustained attention? These decisions influence the public’s understanding of who matters in politics.
Editorial leadership, media ownership, and newsroom resources therefore matter for gender equality. But we should examine the relationship through evidence rather than assumptions: having a woman in a senior position does not guarantee balanced coverage, just as a male editor is not inherently incapable of advancing gender-responsive journalism. What matters is whether media institutions have transparent editorial standards, inclusive sourcing practices, accountable leadership and a commitment to fair political coverage.
The challenge is to make gender equality part of routine editorial decision-making rather than an occasional theme reserved for International Women’s Day or special programs.
From lamentation to accountability: what Gambian newsrooms can do
The way forward is not to ask women journalists to work harder while leaving existing editorial practices untouched. Nor is it enough to call for more women in the news without specifying how progress will be measured.
Gambian media organizations, the Gambia Press Union, the public broadcaster GRTS, the regulator PURA, journalism training institutions and individual newsrooms can take practical steps before the 2027 electoral cycle.
First, introduce a simple gender-sensitive media monitoring tool. Newsrooms and media associations should record the date, program or story, subject, source, gender, professional role, topic, speaking time, and prominence given to each source. Where relevant and ethically appropriate, the tool can also capture age, disability and geographical representation. This would help distinguish numerical inclusion from meaningful participation. Review findings monthly and use them to guide editorial planning.
Second, expand the pool of women experts. Journalists should develop and maintain databases of women with expertise in economics, law, agriculture, security, public administration, technology, local governance, and other areas of public interest. This would help answer the familiar excuse that qualified women are hard to find.
Third, make language inclusion an editorial priority. Political reporting should reach women who communicate most confidently in Mandinka, Wolof, Fula, Jola, Serahule and other Gambian languages. Translating political participation into accessible public discussion is essential to inclusive democracy.
Fourth, strengthen protection against technology-facilitated violence. Women candidates, journalists and public commentators can face online harassment, threats, doxing and manipulated content. Newsrooms should develop clear response protocols, protect sources and staff, and avoid amplifying abusive or manipulated material in ways that cause further harm.
Finally, publish the evidence. Media associations, journalism training institutions, researchers and civil society organizations should collaborate on periodic assessments of women’s representation in political coverage. Make the findings public, and measure progress against clearly defined indicators.
These measures would give editors, journalists, political parties and the public something more useful than general expressions of concern: evidence of where exclusion occurs and a means of assessing whether it is changing.
Building platforms where women’s stories can be heard
Women journalists, media associations, universities, civil society organizations and development partners can also establish collaborative platforms that publish credible, evidence-based stories about women’s leadership and political participation, complementing rather than replacing independent mainstream journalism. They should provide opportunities for underreported voices, support investigative and explanatory reporting, and make women’s political experiences accessible across digital and traditional media.
The objective should not be to produce favorable coverage of every woman in politics. Women leaders and candidates must be scrutinized with the same rigor as men. Gender-responsive journalism is not about lowering standards or abandoning impartiality. It is about applying those standards fairly and ensuring that women are neither excluded from scrutiny nor denied the opportunity to demonstrate their competence.
The 2027 elections are an opportunity to do better
The coming electoral cycle gives Gambian journalists and media institutions a chance to examine their own contribution to democratic participation.
If women remain underrepresented among candidates, the media should investigate the barriers they face, including party nomination processes, campaign financing, political violence, and social expectations. If women candidates receive less airtime, that disparity should be measured. If editors routinely overlook women experts, they should examine their sourcing practices. If women are invited to political discussions but given little opportunity to contribute, the assessment should include the quality of their participation.
The Gambia does not need to assume that its media has the same gender gaps documented elsewhere. It needs to measure its own reality, acknowledge the evidence and respond with practical reforms.
Ultimately, the question is bigger than whether women are visible on radio, television, newspapers and digital platforms. It is whether they have a meaningful opportunity to influence the national conversation about leadership, public policy and the country’s future.
Women are already reporting the news. Women are already organizing communities, mobilizing voters, contesting elections, and contributing to public life. The task now is to ensure that their expertise, ideas and leadership are not confined to the margins of political coverage.
As The Gambia approaches 2027, media accountability must mean more than counting how many women appear in the news. It must also ask how they are represented, whether they are heard, and whether their voices are helping shape the country’s democratic future.
