Women in newspaper cartoon straps during the ‘Operation Restore Legacy’ in The News Day and The Chronicle

Abstract

There is an existing trend of negativity in the portrayal of women through cartoons in local newspapers. This has led to the perpetuation of gender stereotypes against women aimed at demeaning and degrading the social status of women. Cartoons as works of art are expected to reflect on issues as they are happening in the societies. The two newspapers under study are The Chronicle and The News Day which are government owned and private owned respectively. The paper analyses these two newspapers in the manner in which represent women in cartoons and further interrogates circumstances surrounding such portrayal. The period under study is between November 2017 and April 2018. This is the period when Zimbabwe underwent leadership change, after thirty-seven years under one leader. Guided by the Africana womanist perspective the article concludes that women and men are given the same opportunities but if not disciplined women sometimes abuse their position.