Regulator Faults Swiss Newspaper’s ‘Sexist’ Headline About Okonjo-Iweala

A media regulator faulted a Swiss newspaper on Tuesday for
sexism over a headline earlier this year describing the World Trade
Organization’s highly qualified new chief merely as a
“grandmother.”

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala in March became the first woman and first
African to lead the WTO, following a long, high-powered career
serving both as finance and foreign affairs minister in her native
Nigeria and 25 years at the World Bank.

But when the Aargauer Zeitung regional daily announced the
67-year-old Harvard-educated development economist’s appointment in
February, it opted to focus its headline on her role as a
matriarch.

“This grandmother will become the boss of the WTO,” read the
headline of the article published by the Aargauer Zeitung and
picked up by several other papers on February 9.

Amid a barrage of outrage, the paper apologised, acknowledging
that the headline had been “inappropriate and unsuitable”.

The Swiss Press Council, a self-regulatory media ethics
organisation, examined charges that the paper’s choice of words had
been motivated by gender discrimination and/or racial
discrimination.

In its ruling issued Tuesday, it said it had not been able to
determine whether discrimination on the basis of skin colour had
played a role.

“However,” it said, “it is obvious that if this had been about a
male former finance and foreign minister in a country of 200
million people, the headline ‘a grandfather becomes the WTO
director-general’ would be inconceivable.”

“Therefore, the council deems the headline discriminatory on the
basis of gender.”

(AFP)

A media regulator faulted a Swiss newspaper on Tuesday for
sexism over a headline earlier this year describing the World Trade
Organization’s highly qualified new chief merely as a
“grandmother.”

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala in March became the first woman and first
African to lead the WTO, following a long, high-powered career
serving both as finance and foreign affairs minister in her native
Nigeria and 25 years at the World Bank.

But when the Aargauer Zeitung regional daily announced the
67-year-old Harvard-educated development economist’s appointment in
February, it opted to focus its headline on her role as a
matriarch.

“This grandmother will become the boss of the WTO,” read the
headline of the article published by the Aargauer Zeitung and
picked up by several other papers on February 9.

Amid a barrage of outrage, the paper apologised, acknowledging
that the headline had been “inappropriate and unsuitable”.

The Swiss Press Council, a self-regulatory media ethics
organisation, examined charges that the paper’s choice of words had
been motivated by gender discrimination and/or racial
discrimination.

In its ruling issued Tuesday, it said it had not been able to
determine whether discrimination on the basis of skin colour had
played a role.

“However,” it said, “it is obvious that if this had been about a
male former finance and foreign minister in a country of 200
million people, the headline ‘a grandfather becomes the WTO
director-general’ would be inconceivable.”

“Therefore, the council deems the headline discriminatory on the
basis of gender.”

(AFP)