Implications of gender stereotyped television programmes on children’s development in Tanzania: a case study of local television stations in Dar es Salaam city

The focus of this study was to investigate the type of gender stereotypes in the electronic media on the one hand and its effects on children development. The focus was on programmes aired on local TV Stations in Tanzania and was conducted in Dar es Salaam region. Specifically, the study identified children’s TV programmes watching preferences, their contents, examined the reasons for this preference. Further, this study assessed the gender stereotypes TV programmes, and examined children’s attitudes and perceptions towards existing gender stereotypes in popular TV programmes. The last specific objective was to identify the implications of gender stereotypes on children’s development both within and outside the family. Adults and children study respondents were randomly sampled from Dar es Salaam’s three municipalities namely Kinondoni, Ilala and Temeke. Questionnaire and interviews responses from the respondents were subjected to content analysis. The main study findings was that among the many possible effects of TV gender stereotypes on children, was that children imitated role models (bad or good) from TV programmes, especially in relation to dressing and sexual habits. This effect was more frequently mentioned by respondents than the observation that certain TV programmes tended to induce inferiority/ superiority complexes in girls and boys respectively. It is recommended that further studies be done to establish why gender roles are linked more with gender stereotypes on the dimensions of role behavior, physical characteristics and occupation than on traits.