Motivations for choice of course and career preferences of Nigerian female students

This paper presents a survey of Nigerian female students to determine their motivations for taking up journalism training. The study found that almost as many female as male students enrol in the country's journalism training institutions at the moment - which factor should advance women's representation in the media. Moreover, most of the female students surveyed consider journalism to be a profession as much suited for women as for men. However, it finds marital status to be an important factor in career choice; married students said they would quit work if it interfered with their family responsibilities. Secondly, most respondents tended to prefer more glamorous roles in television, radio, public relations or advertising to aspects of journalism such as reporting. These two factors have important implications for career advancement of women journalists and may continue to exacerbate women's under-representation in Nigeria's mass media institutions.