Swiss Media Outlet Apologises For Labelling Okonjo-Iweala ‘A Grandmother’

Aargauer Zeitung, a Swiss newspaper, has apologised for the ‘inappropriate’ and condescending headline it used in a report about  Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the director-general of the World Trade Organisation (WTO)

The newspaper had in a report on February 9, prior to Okonjo-Iweala emergence as the WTO boss, described her as a “grandmother”.

‘This grandmother will be the new chief of the World Trade Organization’; the headline of lthe February 9 report by Aargauer Zeitung read.

The sexist report was greeted with outrage as Aargauer Zeitung and two other newspapers, Luzerner Zeitung and St. Galler Tagblatt, were severely criticised for describing Okonjo-Iweala as a grandmother.

In a February 26 letter, Samuel Schumacher, foreign editor-in-chief of the newspaper, exonerated Jan Dirk Herbermann, the author of the article, from the furore that the headline created.

Schumacher said Herberman had nothing to do with  the “inappropriate and unsuitable” headline as he did not craft it.

He said the editors unilaterally changed Herberman original headline which he submitted with the report he filed in from Geneva. Herberman headline, which was changed without informing him, read ‘For the first time an African woman moves to the top of the WTO’

“The author of the article, Jan Dirk Herbermann, did not write this headline. We did not inform Mr Herbermann about this headline. Therefore Mr Herbermann is not in any way responsible for this headline, ” the letter read.

“Mr Herbermann is our correspondent in Geneva and had filed us the article for publication. The original headline that Mr Herbermann drafted was: ‘For the first time an African woman moves to the top of the WTO’. However, we, the editors, did not use this headline.”

Reacting to the development, Okonjo-Iweala said it was important to call out offensive behaviour whenever it happens.

She further appreciated 124 ambassadors and heads of international organisations who sent a letter to the editors of the newspapers over the “sexist and racist remarks” in the article.

“I’m thankful to all my sisters, UN Women Leaders and the 124 Ambassadors in Geneva who signed the petition on calling out the racist & sexist remarks in this newspaper. It is important & timely that they’ve apologized, ” the tweet reads.

“We need to call out this behaviour when it happens. This is precisely what my book Women & Leadership coauthored with @JuliaGillard talks about – the stereotypes women face when they take on leadership positions.”

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