(Re)creating gender identities in community media

abstract

Media plays a role in shaping community life but can also be used to undermine it. Mainstream media manipulate communities by determining that mass media is their only legitimate and reliable form of communication and questioning whether local expression and issues have substantial relevance. Traditionalists often use community platforms, particularly radio, to denounce social change which they view as a threat to traditional control structures, involving women. Thus, community media can be the medium for hostile conservatism averse to modernity and democratic principles. However, community media can well be a source of empowerment. As an independent platform, it can produce news relevant to the lives of women, offer the opportunity to transform dominant semiotics and strengthen the position of women. Yet, most community media is overlooked, open to misuse and easily manipulated by financial sponsors. This briefing aims to demonstrate that creating an identity for women within community media, especially radio, is not necessarily about improving women's lives but also about maintaining social and political prescriptions.

keywords:

• identities
• community radio
• tradition
• religion
• participation