Recovering Women’s Voice: Communicative Empowerment of Women of the South

Abstract

This chapter argues for focusing on the communicative empowerment of “women of the South” (women living in poverty and deprivation in every region of the world) in the conviction that it is by learning from these women that alternative visions for a more just and sustainable future can be created. Through a review of literature, this chapter documents the ways in which women of the South are silenced within (a) colonial discourse, (b) news and academic discourses, and (c) development discourse. The chapter then reviews literature describing a number of efforts by women to use traditional and modern communicative practice to create social change. This chapter derives insights from the literature on both the obstacles and possibilities that exist in the path to the communicative empowerment of women of the South.