The role of community radio in empowering women in India

Abstract

Community radio is a third tier broadcasting along with public and private radio broadcasting. Community radio is managed, run, controlled and owned by a community for the benefit of the community and serves the needs, interests and aspirations of a community. CR (Community Radio) gives marginalised communities where their voice is not heard an opportunity to express their views where in the mainstream media these voices are not provided any space or time. Voluntary organizations, civic groups, NGOs, Women’s groups/organizations, etc. are now entering into broadcasting to share, express, empower, give voice, to many communities to benefit them with the broadcast. In community radio the public are voluntarily participating and producing programmes for themselves for their own benefit. CR plays an important role in the lives of women as it creates awareness, provides information and education, improves their skills and on the whole it promotes social, cultural, political and economic development or empowerment of women. Many studies have proved that community radio is an instrument of power in changing the lives of women.

Keywords:

• women's empowerment
• community radio
• radio as tool of development

The case: The paper examines several community radio (CR) initiatives by non-governmental organizations aiming to empower women. The initiatives came as a result of an UNESCO intervention that provided a portable production and transmission (briefcase radio station) kit to a Bangalore-based communication campaign group, named “voices.”

The value: CR is a third-tier broadcasting along with public and private radio broadcasting. It gives marginalized communities the opportunity to express their views often ignored by mainstream media. This paper examines its effects on the lives of women in rural settings.

Many non-governmental organizations and media-activist groups struggled and campaigned for setting up local radio broadcasting services to help and address issues in their community and serve their needs, interests, and aspirations. In 2007, the government promulgated a CR Policy and gathered all the voluntary groups to constitute a CR forum to support and promote the setting up of CR stations across India.

The Bangalore-based communication campaign group, “VOICES” convened a gathering of radio broadcasters, policy planners, media professionals, and not-for-profit associations in September 1996 to study how CR could be relevant to India, and to deliberate on policies appropriate for such an action. A declaration calling for the establishment of community broadcasting was signed even as a suggestion that All India Radio (AIR) local stations should allocate regular airtime for community broadcasting was raised. Requests were also made for granting of licenses to NGOs and other non-profit groups to run CR stations. Subsequently, UNESCO made available a portable production and transmission “briefcase radio station” kit to VOICES to do experimental broadcasts of programs for a hands-on learning experience toward the objective of setting up an independently run CR station (Malik & Pavarala, 2007).

By early 2003, the government of India released the first set of CR guidelines but restricted eligibility to educational institutions. Marginalized and voiceless communities continued to remain outside the ambit of the then released CR policy guidelines. Deccan Development Society, an NGO organized a workshop in Hyderabad sponsored by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 2000 urged the government to allocate space for community radio. Representations were made by voluntary organizations, academicians, and individuals to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) which led the MIB to organize a workshop supported by UNDP and UNESCO in 2004 to work out a framework for CR in India. In October 2005, the draft CR policy was referred to a group of ministers, and finally approved by the Union Cabinet on 16 November 2006, permitting NGOs, educational, and agricultural institutions to own and operate CR stations. In 2007, MIB Government of India announced that in the short term, some 4000 CR stations are expected to be put up under the new enabling CR policy.

UNESCO defines CR as a broadcast station that “is operated in the community, for the community, about the community and by the community.” While the term community media refers to a diverse range of mediated forms of communication, electronic media such as radio and television, print media such as newspapers and magazines, and electronic network initiatives which embrace characteristics of both traditional print and electronic media.

The CR provides a mechanism for enabling individuals, groups, and communities to tell their own stories, to share experiences and, in a media-rich world, to become creators and contributors of media. Moreover, it is characterized by its ownership, programming, and the community it is authorized to serve (Fraser & Estrada, 2001, p. 9). A CR is owned and controlled by a non-profit organization whose structure provides for membership, management, operation, and programming primarily by members of the community at large. Its programming should be based on community access and participation and should reflect the special interests and needs of the listenership it is licensed to serve.

1. Women’s empowerment

In India, women comprise half of its total population. While the status of women in India is changing at a fast pace, we cannot ignore the continued existence of a world wherein women are still discriminated, marginalized, and oppressed because of their gender.

But, women are vital human resources in improving the quality of life even as the country’s overall development depends greatly on the inclusion of women in its development process. They have been the transmitters of culture in all societies. The status of women in a society is a true index of its cultural, social, religious, and spiritual levels.

Empowerment is essentially a transition from a position of enforced powerlessness to one of power. It promotes women’s inherent strengths and positive self-image. Gaining power means acquiring ability and opportunity to participate and contribute in the social development process creatively and meaningfully. The process of empowerment enables them to develop in them self-dignity. It enables them to raise voice and fight against injustice, exploitation, abuse, and violence done to them. Enjoying a powerful role in the society makes a woman empowered. Empowerment literally means “making someone powerful, facilitating the weak to attain strength, to increase one’s self-esteem, to help someone to be assertive/ self-confident, to enable someone to confront injustice and oppression and to support someone to fight for her rights.”

“Empowering women actually means strengthening them to confront family, community, caste, religion, traditional forces, patriarchal forces, and biases working within society”. This confrontation ensures their full participation in every aspect of social and national development. Empowerment is a process where women, individually and collectively, become aware of how power relations operate in their lives. With this awareness, they gain self-confidence and strength to challenge gender inequalities at the household, community, national, regional, and international levels (Kumar & Varghese, 2005, p. 57). The term empowerment refers to a range of activities from individual self-assertion to collective resistance, protest, and mobilization that challenge basic power relations. For individuals and groups where class, caste, ethnicity, and gender determine their access to resources and power, their empowerment begins when they not only recognize the systemic forces that oppress them, but act to change the prevailing power relationships. Empowerment, therefore, is a process aimed at changing the nature and direction of systemic forces in favor of the marginalized sectors of society.

“Woman empowerment is a process that enables a powerless woman to develop autonomy, self-control and confidence and with a group of women and men, a sense of collective influence over oppressive social conditions,” noted Kumar and Varghese (2005, p. 61). Empowerment is a process by which the powerless gains greater control over the circumstances of their lives. It is now central in political and social, educational, cultural, sexual, personal, and managerial discourses. Empowerment is related with redistribution of power. Empowerment has both personal and social aspects. At personal level, it is a significant change in the self-image and mental set and at the community level, it is a collective struggle for positive social change (ibid., p. 62).

2. Role of CR in empowering women

It is not easy to achieve women’s empowerment. The resistance comes from family, society, and conditioning of disempowered women’s mentality. However, strategy for women’s empowerment needs special attention. There are various methods and means for women empowerment. Some of popular methods of women empowerment include education, entrepreneurial training programs, formation of self-help groups, social action (feminist movements), legislation, mass communication and propaganda. Mass media are the chief agents of creation, preservation, and eradication of different kinds of images and stereotypes of women in the contemporary world. Visual media like TV is more popular than the newspaper and magazines. The information people receive through newspapers, radio, and television shapes their opinions about the world. It is the mass media which should being the process of women empowerment in the modern world. But, women are depicted in their traditional role in most media and their images are simply decorative in the advertising media. The more decision-making positions women hold in the media, the more they can influence output. They will be able to break the old stereotypes about women. Government, voluntary organization, social activists, and others are trying in their ways for the development of women.

From its beginning, the primary aim of AIR (All India Radio) was to inform, educate, and entertain the public. AIR’s major objectives were to serve the needs of women and promote their welfare and development. In 2006, when CR policy guidelines were issued for establishing CR stations in the country, its primary aim was the development of community with the help of community radio. So CR is thought of as a tool which can promote development of the country, and, indirectly, the welfare of women.

The Namma Dhwani (Our Voices) of Karnataka is India’s first cable CR station. Started in March 2003, it was launched as a partnership effort of the Budikote community, and a couple of NGOs, i.e. MYRADA and VOICES with funding provided by UNESCO. VOICES is devoted to development communication and capacity building support. While, activities relating to broadcast production were done by the Budikote community. The listeners of this CR are primarily illiterate women, who otherwise have little access to information. Over the last few years, a number of capacity building programs have been carried out with the help of NGOs. As of today, Namma Dhwani is a fully functional Community Multimedia Centre, with radio, video, and satellite facilities. It is also completely self-sufficient through locally generated revenue. Namma Dhwani programs not only created awareness among its listeners, but it enhanced the leadership qualities/behavior in women. It has much more impact on women when it comes to creating awareness about health and sanitation, education, savings, food habit and family system, etc. (Singh, Yadav, Dan, & Singh, 2010) and it brought about significant changes in the life of the people in Budikote. Hence, it played a catalytic role in changing the life of the rural people.

Sangham Radio another pioneer in the field of CR was launched in Telangana (earlier in united Andhra Pradesh) on 15 October 2008 – the World Rural Women’s Day – by the Deccan Development Society, an NGO that works with 100 groups of the economically poorest Dalit women. Sangham refers to village-level women’s collectives. Sangham Radio is intended to give a voice to the excluded in general and to women in particular. This radio station is owned, managed, and operated exclusively by women from rural marginalized communities (the “Dalit” caste). The radio broadcasts to a radius of 25 km covering about 100 villages and a population close to 50,000.

Another CR station Manndeshi Tarang, Maharashtra, was established on 16 December 2008 by Mann Vikas Samajik Sanstha, an NGO working for the empowerment of rural and marginalized women. Manndeshi Tarang is providing relevant programming aimed at enriching civic and cultural life. The CR is operated under the guidance of the Mann Deshi Foundation but is owned by the Mhaswad village community and surrounding coverage areas. Manndeshi Tarang has proved to be useful to them (women) in their life (Ray, 2009). It increased their knowledge, and enabled them to showcase their talent and also motivating them in various aspects.

Another popular CR “Radio Namaskar,” was launched in Orissa on 11 July 2010 by Young India, a civil society organization formed by some National Youth Awardees, Indira Gandhi NSS Awardees, and Ex-NSS volunteers those who are committed to the cause of social transformation and development, to make the common people informative and active participant of the community development process. The test broadcasting was started on 12 February 2010 and was inaugurated formally in July. Radio Namaskar (90.4) is currently focused on local governance, women’s empowerment, food security, and youth development along with the other societal need-based issues. The CR programs aim to enhance the psychological, economic, cultural, political, and social status of their female audience (Bandelli, 2011). Women, both producers and listeners, have started to reflect on their abilities and aspirations and on other women’s life; their capabilities to produce programs and interact with audiences have grown since they began. They have acquired confidence in speaking in public and in challenging discriminatory traditions. Their ability to make informative choices is enhanced by an improved access to a vast array of information, including women’s rights; they have also acquired or improved writing skills and familiarized with information technology and media; to some reporters, CR represents a source of income and listeners increase their possibility to access employment opportunities through livelihood-related information; their consideration within family and community is improved.

Anna University, Tamil Nadu, launched the first campus radio in India on 2 February 2004 called Anna FM. The Anna University radio station is the oldest CR station and was the first to receive a broadcast license in the country. The listeners of Anna Radio are urban low and middle class from the nearby urban clusters in a 5–10-km range of Anna University. A study conducted by Ester S. Kar concluded that the radio stations played an important role in social, economic, and political empowerment of women. When it comes to social empowerment, it happened in terms of knowledge and skill development. In terms of political empowerment, i.e. knowing the Panchayat representative, voting in assembly and general elections. When it comes to economic empowerment, learning job skills through radio; freedom to spend money has happened. The important aspect of CR is it given voice to the community especially women and the marginalized. In the case of Anna Radio women’s empowerment among the CR listeners is significant (Esther S. Kar, 2010).

Another campus radio, the Holy Cross Community Radio, Tamil Nadu was launched on 26 December 2006 by Holy Cross College. The station has eight hours of transmission (including repeat transmission) a day. It reaches in and around 10 km of Holy Cross College. The target audience of this radio initiative was the women from Dharmanathapuram and Jeevanagar areas, which are the major slum areas in Trichy. A case study was conducted by Holy Cross College in 2008 to find out the reach and access of its CR and its role in the community development of the local slums. The study found that 27% of the respondents participated in the Holy Cross CR programs and some women revealed that Holy Cross’s radio programs increased their self-confidence, generated awareness about pollution, health and hygiene, and helped in their personality development. (http://i4d.eletsonline.com/case-study-holy-cross-community-radio-trichy-tamil-nadu-india/)

Puduvai Vaani is established by Pondicherry University, Puducherry, on 27 December 2008 with the support of University Grants Commission, New Delhi. It works under FM 107.8 MHz, a frequency which is currently extended to a catchment area of 20-km radius from the university campus. The test transmission of Puduvai Vaani was started on 23 August 2008 and was inaugurated by Shri.V. Narayanasamy, the then Union Minister of State for Planning & Parliamentary Affairs on 27 December 2008 in the presence of Shri. P. Chidambaram, the then Union Home Minister. The full-time transmission started on 1 January 2009. The main objective of Puduvai Vaani is to create awareness among the people and to improve their lifestyle choices. Puduvai Vaani is the public broadcaster to awaken, inform, enlighten, educate, and entertain all sections of the people including the program on women empowerment, communal harmony, health, and education. It is also bringing out the hidden talents of students in and around the university campus. Pondicherry University conducted a study in 2012 to study the rural development of women through CR within the area of Pillaichavady village and the data were collected from 100 women respondents. The study found that through the Puduvai Vaani CR programs, nearly 87% of respondents felt it had contributed to their education. They also claimed to be better informed, especially about health issues. About 64% of the respondents found that the programs’ nutrition information useful even as more than half of the respondents said it contributed to an improvement in their attitude (Balan & Norman, 2012).

3. Summary

The Namma Dhwani CR enhanced the participation of women in program production and created awareness among the women listeners about health, sanitation, education, food habits, and family systems leading to a significant change in their daily lives. The important aspect was that the radio developed leadership qualities/behavior among the women listeners. Manndeshi proved to be useful to the listeners, which consisted mostly in women. It increased their general knowledge and enabled them to showcase their talent and motivated them on various issues including education, health, et cetera. Anna University, for its part, played an important role in social, economic, and political empowerment of women in its area. In terms of political empowerment, it helped them get to know the Panchayat representatives, to enable them to vote in the general elections. In terms of economic empowerment, the CR programs also helped women learn job skills and consequently, increase their income. More importantly, CR has given voice to the women of the community. As noted by the study on the Holy Cross Community radio, programs helped boost women’s self-confidence, generated awareness about pollution, health, and hygiene, and aspects of personality development. The same experience was seen in Puduvai Vaani. They include psychological, economical, cultural, political, and social improvements. Women, both producers and listeners, have started to reflect on their abilities and aspirations and on other women’s life; their capabilities to produce communicative acts in future, through media and at an interpersonal level, seem to be stronger; they have acquired confidence in speaking in public and in challenging discriminatory traditions; their ability to make informative choices is enhanced by an improved access to a vast array of information, including women’s rights; they have also acquired or improved writing skills and familiarized with information technology and media; their consideration within family and community is improved.

Hence, the radio can be the source of empowerment of women. Radio can change the lives of women, it gives them voice, it gives them courage to fight for their rights, it creates awareness about various issues from the beginning the rights of women, to health, maternity, violence, and nutrition. Radio also educates women about their political rights, voting, women’s reservations in Panchayati Raj institutions, and Assembly, Parliament, etc. It empowers them to fight back the domestic violence, male preference attitudes with men, gives them courage to speak their opinion on all issues, to express their interests. It gives them confidence to live their life. So CR can do wonders if it used properly for the development or upliftment or empowerment of women.

Questions for discussion

(1)	What makes CR a more effective medium for the empowerment of women vis-a-vis other forms of media?
(2)	What should be the role of government in terms of promoting community radio?
(3)	What types of radio programs are the most helpful for women?
(4)	How can CR benefit other marginalized groups?

Suggested reading

(1)	Anuradha Ray, Impact Analysis of Manndeshi Tarang, The CR of Mhaswad”, (2009).< http://goo.gl/AbJxV2 >
(2)	Bandelli, D., “Women in CR in India: Avenues of Research on Participation and Empowerment,” (2011). < http://goo.gl/gLKIkz >
(3)	Colin Fraser and Sonia Restrepo Estrada, “CR Handbook, UNESCO, 2001, <www.unesco.org/webworld/publications/community_radio_handbook.pdf >
(4)	Kumar and Varghese (2005). “Women’s Empowerment, Issues, Challenges, and Strategies: A Source Book,” Regency Publications, New Delhi.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Yalala Nirmala

Yalala Nirmala is Assistant Professor at the Department of Communication & Journalism, Osmania University, Hyderabad, India.