This case study examines whether recent improvements in radio broadcast coverage and the spread of SMS technology are increasing women′s access to information and providing them with a platform that adequately meets their needs. The findings show that, women enjoy listening to radio and want to contribute to debates in their local public sphere. For today′s younger women, it has become easier to overcome traditional obstacles to expressing themselves publicly, as well as to embrace the newest communication technologies, such as text messaging, that allow them access to a public platform. However, it is still difficult to get ordinary women of all ages to communicate with their local radio. Community radio is a male-dominated entity that often consigns women′s programming to a narrow interpretation of gender issues, focused on women′s roles as wives, mothers and homemakers, and does not address the listening needs of women as political and economic actors in their own right.

Authors: Frances Fortune, Cindy Chungong