Women’s Empowerment and Good Governance Through Community Radio

Raising the awareness of women about political processes and opportunities in their communities has been shown to lead to their greater involvement in democracy building. This, in turn, can lead to both the empowerment of women and poverty reduction. But if women – who suffer more from poverty than men in developing countries – lack information on how community political processes work, they are poorly equipped to be able to participate in the development of good governance. The articles gathered here reveal many experiences of women accessing the media and how important it may become in building good governance. The women’s movement has long recognized the important role that media – community radio, in particular – plays in shaping the values of society. Over the years, women’s organizations in many countries have used community radio to advance their issues through the governance process, while others still have not learned about the power of this medium.