Preamble

Women's equality and the important role of women in every field of human endeavour has been acknowledged through international instruments, national constitutions and by societies across the globe.

The rights of all people, regardless of gender, sexuality, race, religion, has been acknowledged under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Further, governments have acknowledged the rights of women under the Convention for the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). Under this Convention, Governments are obliged to implement concrete programs to put into practice three main principles, the principle of equality, the principle of non-discrimination and the principle of State obligation.

The role of the media in promoting the equality of women is vital. It is recognised in Section J of the Beijing Platform for Women, adopted by consensus in 1995. This section draws attention to the active involvement of women in the media, but their general absence from decision-making positions in all forms of media. It also points to the urgent need for reform and puts on obligation on States to undertake steps such as training, research and promotion of women into positions of decision-making power. It also points an obligation onto media practitioners to help achieve the two outlined strategic objectives to increase the participation and access of women to expression and decision-making in and through the media and new technologies of communication; and to promote a balanced and non-stereotyped portrayal of women in the media. Community radio should be at the forefront of achieving these objectives.

The advent of the Internet and online communications provides opportunities for women to network and communicate on an equitable footing. The majority of women, however, live in developing nations, where their access to all forms of technology is severely limited. The needs of women in developing countries, and those limited in their access to technology in developed countries, need to be taken into account not only by community radio practitioners, but also by policy-makers at every level of society, from local government to international governing bodies. Unfortunately, policy-making has largely ignored women's needs online, leading to an environment that has been largely designed by and for men, and which worsens both the information gap between men and women and the negative portrayals and overt commercialisation and sexualisation of the female body. Community radio can play a role in helping to bring these specific concerns to the policy table, and in promoting the role of women in both the use of information and communication technologies, and in redressing this political imbalance.

Internationally, the role of women in preventing and resolving conflict and in peace-building has been recognised through United Nations Security Council resolution 1325. Community radio has the responsibility to help ensure women's visibility and participation in these situations, providing spaces for women's voices to be heard in the peace-building process and address women's and girls' specific needs in conflict situations.

Community radio has an obligation to redress the imbalance and to facilitate women's involvement at all levels of decision-making and programming, to ensure that women's voices and concerns are part of the daily news agenda, that women are portrayed positively as active members of society and to help women have the technical skills and confidence to control the ways that they communicate. Stations also have an obligation to implement and enforce an ethical policy that includes respect for women and equality as one of its cornerstones. This Gender Policy for Community Radio will serve as a tool to implement gender equality in stations. It should be part of station by-laws and ethical policies.

Section I: Women's access to the airwaves
Women need to have access to the airwaves, in terms of the ability to make their own programmes about political and social issues and entertainment, and also to have programmes that deal with women's issues.

This requires a positive attitude towards training for women, to allowing women space to produce programmes and to ensuring a supportive, secure environment in and around the station. This includes the development of anti-sexual harassment policy to provide protection for women from any form of sexual harassment and molestation, including a complaints mechanism. Women also have the right to work without fear, so appropriate training in security and self-defence, zero tolerance for violations of women's dignity and helping women deal with threats coming from both inside and outside the station form a key part in allowing women access to the airwaves.

Culturally, it is sometimes difficult for women to access the airwaves, due to inability to travel alone or late at night. Efforts should be made to ensure that women are able to overcome these barriers, for example, through mobile radio stations or through sharing of transport or the provision of escorts. Special technical training for women or women-only days at the station are ways of overcoming problems of confidence. Until women achieve parity, stations should commit to estab-lishing a women's desk within the radio station to support women's participation and to safeguard against all forms of discrimination within the station and on air, and to help in creating an affirmative environment for women's equal participation.


Section II: Women's representation on air
Encourage the representation of women in their diversity, and do not emphasise stereotyped roles, such as within the family, for women.

Ensure that all people, regardless of gender, ethnicity, class, sexual orientation, etc are treated with respect and dignity in all aspects of the content broadcast on the station, whether in editorial content or advertisements aired. This includes ensuring that neither men nor women are objectified, physically or otherwise. Women's perspectives should be represented in all programming. However, special programme must be alloted for women. At the same time women broadcasters should not be confined to these specific women's programs.

Women are often neglected by the media as sources of expertise and expert opinion. Diverse sources, representative of all sectors of society, should be used for news and analysis programmes. To facilitate this, it may be useful to make a directory of women experts in various fields that can be used as a reference point.


Section III: the special needs of minority women
The diversity of women's experiences needs to be recognised, and space should be created for women who have faced further forms discrimination, oppression or neglect by commercial and state media. This includes special provisions for including differently abled women, women from minority ethnic, caste or indigenous backgrounds and women from sexual minorities, such as lesbians and transgenders.

Ensure that women and people have access to the airwaves in their full diversity. In particular, grant women from minorities airtime to discuss their issues in an empowering, safe and non-discriminatory environment.

The training and capacity building of women from these backgrounds and orientations may be unique, and funding should be included to ensure that these needs are met.

Section IV: Women's representation at all levels of station management
Community radio has better women's representation than either commercial or government-owned/ public media. However, women are still massively under-represented, particularly in areas of decision-making and technical skills and there are too many stations where there is no effective representation of women.

In order for women to be meaningfully represented at all levels of the community radio station quotas for participation need to be set for ownership, management and production, including women's participation in technical management. The ultimate goal is to reach equality between men and women, but quotas of at least 30% women's representation should be set in the interim. To achieve these quotas, it is important to invest in women's skills, to institute leadership and management training aimed at supporting women achieve parity within the station.


Women's participation cannot be measured by the number of women involved in the station. Women must be represented in the production, ownership and decision-making bodies of the station. These should be constructed to ensure that women are able to engage meaningfully with policy processes, which could include a culturally sensitive supportive environment. There are multiple factors that can help to facilitate women's participation. This includes ensuring child-care, flexible working hours and broadcast schedules that fit women's other responsibilities, adequate lighting and security at the station during meeting and broadcast times, or secure transport for women who have to travel to and from the station. At least half of all training places should be reserved for women.

Section V: The use of appropriate technology

While some women are proficient in the use of information technologies, there remains a gendered digital divide and the majority are not. Women are often excluded from the use of technology, including the use of traditional technology, such as operating a radio studio. It is important to acknowledge this gendered digital divide and overcome it, through both dedicated technical training by and for women and investment in appropriate technology.

Appropriate technology includes a commitment to free and open source software. This includes a studio set up that is easy to operate for women, bearing in mind physical differences, for example women are usually shorter than men, and to ensure that the studio can be used by all, including differently abled people. It also includes ensuring that training materials are accessible, for example through being translated into the local languages and for the non-literate, so that anyone can understand them.


There is also an urgent need to encourage research and support initiatives that help the poor and non-literate meet their communication needs, both through the development of technology that can be used by those who are non-literate, and through making cheaper technology available.

Section VI: Funding and capacity building for women's radio

Capacity building is a key component for achieving gender parity. This does not only apply to capacity building for women involved in the station, but for both men and women so that they can work together to build a safe, nurturing and supportive environment where all feel able to contribute their best to all aspects of station success.

At the same time gender sensitivity training should be conducted for all participants at the radio station to enable men and women to recognise patriarchal behaviour and discriminatory portrayals and be able to develop egalitarian gender relations and non-discriminatory and gender fair ways of reporting.

While many stations have good intentions to achieve gender parity, rarely is funding or capacity building dedicated to this goal. Specific funds and money should be set aside to achieve gender parity. These funds should be used to train women with technical, programming and management skills, to invest in achieving conditions in the station that enable women to feel secure (such as lighting or security equipment) and to provide networking opportunities for women involved in the station.

From a structural point of view, it may be vital to have a women's officer on the staff, advisory board or management committee who can assess the needs of the station and implement programmes to help achieve gender parity, such as through a women's desk.