Women's Empowerment and Good Governance Through - amarc

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Best Experiences for an Action Research Process
can provide women with a voice to make governments and institutions accountable, more
transparent, inclusive and responsive to citizens, and to facilitate the participation of women
in poverty reduction strategies in their communities. It also helps women with access to and
ownership of community radio.
Women’s empowerment for good governance
There is an increasing consensus on the need for a more people-centred discourse when it
comes to development and governance challenges. (2) In this perspective, voicelessness and
powerlessness have come to be seen as key dimensions of poverty, while democracy, equity
and civil rights are seen as not only intrinsically desirable but as directly contributing to the
realization of good governance (3).
Several studies have indicated that women have a higher incidence of poverty than men,
that women’s poverty is more severe than that of men and that there is a trend toward even
greater poverty among women, particularly in female-headed households (4). There are also
many documented experiences on how raising awareness on women’s issues increases the
political participation of women. The media can play an important role in this process thus
leading to better governance. In this perspective, experience shows that community radio can
facilitate women’s access to media and disseminate information on alternative positive roles
for women, thus empowering them to effectively participate in democratic processes (5).
Access to voice is known to be a key indicator of the quality of governance (6). Without access
to voice, women are unable to participate in debates or to express their opinions on public policies
affecting them directly. Community media has the distinctive capacity to provide pluralistic
and participatory communication that is receptive to the need for expression from the social
and cultural sectors as compared to other media, particularly commercialized media.
Many recognize that the onslaught of global commercialized media systems has dramatically
reduced the diversity of the media and communication landscape and it has increased the barriers
to women’s empowerment and their full participation as citizens. It facilitates the blatant
and open domination of culturally and socially controlling groups over the most marginalized,
tribal and indigenous communities (7).