Women's Empowerment and Good Governance Through - amarc

Best Experiences for an Action Research Process 74
Chapter 14.
Women as Producers of Information
in Indonesia
By Ade Tanesia (37)
Indonesia entered in 1998 the reforms era liberating itself from the repressive authoritarian
New Order Regime. Reforms has also occurred in the media sector resulting in the
emergence of many media in various supports, such as print, audio and audio visual.
However, have these media given any access to the public’s voice? In reality, most media
have not accommodated the public’s voice. Hence, what is required is to let the society become
the producers of information. A medium like community radio becomes the most appropriate
media to broadcast public’s interest programming. In Indonesia, there are about 600
community radio stations. However, the question remains whether community radio has been
fully used by groups of people, including women, that are always marginalized. The result of
questionnaires distributed to a number of community radio stations has showed that women’s
involvement in the management of community radio is still insufficient. The same situation
can befound when it comes to analyze their programming; only a few programs are dedicated
to women. In most cases, the programs are about recipes and health and beauty problems,
rather than about issues related to women’s rights.
Nevertheless, groups of women had the initiative to use radio as a medium to disseminate
issues on women’s rights, among them, Women Voice Radio in Pariaman, West Sumatra
and Women Journal Radio Program. The former is a community radio station; the later is a