Narrowcasting, Women and
the Journey of Development

Woman has always been pivotal to society; we have heard this often enough, even felt it at times. Time is witness to her involvement and crucial importance, which is why at every turn in the road to progress, she has been leading from the front – be it the struggle for independence, or any and every big and not so big battle. In the 5000 years of progress to where we are now, the male-dominated society has slowly begun to accept the fact that the world is quite impossible without the contribution of women. Nations that have supported women in the path of development have achieved unparalled heights, while those countries that have treated woman as second class citizen, and looked at them with contempt, now lag far far behind.

We can say this as a matter of pride that India is led by a woman president. But in this instance, we want to accompany that woman who is working somewhere in the fields, or as a labourer, a craftsperson, or even a housewife. She can become a vigilante soldier in the journey to progress, provided we accept her role as such.

It’s been a year since I’ve been working for the community radio. In Bundelkhand, where we have been registering our presence for the past 25 years, even now it is a challenge to get the women out of their homes and veils. This challenge took on bigger proportions in the context of the radio. To begin with, it was difficult to convince the rural women that they could contribute positively to the society. The situation is made more complicated by the fact that men in underprivileged and rural areas have looked at her with undeserved contempt and more or less as chattel. The woman’s self confidence has been delivered a body blow as a result of a long history of abuse, insults and ill treatment.
We are still striving to face the challenges that women face in participating the programmes of the community radio, but light can be seen at the end of the tunnel. Through the radio programme ‘Stree… Ek Kahani Meri Bhi’, primarily for and by the women, an attempt is being made to understand her presence, issues, pleasures, miseries and her very being. Numerous stories, many experiences, some spoken, others silent. But even now, women’ experiences and knowledge and understanding has not found an identity. Society is just not ready to acknowledge that woman can actually have anything to say, or teach.

Experiences of narrowcasting? That too, experiences of women in narrowcasting? I thought it would yield an entirely different story. But the everyday stories of women are no different from those of women in narrowcasting. Two of our colleagues, Bharat Pal and Ganesh Pal were entrusted that with the responsibility of narrowcasting in areas where the radio coverage was limited or incomplete. They would have to take up any one programme to a village council and hold forth group discussions. Our colleagues have been working on this issue for some months now. The narrowcasting team has been to 14 villages and eight programmes have been presented to 45 groups. Of these groups, 13 comprise solely of women who have teamed up to work on issues regarding schemes, health and various village committees.

Bharat and Ganesh have fond memories of their experiences at the onset of the programme. At the very beginning, it was almost impossible to even come in contact with the womenfolk. The young women and girls wouldn’t even talk to them. There seemed to be no way out of this crisis. Women are the most important link in the road to progress. Our two colleagues took on the challenge and started to look for women who dared to look up to the skies. The journey thus began, and culminated with 13 women’s Self Help Groups.

Women do want to change and improve their lot, and make progress in life. The age-old male dominance and traditions have become challenges in their way. Be it a young girl or an old woman, she is told again and again that the outside world is a terrible place, but she is never told how to make her way in life. Even then, women have managed to carve a niche for themselves, become good leaders and agents of change.

The role and importance of woman was proved once again during the work on narrowcasting. I remember speaking with a woman sarpanch on the occasion of the Women’s Day celebration at Pahuj. When I asked her as to why she did not carry out her external duties herself, she replied rather crisply, ‘Can I go around on the motorcycle like the men?’ Obviously, she was unaware of her job responsibilities. But in the narrowcasting team, the women were really keen to learn where they could buy radios and what could they avail of the radio team.

Sometime ago, the narrowcasting team was spreading awareness on the electoral information in the villages. In Bagan village’s tribal cluster, the woman sarpanch was asked whether she was aware of her duties and responsibility. Her answer was in the negative. Unfortunately, this is true of every woman leader belonging to the entire area under the coverage of Radio Bundelkhand. Since there are seats for women, they are filled by the wives of erstwhile sarpanches. But these women are not allowed to become the sarpance in its truest sense. It is their menfolk who carry the onus as such. The women are mostly completely unaware of their responsibilities; all they do is put in their signatures on the dotted line, provided they are literate enough to do so. But it is the scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and the tribal seats where the women are keen to know what their responsibilities entail, what should they do and work on. This information has come across through narrowcasting.

Narrowcasting is bringing across information on the needs of these communities, as well as presenting opportunities for presenting programmes on the radio. Women may be inaccessible to begin with, but once the contact has been established, they do turn out to be major makers of change. This belief has been strengthened time and again through the experiences of the narrowcasting team. q

Anujaa Shukla
ashukla2@devalt.org

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