Radio, Women, and Politics

This chapter examines women’s empowerment through the role of radio in promoting participation in politics and decision-making approaches. It focuses on the output of two radio studios, one in Niger and one in Mali, which both broadcast a series of women-related programmes on political engagement. Radio as a communicative tool draws on multiple formats to promote listener engagement and information retention. Broadcasts must be designed to be ‘listenable’ for their intended audience, and the format and content must therefore ensure that both the message giver (the radio studio) and the message receiver (the listener) have their information needs met. The chapter analyses the benefits and shortcomings of the formats used by the two studios to allow various voices to be heard and to promote political participation among women in the two countries. In doing so, it questions how the provision of information can help women make first-order strategic choices or decisions on a macro level and whether to engage in politics while meeting their civic responsibilities and gendered expectations.