Survey of Women Broadcasters by Nai: Supporting Open Media in Afghanistan

According to this Internews article, women in Afghanistan continue to be challenged by factors such as customary practices, social conditioning, and the security situation in their country. "There is an urgent need to restore women’s lost rights and give women a voice in contemporary society. One way of doing this is through radio." Radio reaches the majority of Afghanistan's population, whether literate or illiterate. It is, as stated here, a way for women to have a voice. "International agencies have supported women to step into the radio field. A handful of radio stations led by women have become very effective in taking a lead in social change." This article discusses a survey of women in radio.

In 2004, Internews helped to create an Afghan media non-governmental organisation (NGO) called Nai, Supporting Open Media in Afghanistan. Nai conducts training for journalists and also monitors the media for abuses against journalists, producing a monthly report entitled Media Watch. In August 2007, a group of women broadcasters came to the Nai office to discuss a United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)-funded workshop about women reporting their daily life. The discussion supported the idea of organising a survey to assess women’s needs. The idea was linked with the International Campaign for surveying women broadcasters working in community radio that was arranged by the Women’s International Network of the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC). "Nai management decided to localize the women radio broadcasters questionnaire and to empower the team of women at Nai to communicate with their female colleagues. At the same time, it was felt that this exercise would contribute to improving their skills and enable them to conduct a regular survey on gender in radio stations. Over a period of four weeks, Nai spoke to women at 15 radio stations from all over Afghanistan... to try and understand the[se] radio stations' objectives and mission.....The questionnaire was focused on the participation of women; the impact that radio programmes have on women; whether radio content are women focused and what kind of radio programs women in these regions would like to listen to."

The survey showed the following:

• Among the 15 stations assessed, only two radio stations Radio (Sahar) in Herat and Radio (Haqiqat) of Samangan province had defined objectives and missions statements that related to increasing the level of awareness female staff have about their rights, their children’s rights and their family relations.
  
• Out of 15 radio stations, 4 have women managers or women in high ranking positions.
• At Radio Balkhi, an alternative to the country's state-run radio stations and the region's first women's community radio station, not only the leadership, but all other key jobs such as technical, programme production and so on are managed by women.
  
• Each radio station had its own productions ranging from a minimum of 8 programmes to a maximum of 50 per month. However, the percentage of programmes being hosted by women ranged from 50 to 90%
  
• On the content side, women’s issues, such as domestic violence and rights, were receiving limited attention.
  

Further, the survey found that it was important to women that they speak together and express themselves. However, there was still a need to continue to improve and facilitate measures that will facilitate greater women’s participation. Nai found that the media environment still has significant constraints within radio workstation environments, and the society as a whole continues to limit women’s participation. A lack of basic security limits women's participation at provincial stations where, without a more secure working environment, women’s movements and capabilities are limited by those who use violence to block the empowerment of women. For example, a woman radio reporter was killed as a result of her participation and representation of women. Women working in radio, particularly in rural areas, embraced their participation in the survey as an opportunity to speak out, identify, and share their problems and radio
experiences.