Unesco Meet Calls On Community Radio Stations To Rethink Masculinities On Air

The objective of the workshop was to deepen the understanding of masculinities as well as encourage community radio stations to come up with preliminary ideas to produce a radio programme series with four thought provoking episodes on masculinities

Hyderabad: How can community radio empower men and boys to become allies in advancing gender equality? That question took centre stage at the ‘Transforming MENtalities: Engaging Men and Boys through Community Radio’ workshop, co-organised recently by Unesco’s South Asia Regional Office, New Delhi and Unesco Chair on Community Media at the Department of Communication, University of Hyderabad with technical support from International Centre for Research on Women (ICRW).

The objective of the workshop was to deepen the understanding of masculinities as well as encourage community radio stations to come up with preliminary ideas to produce a radio programme series with four thought provoking episodes on masculinities.

The workshop aimed at deconstructing the idea of masculinity through the lens of patriarchy, gender roles, and other social norms. While the discourse around masculinities is mostly reduced to binaries of male-female divides, the workshop aimed at approaching masculinities through a layered perspective. “Discussions on gender tend to be about women, but today we talk about men and others as well”, said Dr. Shraddha Chickerur, National Programme Officer, Social and Human Sciences, Unesco Regional Office for South Asia.

The introductory session, ‘Gender and Masculinity’, led by Sapna Kedia, encouraged participants to brainstorm on ideas for radio programmes around men in their lives. As part of the session, Sapna remarked how patriarchy exerts various pressures on men while granting them privileges. She further added that the source of patriarchy thrives under three conditions, which are land rights, procreation and production. During the session, ‘From Idea to Episode’, participants were involved in group discussions and came up with indicative themes, characters, local stories and messages on masculinities for their radio programmes.

“While I was wondering and going through the session, I realised that my son respects me more than his mother because I am earning and fulfilling all his needs, and I feel that is wrong”, added Mahesh Jagtap, Producer, Vidyavani 107.4 FM.

The workshop will lead to programming on community radio stations in local languages.

Seventeen participants representing nine community radio stations across India, namely: Nityananda Janavani (WB), Radio Mattoli (Kerala), Radio Madhuban (Rajasthan), Waqt Ki Awaaz (UP), Rudi no Radio (Gujarat), Vayalaga Vanoli (TN), Gurgaon Ki Awaaz (Haryana), Radio Bundelkhand (MP) and Vidyavani (Maharashtra), were in attendance. The sessions were facilitated by Sapna Kedia and Dr Ravi Verma from ICRW and Dr Shraddha Chickerur from Unesco Regional Office for South Asia, New Delhi and coordinated by Prof Vinod Pavarala, Prof Kanchan K Malik and Prof Vasuki Belavadi from Unesco Chair on Community Media, University of Hyderabad.