Community Radio as an Enabler of Women’s Empowerment in Kenya: A Systematic Review of Scholarly Evidence
Abstract
Community radio’s ability to meet the information needs of rural and marginalised populations has piqued scholarly interest globally, and many studies have explored how women leverage these tools for survival. This chapter systematically reviews peer-reviewed journal articles on how community radio has empowered Kenyan women during the last decade. From an eligible corpus of 17 articles, results show a declining trajectory of studies, especially from 2016 on. Most studies targeted women from slums and rural, semi-arid areas. The women were characterised as illiterate, information-poor, culturally marginalised, and with underutilised potential and explored how they perceived community radio as empowering their health, political, and environmental decision-making and actions. The women identified radio’s empowering experiences related to raising awareness and knowledge on health, climate, politics, and business issues and to feedback channels that helped articulate a voice to participate in family decisions, fight backward cultural practices, aspire to elective politics, and fight for gender equality. Some women credited radio content (e.g. testimonies from successful businesswomen) with the growth of their businesses.
URI
https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-83608-406-8http://repository.mut.ac.ke:8080/xmlui/handle/123456789/7015
