In keeping with this edition’s focus on women, our Script of the week is a BH2 about how to ensure that you are serving the women farmers in your audience, and serving them well!
For decades, radio programs for farmers have mainly served the needs of male farmers. Male radio hosts have interviewed male experts and male farmers about crops and animals that men grow and raise.
But we know that women do as much work as men on small-scale farms. They also feed the family and care for the young and old.
So women are essential to the survival and progress of family farms. It is therefore crucial that radio programs that are meant to serve small-scale farmers serve the needs and interests of women farmers as well as men farmers.
If you implement the tips in this guide, you can serve your listeners better by:
- Ensuring that women farmers get the information they need to farm better.
- Enabling women farmers to voice their opinions on topics that are important to them.
- Helping women farmers enjoy your program more.
- Helping male listeners learn more about what is important to women farmers, and taking that into consideration.
The guide can help you create better programs by giving you practical tips on how to attract and serve women farmer-listeners and thereby grow your audience. It will also give you ideas—whether you’re a woman or a man—on how to encourage gender equality at your own station!
The BH2 includes the following sections:
- 1. Give women farmers the respect they deserve.
- 2. Find out what is important to women, and cover it.
- 3. Broadcast at a time when women farmers can listen.
- 4. Encourage women farmers to speak on air.
- 5. Make sure your station is gender-responsive.
The BH2 closes with definitions of key terms: gender equity, gender equality, and gender-responsive.
http://scripts.farmradio.fm/radio-resource-packs/103-2/10-how-to-serve-your-women-farmers-well/ [1]