Radio project for women in Peru

Women make radio for women

A visit with fiery souls supported by Danida and Kvindernes U-landsudvalg (KULU - Women and Development)

Text by Kirsten Dalum

For every ten childbirths in Peru four illegal abortions take place.

Often the abortions are performed at public toilets and in other filthy places. Many a time it goes wrong and the woman dies.

Not only young girls but also married women with children have to make the sad journey to the abortionists.

It is admirable that a group of university-educated women fight for women's legal statusin a catholic country with prohibition of abortion, pronounced double standards of morality and male chauvinistic attitudes.

They could earn their wages in far easier ways if they made use of their good education in a traditional sense in society, but they do not.

Mariella's eyes sparkle when she talks about her life at Manuela Ramos a feminist radio commune in the capital of Peru, Lima.

With smiles and a sense of humour the women try, through very direct programmes, to break new ground.

They do not attack men. Instead they try to make women conscious of what they should not tolerate.

They especially address women over 25 years of age, however listener surveys have shown that men also listen to the programmes. They mix music and speech and all intellectual talk is banned.

They really try to get a hold of the weak groups of women. In programmes such as “Forbidden to listen to us” they take up subjects that used to be difficult to discuss; sex, contraception, family planning, violence and human rights.

Often they invite experts to the studio and listeners can call in and join the programme. They also move a lot among people in order to keep the finger on the pulse of the general opinion and create debate.

Jubilation

All of this is being done by five producers, volunteers and students. It has been agreed with Lima University that media students spend their trainee period at the radio station.

At the time of our visit to the radio station at Avenida Joan Pablo the station was about to host a large congress with influential media women from all over Peru. Through lobbyism they try to gain influence everywhere and to improve women's conditions.

In February this year there was jubilation at the station. When we visited the radio station, it had just gained its own transmitting license.

The plan is to move from the small offices to larger premises and to extend the broadcasting time from the current five hours daily to broadcasting from seven in the morning till ten at night. It will continue with talk shows in the morning and music programmes in the afternoon. The Danish support is administered by Kvindernes U-landsudvalg (KULU - Women and Development), and the funds come from Danida. The support is tied up on the prospect that the radio will become self-financing.

Along with the extended sending time the radio station will also earn more money from advertising. They will be able to broadcast advertisements for ten minutes every hour. Listener ratings are going up and the goal is to have 20,000 listeners every day.

The women produce very warm and positive radio programmes. They want to give something to people, and they often ask people how they themselves are perceived. The listeners respond that they see them as sisters, not as a mother or a daughter. In the same spirit no one is poor or feeble in the programmes. The radio producers do not want to be “teachers”.

Three issues

The music is consciously chosen because the producers know that women are often home alone and use the music to forget about their troubles.

The women at Radio Manuela Ramos try to “sell” three issues:

• the right to decide if you want children,
• human rights and
• obligations in connection with establishment of small retail businesses and jobs as well as rights in connection with education and divorce.
  

The government is working on a proposal for support in the form of financial contributions to medical care for the most poverty-stricken groups of the population. Today everyone has to pay for all treatment. Furthermore the hospitals refuse to treat women who has attempted to have abortions. They are turned away.

Among other things we visited the health and advice service also headed by the feminist commune CRF (Collectivo Radical Feminista) which consists of five feminist groups. At the advice service women can also get legal counseling.

All the services are situated under the same roof and women are offered help on the spot. Women from the area have also been trained in providing help. Often they do not have an education.

Domestic violence and sexual abuse are everyday occurrences. In order to break the vicious circle the women from the radio project try to work with attitudes of women of the radio station's target group. In the same way they try to influence hospitals so they do not turn away women who are dying from an illegal abortion.

The biggest progress of the radio project is that women have become conscious of the fact that violence is not acceptable. It has created solidarity among women.

Four years ago a law was passed that prohibited domestic violence against women. To a high extent it has further strengthened consciousness, and violence is no longer kept a secret.

The assaulted women talk to journalists that pass it on to the women at the radio commune Manuela Ramos, who take action and turn out. However the press demands that it is reported to the police first.

Joined forces

In 1991 five feminist groups joined forces and created CRF. The common objective was to work with women and with communication.

For a number of years they had each in their own way worked on changing the image of women in Peruvian media and on encouraging women to participate and influence the political development.

The reason for joining forces was, and still is, to strengthen this work and make it professional, and in a joint effort to develop actions and strategies to create the largest possible impact of radio work.

Before gaining their own transmitting license they bought broadcasting time from commercial radio stations.

CRF also produces radio spots on women's rights which are broadcasted on commercial radio stations all over the country. CRF is the driving force behind a national network of 40 feminist radio groups.

We also visited the radio station Amauta in the provincial town Cusco, where male chauvinism is even more wide-spread. Here radio programmes are broadcasted in the local Indian language Quechua and in Spanish two hours every morning. On Saturdays a topical radio programme is broadcasted where, for example, the mayor visits the studio.

In the beginning the radio station was not feminist. It was much broader and focused on the local area. The radio station is financed by three foreign development organisations; a German NGO, a Dutch NGO and the Danish KULU - Women and Development.

In 1985 a Canadian sociologist conducted investigations that showed that only men and young people were heard in the media. Women were given very low priority and this is the reason why the first programme on the Amauta radio station was called “Women who speak”.

Men join in

Today three producers, one man and two local women who work both as programme workers and as technicians, and 30 volunteers work at the Amauta radio station. It is important to make men join in if women's situation is to be changed.

In Cusco you cannot listen to the national radio. There are only private, commercial radios stations from which Amauto rents time.

On Mondays programmes on management for women are broadcasted. On Tuesdays it is about taboo subjects such as sex and homosexuality. On Wednesdays small retail businesses and enterprise allowance are treated on air, and on Thursdays information is given on women's civil rights, women's right to education and divorce conditions. The latter is an area where women are in a very bad position; if the children are more than seven years old, the father is automatically given the custody of the children.

Experts are invited to the studio on Fridays where it is about sex instruction. The mortality rate is very high due to illegal abortion.

You can only be full of admiration for the strong and tough Peruvian women who we met at the feminist radio station. They fight with every modern facilities against suppression and to improve conditions for the weak in society.

They fight against prohibition against abortion, double standards of morality and an unparelleled male chauvinistic attitude. They fight with smiles and a sense of humour and you can only hope they succeed in breaking new ground.

They deserve it.

********

Kirsten Dalum is a freelance journalist. She visited Peru in March and April of 1998

More information

Kvindernes U-landsudvalg (KULU - Women and Development)

Postal address: Landgreven 7, 3.tv., 1301 Kÿbenhavn K

Phone: 0045 33 15 78 70

Fax: 00 45 33 32 53 30

Project Women Radio

The Danish “Kvindernes U-landsudvalg” (KULU - Women and Development) has supported feminist groups in Peru since 1986, and in 1991 the KULU entered the first phase of the women radio project, in co-operation with CRF (Collectivo Radical Feminista).

The two first phases of the project ran from 1991 to 1997 and received DKK 17,512 million from Danida.

Throughout these periods of time the programmes for women were broadcasted in the capital Lima and in the provincial towns of Cusco and Trujillo. They were produced in the local language Quechua and in Spanish targeted at poor Indian women.

In Trujillo two hours are daily broadcasted for women living in slum areas. A listener survey showed that 40 per cent of the programmes' listeners are male.

During the first two phases different classes were held for the radio staff.

At an early stage it was clear for the partners of the project that it was not enough to broadcast programmes from different radio stations. It was necessary to establish an independent feminist profile because too many difficulties were connected with gaining access to other commercial stations' broadcasting time.

It has proved very difficult and time-consuming to take over a radio station. Among other things because the Ministry for Transport and Communication has hesitated in granting the radio station the promised transmitting frequency free of charge. In the end CRF had to buy one and the radio station could broadcast its first programme in May 1999.

The third and final phase of the project runs for four years from 1997. Danida has granted support of DKK 13,409 million.

During this phase the station is supposed to become financially sound, and prognoses show that the radio will be able to earn 30 per cent of its costs from advertisements. It is rather a lot, however when the government learned of this, it prohibited advertising on local radio stations. This means that it is still uncertain when the radio station can become financially independent.

Apart from this the Peruvian government also harasses critical media indirectly by using the tax system politically.

Out of Lima's 146 FM stations with more than 1500 daily broadcasts, only 0.2 per cent has an informing or educational character.

Above document provided as background for The Drum Beat #57

DANIDA, the Danish International Development Agency, supports communication for development. There is currently a policy revision taking place. These articles and activities indicate pathways for future activities relatingto communication for development. Not all activities are supported by DANIDA.

Inge Estvad (journalist, est@image.dk), Finn Rasmussen (Communication Adviser, IBIS Ecuador, frasmussen@andinanet.net) and Thomas Tufte, Ph.D. (Professor, Roskilde University ttufte@ruc.dk) gathered the material that provides comprehensive insight into the policies and programmes selected.