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/* Written 10:25 am  May  6, 1994 by resystom in web:media.issues */
/* ---------- "Women & Power of Media" ---------- */
                WOMEN AND THE POWER OF THE MEDIA


More than 400 women from 80 countries, all practitioners in
different fields of alternative and mainstream communication,
questioned each other, exchanged ideas and learned a great deal
throughout a five-day conference organized by the World Association
for Christian Communication (WACC), ISIS International and the
International Women's Tribune Centre.  This conference took place
in Bangkok in February under the theme of Women Empowering
Communication.

Because of the interest that they hold for current thinking on
women and access to communication, we have reprinted the following
excerpts from a lecture presented by Kamla Bhasin in the framework
of the event mentioned above.  Kamla Bhasin is the head of FAO
programs in India and has been active for many years in women's
struggles.  One of the organizations in which she has participated
is the South Asian Women's Forum.

"One of the most exciting developments in the past two decades has
been the tremendous growth in women's networking and communications
activities... These activities have led to much higher profile for
the concerns of women.  The questions that remain to be answered,
however, are: has this higher profile resulted in significant
changes in women's lives?  Or has it just given rise to the false
impression that the real problems have been solved?  These indeed
are the most crucial questions for us because our concerns as
feminists are not only with how women are portrayed in media but
also with what kind of lives they lead and what status they have in
society.  The answers to these questions will or should determine
our future strategies for communication and networking.  Our
communication alternatives therefore need to emerge out of our
critique of the present world order and our vision of the future.
(...)  I believe, as feminists our concerns are not limited to
improving the portrayal of women in the media, we are concerned
with changing the condition and position of women, with reducing
poverty, strenghtening democratic forces, averting ecological
disasters, etc.  If these are our concerns then our strategies
cannot be focused just on media.  We have to deal with larger
questions like:  Do we believe that liberalisation, globalisation
of the economy, opening of the markets are going to wolev our
problems?  Do we believe that men and women i our porr countries
will all able to live like people in the U.S., in Japan or
Singapore?  Do we believe these economic, political and media
trends are improving women's condition and position?" (...)

"I believe we cannot really challenge and change media without
challenging and changing the overall economic and political system.
Therefore I believe we need networks not only among media activist,
amongst women in communication, but we need networking across
movements.  Media activists need to be even more closely linked to
the larger feminist movement, we need to have closer links with the
environment and ecology movement, human rights and peace movements.
While talking of mainstreaming gender, I think, we need to
mainstream people's subsistence strategies, people's wisdom..."

To obtain the report from the Women Empowering Communication
conference, contact:

Conference Secretariat
WACC
357 Kennington Lane
London  SE11 5QY
ENGLAND

                   ..........................
 This article is from InteRadio, Vol. 6, No.1., the newsletter
of AMARC, the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters.
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