Women on the mic: Breaking women's radio silence

Abstract

The Radio Research Group (RRG), are women volunteers and trainers at a UK radio station. The voices of marginalised women are, too often, either hushed or silenced, invisibilising histories and wasting diverse talent. We offer policy and activist suggestions about how to address this deficit. Community media is perceived here as a tool of development and empowerment. We explore women's silence, offer global examples of radio as a voice of oppressed people, and uncover barriers on the journey towards breaking women's silence. We relate our radio experiences with pride, love and solidarity. The project continues to develop with the launch of a radio club where girls and young women meet, train and broadcast. The Radio Research Group suggests creative approaches for increasing diversity in media organisations, enriching output and improving relevance in the post #metoo, #BLM, heterogeneous world.

Introduction

Women on the Mic – what's not to like? (Radio show jingle, ALLFM, Manchester, UK).

ALLFM 96.9 is a non-profit community radio station based in a Manchester community rich in cultural diversity, vibrant and welcoming, though 22% are living in poverty (JRF, 2022). The main challenge for UK community radio stations is lack of funding with which to deliver key commitments demanded by government regulator: OFCOM (Coleman, 2021a). Stations’ survival depends on managers (usually volunteers or part time workers), competing for funding, usually short term, from health and welfare charities or local councils. At ALLFM, funding maintains the building, part time staff and equipment, after this it prioritises training radio producers, over 100 volunteers who are the ‘life blood’ of the station. Our evaluations consistently demonstrate the confidence, mental health and upskilling benefits of radio training. It enables the station to produce and present sustainable, high quality output, promoting community solidarity. Battles and Patterson observe how the absence of female and Black voices in radio narratives, render their rich histories, invisible (2018: 418). In the UK the feminist activist potential of radio has been largely ignored, yet it is a metaphor for women's muted societal presence.

Attracting volunteers to radio training is generally not a challenge, but attracting and retaining marginalised women certainly is. Specific challenges and how to overcome them are the focus of the radio activism canvassed in this paper.

To this end, the authors sought specific funding from the Critical Social Policy Solidarity Fund, with which the station initiated its ‘Women on the Mic’ project, offering radio production & podcast training for women-only groups. The rationale was that in 2014, out of 100 + radio broadcasters at ALLFM, only 27% were women. The lack of diversity in the UK media industry is well documented, particularly in radio, where state and commercial broadcasters are said to have a shameful record (OFCOM, 2021). ALLFM Radio vowed to tackle this imbalance. Much has been written about women's voice poverty or radio silence (Fuller, 2007; Mitchell, 2004; Rimmer, 2022); we aimed to address it by understanding and breaking through the barriers which prevent women from fading up the studio mic and broadcasting to the world. The article is the result of women and girls meeting and discussing their experiences of exclusion, engagement in radio and later, broadcasting on radio. This small, informal group, to which 20 + women contributed (2014–2022), began with core group of 12 meeting regularly and using a ‘World Café’ participatory method of collecting diverse experiences (Löhr et al., 2020). The group did not suddenly transition from researchers to activists. It soon became evident that this transition began long before we all met in the ‘World Café’. Most were already broadcasting their stories, sharing commonalities and empowerment strategies with other women in their listener communities. The two female trainers may be the named author-activists of this paper, but the whole Radio Research group are considered joint author-activists as without their contributions, neither project, nor paper would exist. The paper is accompanied by a short video presented by one of the group members (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IH5qfPcA-lY).

Who are the radio research group?

The group varied in age, cultural and ethnic background, employment status and living situation. Rather than offer a profile of each individual, the quotes below give a flavour of the personalities of group members. It is important to convey the positive nature of their profiles, their immense talent, resilience and determination to empower others through radio. In addition to this, a significant number within the RRG experienced mental health issues:

My name is Lutina. Thank you for having me [on the radio training]. Today I’ll treasure for the rest of my life. I want people to be aware - mental health is one of the biggest killers. People are suffering in silence and struggling with mental health. I suffered with mental health the past few years…it left me broken. Coming to terms with this is coming to courses like this today, that's meeting people and the love – keeps me alive (Radio broadcast, 2019).

This broadcast was similar to others by RRG members and demonstrates how the women perceived their role as researchers; sharing their own experiences in the group, listening to others, gaining knowledge about societal issues and then as activists; using their experiences and learning in their broadcasts to raise awareness of issues, establish commonalities, offering solace to listeners, and suggesting activist strategies. Another common experience in the group was abuse:

I think particularly from a Nigerian point of view women are very much shamed into silence. It's a shame if you make it known that your husband's beating you and not only is it a shame, it's like just get on with it. It happens, it's been happenin’– it happened for your grandmother, it happened for your mother . . . (raises voice) JUST GET ON WITH IT. That's life, that's men for you – and that's the kind of attitude – they kind of make you feel shamed and they kind of normalise the whole situation (Sasha, RRG 2014).

Sasha demonstrates the ‘fighting talk’ which became a notable trademark of RRG members’ broadcasts.

After the establishment of a ‘girls and young women’ radio training group, one girl broadcast her anger about homophobia:

At school this year I was bullied for being gay, then we had ‘Pride’ and I felt at home, just like I feel at home here [at radio group]. Let me say to you, if you’re listening and feel bad pick up the phone and give us a ring (Women on the Mic video, 2022).

Although women do sometimes tell their stories on a few mainstream radio channels, they are often portrayed as pitiful victims and survivors. The activist fighting talk lifts us above all that, but is not often heard on mainstream radio.

Underpinning the paper are well-rehearsed arguments about oppressed groups living within a ‘culture of silence’ (Freire, 1970); that their ‘histories are invisible’ (hooks, 1994), and that cultural sites, such as radio stations, are ‘dynamic places of social action’(Hall, 2019). We propose that radio courses and mainstream broadcasts could do more to acknowledge intersectionality and reach out, as we did, to existing groups of marginalised women; use feminist pedagogical methods, and diversify the voices we hear on local, national and global media.

We begin with evidence from the majority world that that radio has the ‘potential to empower ordinary people’ (Poulain, 2016; Radio Debout, 2021). We then analyse girls’ and womens’ silence, barriers to media engagement, radio training, and ultimately, how the RRG overcame obstacles to discover the thrill of broadcasting.

It's like being on a roller coaster… ‘cos like you’re too scared to go on it but once you go on it, it's actually really fun and you wanna go again’ (Girl's radio group, 2022).

Radio as revolution in the majority world

In their chapter Dancing in the Kitchen (2022), Rimmer discusses the idea that for many women, radio can be a secret friend; something listened to whilst cooking or through ear-phones on the bus. Ooty radio, in India, exposes Tamil women's resistance to colonial Christian radio and their love of listening secretly to forbidden Kota film music whilst they cook (Jayaprakash and Shoesmith, 2007).

In the global context, there are many examples of radio as a ‘voice of revolution’ (Paranjape, 2007). Fanon argued that ‘Radio Free Algeria’ broadcasting in Arabic, played an important part in the fight against French colonisers:

People are sometimes surprised that, instead of buying a dress for their wife, the colonised buy a transistor radio’(1961:44).

In Afghanistan, Sediqa Sherzai set up Radio Roshani, run by women and promoting women's rights. Despite assassination attempts, rockets fired at the station by the Taliban and resistance from local men, (they told Sherzai: ‘These actions are so bad that you deserve to be killed – even more than an American does’); the women continue to broadcast and provide a platform voicing women's concerns. Radio Roshani is a powerful example of women's radio activism (UNESCO Courier, 2020).

Radio Dabanga in Darfur reported the rape of over 200 women by Sudanese army personnel and enabled survivors to broadcast their accounts as warnings to others and to alert the world to this brutality (Akasha, 2014). Bush radio, South Africa, was launched at the start of majority rule, on National Women's Day in 1994: ‘as a symbol of appreciation for the role women played during the struggle for liberation’ (Ibrahim, 2000:200).

These examples illuminate the importance of women hearing relatable stories on radio: ‘voices like ours.’ In order to demonstrate the activist nature of the RRG project, we selected some of the recorded sentiments of individual members of the research group:

Radio shows tell a story. That's why I like women's shows and podcasts. For Black and Asian women they’re great. I like a story. A good story makes you feel warm. Often when I listen to radio shows – they’re very fast, jargon heavy, talkin’ about sport talkin’ about the news…. NO! If I wanna listen to the news or sport I’ll switch it on. I can tell they’re not talking to me. It's important that you have a host who can sound like you…like I really like listening back to our own shows – I feel like you guys are my friends, I want to hear people on radio who sound like me – sound like my friends. When you listen to our radio it's so personal…like I’m a 3^rd generation Jamaican… and I like it when they play dancehall music – its warming to me, hearing people like me and music like mine…it's heart warming to me. But if you’re just talkin’ about football, you’re not talkin’ to me. To hear lots of voices like us – for me that's an amazing show (Radio Research Group 2022).

Radio hides your body

Hirsch (2020) refers to ‘lookism’ and relates a TV memory: ‘I learned that a female colleague was – in a senior male's opinion – “eating herself off the air”’ (p. 3). One of the advantages of radio for women, is the factor of disembodiment, preventing objectification and stereotyping.

when we speak we feel more safe ‘cos no one can see us so it's easier. I started writing poems and saying them on the shows and its really helped me like… made it easier to express myself (RRG girl's group, 2022).

I find it really nice to just be a voice. There's a power in that ‘cos it's just you and what you want to say, sometimes maybe people hold back with their judgements if they can’t see you. I think that could be something that could apply not just to a racial thing – you know how people see you and make assumptions. I do think that whoever you are and whatever you look like, radio can be a way of people just hearing your voice and maybe liking what you say (Marie, RRG, 2017).

The Secret Body Language of Girls (2010), notes that women's body language is ‘frequently misinterpreted and judged, particularly among men’(Treat et al., 2016: 985). Inside the studio, we are heard and not seen:

‘Nobody can see you going like this either’ [rude gesture with fingers] (laughter) (RRG discussion, 2017).

Radio never dies

Despite the rise in social media, there is evidence that radio will never die. During the global Covid-19 pandemic (2020-), radio attracted more listeners globally (Bosch, 2022; Radio Today, 2022). It remains the cheapest and most accessible media and yet curiously, in the UK the political and empowerment potential of radio has been largely overlooked by those working to improve welfare and strengthen oppressed communities. The global pandemic did not prevent more women being trained at ALLFM. Instead of the live studio, we unmuted ourselves using video conferencing to train, record and broadcast. The Classes of Coronavirus produced new shows such as the one by two women speaking Pidgin English. Their discussion was wide-ranging, including the music and political activism of Fela Kuti and always beginning with:

‘My sister, I agree with you, but . . .’ followed by a lengthy critique in Pidgin English of issues such as the SARS brutality in Nigeria [Special Anti-Robbery Squad].

Surprise, surprise! Women's broadcasts consist of more than fashion, romance and chocolate cake recipes.

These radio and podcast training sessions online, followed by broadcasts, became an antidote to Covid isolation. The fighting talk continued during the online discussion/training and then in the broadcasts. One trainee discussed living with cancer and protecting her family from the worst news about her condition with her jokes. A younger woman joined the course from psychiatric hospital and played ‘Goth’ music. Whilst the pandemic excluded those without internet access, it also opened doors for those who could not physically attend the radio station. Editing skills enabled the mixing of music with discussion. The opportunity to play music from our cultural background is integral to our identities. This and the fun of collective radio production strengthens our resistance against an often racist, dominant culture. This positive activism extends to the selection of guests we interview and the discussions we broadcast. Examples of this are many, including a series of shows by a Somalian presenter on the subject of FGM (Female Genital Mutilation).

Having set the global and local context, it is essential to understand and combat the barriers which prevent women from becoming broadcasters. This section demonstrates the need for a pro-active, out-reaching method of a) understanding why women are excluded (or exclude themselves) from broadcasting; and b) using that understanding to kick start feminist social action for inclusion. The primary focus of the project is not philosophical, but explicitly participatory and activist, promoting social solidarity and inclusion.

‘I’m not very technical’ and other barriers

Technical and scientific subjects often fall short in their recruitment of girls and women. Haraway (1988), posits that women struggle to break into the technoscientific world. Pietri et al. (2018), note the harmful stereotypes that female scientists ‘lack warmth and are socially isolated and nerdy; femininity generally is perceived to be incompatible with science and technology’ (p.193). At ALLFM white, middle class, males are the majority respondents to advertisements for free radio training. They have much to offer; but do not make for diverse, radio. They have much to offer; but do not make for diverse, radio. So why are women generally, so under-represented? From the group's discussion:

Maybe they feel they are not enough. Maybe women didn’t learn to open their hearts and express themselves from childhood. They don’t know how to talk about everything, how to show their voice, their feeling. (RRG, 2022)

yeah – women are supposed to be taking care of kids… women they don’t know what potential, what strength they’ve got inside… because of the environment & how they’re brought up in the families. (RRG, 2022)

Women's lack of confidence and mental distress are globally acknowledged (Patel, 2018), evidenced in historic documents, academic and medical journals, daily newspapers and social media. Reasons for this are many. We have tried here to distil these grand global statements and ground them in the stories of the RRG. In doing so, we aim to demonstrate how the complex, nuanced intersections of oppression have daily and life-long impact.

I’ve always loved radio. Well I’m Black, uneducated and I always thought I was a really quiet woman and I never ever in a million years thought I could do my own radio show – no more than I could have been a beauty queen. I always thought it was educated white middle class people on radio . . . by and large especially women its plumby speaking women (impersonates posh talker) but it's not for the likes of us…the lesser people. What Community Radio is about is giving ‘lesser’ people . . . people like myself who aren’t of the mainstream – giving lesser people a chance (Collette, RRG, 2014).

Further evidence of intersectional gendered and racialised trauma came from Disabled and Black women in RRG who raised the notion that formal schooling did little to prepare them for misogyny, disablism and racism in their daily lives. As argued by critical and feminist educators, formal schooling is designed to reproduce, not challenge the oppressive structures of society (Giroux, 2020; hooks, 1994; Luke and Gore, 1992; Mclaren, 1995). A key aspect of the trainers’ activism (and all women in the RRG group) was to provide a safe environment, with groundrules, for sharing experiences of trauma, active listening and support were key to engagement and to every aspect of training and broadcasting. For some group members, this was their first opportunity to have their stories heard. The therapeutic value of activism is often overlooked.

Vee, who is disabled, remembers:

the housecraft teacher, she was a witch. She was giving instructions to the girls and all of a sudden she would stop and say – ‘Hold on we’ll have to wait for Vee ‘cos she's not as quick as the rest of you.’ She really humiliated me (RRG, 2014).

Collette and LS concur, Collette, a Black, Disabled woman having been excluded from school aged 13:

Yeah, I do understand why you have to go to school, but for me they should have saved the money (laughter) (Collette, 2014).

… the point is I was being told I wouldn’t get anywhere as a black girl…. And I could have listened to that…. But I didn’t, I listened to the teacher who had faith in me (LS, 2022).

‘Women exist in a misogynist world where the emotional toll of gendered abuse, fear and intersectional oppressions are still underestimated’ (Nayak, 2015). The ‘outpouring of pain’ (Brockes, 2018: 50) which occurred during the #metoo campaign resonated strongly with the RRG.

Gendered abuse impacts directly or indirectly on the self-esteem of all women. (Grierson, 2020; Crawford et al., 2009: 63) and is discussed frequently within RRG. Stories range from being imprisoned in the home, to financial, physical and emotional violence. Members feel silenced – unable to reveal their abuse, partly through shame and partly through fear. The RRG unlocked the silence by daring to speak out in the group, sharing common experiences of abuse and (later), comforting and ‘fighting talk.’ The ‘fighting talk’, together with laughter and solidarity becomes the activist radio, broadcasting tough times and sharing how we overcome them. Whenever the issue of abuse is raised in the group, it is met with the clamour of: ‘me too!’ or ‘that happened to me.’

‘Me too, for seven years I put up with beatings and the drink, me kids being hungry, no money, no clothes, no nothing (Liz, 2017).

I used to think that – at the back of my mind or maybe society made me think that – if a woman was being abused – it was her own fault. Until then I realised it's the men judging it (Ayisha, RRG 2017).

Women are shamed into silence by abuse, but also shamed about breaking their silence, particularly in oppressed communities, which may already feel besieged by racism.

In some families they don’t want their women to go outside the family and talk about themselves to anybody. We did a campaign to get women here [to the radio station] and some of the women wanted to come but their families wouldn’t let them. In our community, the Asian community I think that's a factor, (Rafia, RRG, 2022).

You see them, their clothes look good and happy, but you never know the storms that's brewing on the inside – because I’ve lived in silence for years during my abuse with my ex and everyone thought I had the perfect marriage and my children – (puts on another voice) ‘Oh your beautiful children, your beautiful marriage’ and no-one has ever known, until I break the silence . . . and move away, because no-one knew – everyone thought everything was OK until I step away from that marriage. Even for me it was like ‘what happen, how this happen?’ (RRG, 2017).

It is important to note the strong and prevalent myth that women's culture of silence keeps them safe. Fear of violence at home and the shame of that violence prevents women from speaking out, but as Lorde warns, in the long run: ‘Your silence will not protect you’ (1984: 44). By speaking out, women can protect themselves, their children and other women. Speaking out makes gendered violence society's problem, rather than the individual woman's problem. It is our job on radio – to speak out.

And so, the fighting talk emerges in the group and is broadcast on the radio. This is feminist media activism, which does not ignore intersectionality. The group discussed their experiences of sexism, racism, displacement, disabilism, homophobia and more. This process of mutual education and support is not new to feminist groupwork and activism, but the RRG made it part of their broadcasting.

In such a context, radio provides a space that spreads love, builds trust, and encourages both care and participatory learning. These women are liberating themselves, as well as others, from historical and deep-rooted women’s silencing and oppression (Shinkhede, 2024:1027).

Whilst demanding diversity, OFCOM and funding bodies fail to acknowledge intersectionality. OFCOM's (2023) report on diversity specifies ‘women’ as an homogenous group and its funding allocation invisibilises important intersections within womanhood. Funding is often aimed at imaginary homogenous groups such as older people/mental health/disability. Such funding effortlessly attracts white, middle-class males to radio (and many broadcast great shows), so it takes a strong, insightful manager to reject easy recruitment options.

A particularly instructive challenge of intersectionality within the RRG was a sub group of women asylum seekers (XX Radio Show). They had often escaped countries in which women have few rights and where speaking out is dangerous to themselves and their families.

Violence against women is often against our voices and our stories. It is a refusal of our voices, and of what a voice means; the right to self-determination, to participation, to consent or dissent, to live and participate, to interpret and narrate. (Solnit, 2017:19)

The trainers reached out to this asylum seeking group and began by visiting them and gradually building relationships at their own meeting place. Whilst they were offered much support by the RRG and trainers, the six weeks of funded training was simply not enough to bring them into the fold. After just a few weeks, they decided to give up. It was a sad time for ALLFM, but understandable. They and their children were fleeing from gendered and other persecution. They experienced racism and anti-immigrant abuse and aside from poverty, transport and language issues, these traumatised women did not feel safe to tell their stories either in the group, or on the radio.

…it's like the radio is a monster eating our words and feelings…the recorder is like a vampire sucking our blood (XX Radio Show, 2021).

This is ‘the unknown’ for me… (XX Radio Show, 2021).

Some of them even expressed an increased sense of loneliness once the session was over, solitary women in temporary refugee accommodation in particular. The learning is that funding has to follow their need; if we are serious in our aim to empower women through radio, trainers need leeway to create courses that relate directly to the women's lives, (JG, Radio trainer, 2022)

Community development is a long-term process of gaining trust and establishing a safe place in which women's friendship groups can thrive, it is not something that can be manufactured or rushed with short term funding.

Other barriers raised include: care responsibilities, complex arrangements for caring for elders, children, disabled adults or those with substance abuse or mental health issues.

Several members discussed their roles as carers. Liz describes life as ‘groundhog day’:

It's not lifting, washing and dressing its more the emotional part of it – because its drugs, alcohol and mental health and it's the emotional part of it draining me and it was becoming groundhog day and I was tired and I was depressed and I was going on a real low, (RRG, 2017).

Motherhood is not a simple concept – it often extends to caring for the children of friends and neighbours in distress, or providing a home for asylum seekers. It often prevents women from joining a group, especially for women who are refugees or asylum seekers with no family support.

You can ask your friends to look after your kids, but really you wanna do the training with your friends – it’s more fun! (RRG, 2021).

Women make the best of friendship services which operate effectively for lone mothers, but learning radio skills is something we want to do with our friends. Intertwined with the complexities of gender, are barriers caused by racism, disabilism, homophobia, transphobia and in this Northern English radio station, accentism is still a barrier.

We have northern accents – get over it!

Some members of the RRG are very conscious about their spoken English. ALLFM hosts regular programmes in a broad range of languages with presenters encouraged, to present shows in their first language. There are regular shows in Polish, Urdu, Spanish, Farsi and more.

You get to feel that you’re not on your own . . . if you wanna speak your own language on your show, you can, so you can reach out to different women who probably wouldn’t have been able to have a public platform – or even just to hear their own kind of voice on radio is good, (Sasha, Radio Research Group, 2017).

What is not commonly acknowledged, is the acute self-consciousness about speaking publicly with a Northern English accent. Whilst more Northern women are broadcasting on UK BBC state radio in 2025, this is only on a few music shows. The accent of such shows is still, generally what Karpf (2013) and Mitchell (2004), refer to as ‘Home Counties Bungalow.’ Lack of accent diversity in UK mainstream radio brings class and accent prejudice into sharp focus. Baratta (2017) observes that particular ways of speaking are perceived as superior because they are ‘used by the powerful.’ He notes that negative stereotypes are attached, particularly to Northern UK accents. Sharma et al. (2022) found that public perceptions of accents had not changed over 50 years, with BBC English or ‘the Queen's English’, rated as the most prestigious accent. In Manchester, some of the RRG are acutely aware that they adopt a posh [trying to speak like royalty] way of speaking when broadcasting. Kimi recounts:

I don’t feel judged on the radio by what I looked like but come to think of it yeah, I have been judged for my Manci Mancness [Manchester accent] loadsa times [laughter from the group], but it doesn’t mean I’m gonna squish it, but sometimes my son says ‘why do you put on that voice on the radio?’ And I don’t realise I’m doing it (2017).

Technology is masculine As mentioned there is much discussion in the radio research group about the immense obstacle to women's radio production: the hegemonic notion ‘that technology is masculine’ (Dunbar-Hester, 2014).

When I saw the radio desk I was petrified, (Liz, RRG 2014).

the technical side frightens a lot of women – especially older women like me, because they’ve never been technical – it was an era when girls did domestic science and boys did woodwork.

The technical side of things is scary. It can be a male dominated industry and women can only go so far. I’d like to think that's changing but I don’t know, (LS, RRG 2022).

In radio production, there are essential technical elements, which Dunbar-Hester (2014) discusses in detail. They include reconfiguring the mixing desk, correcting sound levels, uploading music and then presenting the show and driving the radio desk. This seems like a complex business and is cited as a major barrier to the engagement of women and girls in radio.

When you walk into the radio studio and you see all that equipment, you think . . . ‘oh my god – am I going to be able to do that?’ (Liz, RRG, 2017).

‘I still think “Aghhhh” I’ve pushed the wrong button or something’ (Loraine RRG, 2017).

In summary, there are many barriers faced by women who might wish to take the plunge and get themselves heard on radio. However, the message from the RRG is full of hope:

I would say to other girls ‘have you ever been scared of something but was like wanted to do it but you ended up doing it and you had the best time in your life? Then do this… do radio. Do something that you’re scared to do. You’ll never be scared again. Don’t be shy… let your voices be heard’ (Girls’ and Young Women's group).

The narratives of the research groups bring into sharp focus radio's role in understanding barriers; the notion that women and girls may share many common issues and consequential feelings of worthlessness, but intersectionality complexifies these commonalities, as reported by the asylum seekers.

Caring-giving is a common barrier which cannot be reduced simply to motherhood. It is characterised in its multiplicity: leaving jobs to care for terminally ill relatives or those with mental health, drug and alcohol issues…The version of motherhood described by an older lesbian recounted years of enforced silence about her sexuality for fear that her children would be removed. (Rimmer, 2020: 117)

Some thoughts from the girl's radio group (2022) about barriers:

Even though radio's a group place – a place to get your voice heard, girls feel under pressure to do like things girls are expected to do like keep quiet, don’t play sports, just stay at home and be a housewife (DJ M, 2022).

I think it's more to do with gender bias and the fact that women have been deprived of certain lives…maybe it's cos we mostly hear men on radio and radio can be their work and their pay. Cos on radio even now women get paid less (DJ HYPE, 2022).

…and women are expected to work for pay and then come home and take care of the children, put food on the table…so I don’t think they’re expected to have the time to do this radio business. But it's good that people are showing us that we can do anything (DJ BLUE, 2022).

Overcoming the barriers – getting women on the mic

Beginning with an understanding of these complex barriers, funding was sought specifically to embrace and engage all who identify as woman. The strategy of working with ‘single-gender’ groups is tried and tested globally. The empowerment of girls and women is a United Nations development goal (2023) due to the global catastrophe of gendered violence and oppression. However, there is still resistance to single gender groups, almost the feeling that we are plotting a revolution to overthrow men. Even when we began to offer women-only training groups, the expected throngs of women didn’t arrive!

I had one husband come in and check whether there were any men in the building and whether she was lying and he did not want her to have any contact with any males – she wasn’t interacting or speaking or coming across any men… there are still families that have those restrictions imposed on women… (RRG, 2022).

I’m a single mum and also xxx [friend] as well. Her husband didn’t want her to come, she had to quit - but he passed away so now she comes (ibid).

Radio activism in engaging and training girls and women

Acknowledging the complex intersectional barriers faced by girls and women, radio trainers are compelled to reflect carefully on how to attract them to radio using community and youth work skills, which include those stereotypical womanly attributes love and care. Founder of Bush Radio in South Africa, Zane Ibrahim, states clearly that grassroots radio was a vital tool in restoring confidence to the post-apartheid ‘emotionally blunted’ Black majority, (2000, 2005).

Similarly, Biko (1978) and Hilliard (2008) write about the difficult job of restoring confidence to a disempowered people. Development workers can learn much from the Black Consciousness educational approaches of Biko and the Black Panthers: ‘the first step is to make the black man come to himself; to pump back life into his empty shell; to infuse him with pride and dignity . . . this is the definition of Black consciousness’ (Biko, 1978: 29).

As radio trainers, we soon discovered that barriers to engagement could be overcome by our solidarity with existing groups in the region. Our approaches to ‘Rape Crisis’, and other established women's groups were welcomed and prior to recruiting new trainees, we got to know them within their existing safe groups. Our activist sisters facilitating these groups were highly receptive to the offer of radio training. The job of building trust was half done by them. If women trust a group facilitator, they are more likely to trust their contacts. The facilitator of one group came along to the RRG discussions and highlighted gendered violence:

Some of it is taboo…brushed under the carpet – sexual violence, rape, domestic abuse, no-body wants to speak about them, but radio is a platform where women can talk about these issues and it can actually give women advice; confidence to speak out about these issues. These things can have a huge impact – so many, multiple issues that wherever we come from, not just south Asian women… in different communities, you know, women can’t speak out about abuse (RRG, 2022).

Priceless gives her view about how her lack of confidence was countered by the radio trainers:

On the day of the (radio training) appointment I didn’t go – I was terrified and got discouraged and somehow I got a call from the radio station that day and it keep ringing and ringing and I was so embarrassed I say ‘Oh my god, they’re really wanting me, they’re ringing and ringing to see if I’m interested’ and I was like ‘I can’t do this, I can’t’ – and then on the Monday there was another call from the radio station saying ‘Priceless where are you did you get lost – are you coming? You need to come’ and when I respond to them it was like – I need to do this and the rest is history (RRG, 2017).

Whilst there is a point to colourful flyers, adverts on social media and other traditional methods of engagement, (which may attract white middle-class women) more effective is active networking, ‘word of mouth’ which is seen as vital to feminist community work. Networking is: ‘a complex, emotional and political professional tool’ (Gilchrist, 2009: 85).

There are many dedicated feminist community workers in all cities of the globe. Our co-conspirators at this radio station have included Rape Crisis centres, Refugee and Asylum seeker groups, Anti-FGM groups, Elder's theatre groups, choirs, knitting groups, youth clubs, cancer-awareness groups and more. Our focus is to move away from a task-centred approach; to build relationships and learn from each other – with a few techy skills thrown in. Anyone is welcome, even the silent ones.

‘Education in its non-hegemonic, feminist sense, is fuelled by curiosity and creativity, it is an expansive and never-ending process which, rather than educating for obedience does so for full human potential’ (Ledwith, 2007: 112).

Bringing the magic back to learning

In her many educational texts, bell hooks cautions that formal education is too task focused, and disciplined – ‘it shuts down the magic and takes the fun out of study’ (2003: 43). In formal education, excitement is often viewed as ‘disruptive’ and there is a notion that seriousness is somehow essential to the learning process (ibid).

At ALLFM, we ask new trainees to bring no skills, only their enthusiasm and ideas. The process of learning usually begins with a chat, a drink and introductions. We move on to turn ideas into research, scripts, running orders, and some fun recording and driving the radio desk. It soon becomes clear that everyone in the group has an idea, most have a love of music, and a desire to share their culture and experiences. Many women and girls want to use radio to reach out and help others. They define this as ‘true empowerment’.

And even when nerves are tense in the live studio: ‘what's the worst thing that can happen? no-one's gonna die!” Madonna, RRG (2014).

Despite their initial fears, the RRG reflect on their training with laughter. ‘I’ve learned new skills but I wouldn’t say I’m technical’ (Liz, 2017). Collette (2014): ‘I’ve never been technically minded but I thought it was very light hearted and so I learned.’ Dunbar-Hester (2014) claims this is the skill of radio trainers imparting technical knowledge through the vehicle of a caring relationship, a pedagogy of patience and love.

After the training, trainees submit a pitch and hopefully achieve a regular live radio show. One woman's show is: ‘Dancing for wellbeing’. She plays music in the background and dances in the studio whilst, in a calming, poetic voice, tells folks how to move their bodies to the music. Another fills the studio with Spanish speaking (and singing) folks from across South America and the world. Other women present shows in Farsi, Urdu and Polish; LGBTQI focus (Queer Nan show), Disability and carer focus (Health & Care on the Air) and more. The ‘Women on the Mic’ project has spawned many woman-led shows and ALLFM is one of few stations in UK to achieve gender equity. In 2019 and 2024 it won the prestigious national gold award for best community radio station and judges commented on its impressive diversity objectives:

not only the breadth of communities you cover, but also the work you do to engage local people in creating radio for your community. If I could create blueprint for community radio in a big city - this would be it! I loved it. its commitment to giving everyone a voice—comes through loud and clear (Community Radio Awards, 2024).

Conclusion

At time of writing, management of corporate media is a white male domain. Some UK national media outlets may have increased the number of women radio presenters, and a few (music presenters) do have northern accents, but this feels tokenistic and hardly characterises diverse womanhood. There is concerning evidence that when women do succeed in gaining media jobs, their support is sadly lacking. OFCOM still report that broadcasters ‘struggle to retain women, disabled workers and people from minority ethnic backgrounds’ (2023).

We began with the assertions that oppressed people, particularly women, live within a culture of silence, that our stories are rarely heard, rendering us invisible. Global examples of radio as a tool of social solidarity and empowerment demonstrate the true potential of radio activism. In practice, an understanding of nuanced, intersectional barriers, evolves into a realistic strategy of engagement, getting women on the mic. Just a few small steps by community and mainstream media would begin to achieve a genuinely diverse media. A positive, activist outreach policy of careful and caring recruitment followed by feminist training methods and support could revolutionise and revitalise media.

ALLFM may be a small radio station and this, a tiny qualitative project, but the learning from participants is immense. We have demonstrated, through our experiences, that radio represents a cultural site of social activism, in which girls and women together develop skills and confidence to broadcast their stories and celebrate diverse identities.

In her chapter Dangerously Feminine (2004), Mitchell contends that it is only when women use radio to ‘speak out to change their situation’ that they are silenced (p. 159). Whilst radio activism is not a panacea for addressing complex, historical, deep-rooted, structural issues involved in women's silencing and oppression, it offers some emancipatory possibilities that may have benefit in a ‘hyperglobalised capitalist world where 99% of people are said to be marginalised’ (Westoby, 2019: 19). In the global context of rising popularism, racism and misogyny, there is an imminent need for a reformed, social justice, participatory media, and this article offers some easily achievable starting points. Are you listening BBC?