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UNESCO workshop calls on Indian community radio stations to rethink masculinities on air
How can community radio empower men and boys to become allies in advancing gender equality? That question took centre stage at the ‘Transforming MENtalities: Engaging Men and Boys through Community Radio’ workshop, held from 19 to 20 May 2025, co-organised by UNESCO’s South Asia Regional Office, New Delhi and UNESCO Chair on Community Media at the Department of Communication, University of Hyderabad with technical support from International Centre for Research on Women (ICRW).
The objective of the workshop was to deepen the understanding of masculinities as well as encourage community radio stations to come up with preliminary ideas to produce a radio programme series with four thought provoking episodes on masculinities.
The workshop aimed at deconstructing the idea of masculinity through the lens of patriarchy, gender roles, and other social norms. While the discourse around masculinities is mostly reduced to binaries of male-female divides, the workshop aimed at approaching masculinities through a layered perspective.
Discussions on gender tend to be about women, but today we talk about men and others as well.
The introductory session, ‘Gender and Masculinity’, led by Ms. Kedia, encouraged participants to brainstorm on ideas for radio programmes around men in their lives. As part of the session, Ms. Sapna remarked how patriarchy exerts various pressures on men while granting them privileges. She further added that the source of patriarchy thrives under three conditions, which are land rights, procreation and production.
The session led by Dr. Verma, ‘Masculinities in our daily lives’, delved into the various types of masculinities and how they shape everyday experiences, emphasising the need to approach masculinities from a nuanced perspective. He emphasised moving beyond the hero-villain narrative in radio programmes and encouraged the portrayal of more layered and realistic characters when addressing masculinities.
The most critical part of working with men and changing their ideas (of masculinities) is (through) fatherhood. You must work with fathers of infants, (…) you can see the caregiving nature of the fathers and their involvement with the kids…work with young, adolescents and adult men on a continuum.
During the session, ‘From Idea to Episode’, participants were involved in group discussions and came up with indicative themes, characters, local stories and messages on masculinities for their radio programmes. Research scholars working with UNESCO Chair, Treesa Reena John, Vamsi Krishna Pothuru and Adrita Roy facilitated the group discussions and encouraged participants to focus on the process of creating the radio programmes through observation and self-reflection.
While I was wondering and going through the session, I realised that my son respects me more than his mother because I am earning and fulfilling all his needs, and I feel that is wrong.
In addition, Bandana Mondal, from Nityananda Janavani, highlighted that men are also survivors of patriarchy, where Arushi from Radio Madhuban felt that discussions about masculinity should start at a young age.
The workshop will lead to programming on community radio stations in local languages.
Seventeen participants representing nine community radio stations across India, namely: Nityananda Janavani (West Bengal), Radio Mattoli (Kerala), Radio Madhuban (Rajasthan), Waqt Ki Awaaz (Uttar Pradesh), Rudi no Radio (Gujarat), Vayalaga Vanoli (Tamil Nadu), Gurgaon Ki Awaaz (Haryana), Radio Bundelkhand (Madhya Pradesh) and Vidyavani (Maharashtra), were in attendance. The sessions were facilitated by Ms. Sapna Kedia and Dr. Ravi Verma from International Centre for Research on Women (ICRW) and Dr. Shraddha Chickerur from UNESCO Regional Office for South Asia, New Delhi and coordinated by Prof. Vinod Pavarala, Prof. Kanchan K. Malik and Prof. Vasuki Belavadi from UNESCO Chair on Community Media, University of Hyderabad.
