Cambodia: Radio Broadcasts Break the Silence
The radio show opened with a welcome to the Banteay Srei Talk Show on violence against women. The show was the seventh in a series of 15, and the topic at hand was the trafficking of women and girls. In the studio was State Secretary Yu Ay from the Ministry of Women’s and Veterans’ Affairs. The interviewer asked her a series of questions: What does trafficking mean? How can existing laws prevent it? The State Secretary gave careful answers to each query, stressing the need for vigilance and awareness.
Subsequent talk show segments delved into the specific issue of sexual exploitation. Three members of the Sex Workers Union shared their experiences of getting involved in sex work. Interviews with ordinary people chronicled public perceptions of trafficking.
The talk shows — which also included segments on domestic violence and rape — were part of a novel project in Cambodia, where there has been little public discussion of violence against women despite high prevalence rates. Funded by the UN Trust Fund, Banteay Srei, a women’s group, worked with the Women’s Media Centre and the Cambodia Health Education Media Service to produce the talk shows, along with 30 dramatic episodes. Over four months, the shows were broadcast on a national FM station with a potential audience of eight million listeners.
To create the scripts for the shows, Banteay Srei conducted surveys and consulted legal professionals and women’s groups. It trained local people in two provinces — farmers, students, homemakers and others — to serve as community monitors. During the broadcasts, the monitors convened nearly 8,000 people in their communities to listen to and discuss the shows.
Surveys of listeners before and after the shows revealed increased knowledge of the laws and services to protect women from violence. After the broadcasts, for example, 97 percent of listeners said perpetrators of rape should go to jail, compared to 48 percent before. Other listeners said they have begun conveying information about gender-based violence during everyday tasks, such as selling watermelons. In one village, when a woman cried out as her husband threatened to rape her, neighbours came running. The village chief, an influential figure, warned the husband that he was about to commit a crime. The husband backed down.
Considering that before the broadcasts two-thirds of the women surveyed did not know marital rape is a crime, the project shows the value of equipping individuals with basic knowledge. Breaking the silence that feeds gender violence results in actions for a safer world.
Banteay Srei received a grant in 2002 from the UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women for the project titled, "Pilot Radio Drama Program addressing VAW and Gender Issues”. (Story reprinted from A Life Free of Violence Is Our Right! The UN Trust Fund to End Violence Against Women.)
(Story Date: 8 March 2007)
