Numerous reports assessing the impact of community radio include, as the most prominent, that after the arrival of the community radio, women are exposed to less violence from their husbands, that children are less abused in the families, that more female children begin to attend school and that women in general experience more respect in public spaces.
Such fundamental changes in culturally deep-rooted traditions do not happen by themselves. They take time and planning, which is important when wanting to spur this empowerment and change potential to take root in a community radio station. At the community mapping stage it is thus important to include a clear and comprehensive mapping and analysis of the role, place and reality of women in the community. This information will inspire the way the station will deal with women in the station, the themes to be addressed in the programming and the way they are treated. [Community Mapping]