The Impact of the BBC World Service Trust’s Programme Afghan Woman’s Hour – Results from a National Survey in Afghanistan BBC World Service Trust Research & Learning Group Authors: Researchers: Andy Bhanot, Head of Research – South Asia Emily LeRoux-Rutledge, Research Officer * Head of Project: Safia Haleem * This paper draws heavily on LeRoux-Rutledge, E. (2007). Afghan Women’s Hour: Psychological Empowerment Using a Mass Media Approach. Master’s dissertation, London School of Economics and Political Science. 1 CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ...................................................................................... 3 CHAPTER 1: BACKGROUND .............................................................................6 CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH OBJECTIVES & METHODOLOGY ..............................16 CHAPTER 3: LIFE IN AFGHANISTAN ...............................................................25 CHAPTER 4: MEDIA CONSUMPTION & HABITS .............................................32 CHAPTER 5: AWARENESS AND REACH ..........................................................40 CHAPTER 6: GENDER EQUALITY......................................................................48 CHAPTER 7: CONCLUSIONS ...........................................................................62 CHAPTER 8: RECOMMENDATIONS.................................................................64 2 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1. Overall awareness of Afghan Woman’s Hour (AWH) in Afghanistan was found to be high; 50% of all those who had listened to the radio in the previous month were aware of AWH. Awareness was higher in the South Western region at 64% compared with the lowest level of awareness at 23% in the Hazarjat region. Awareness was higher among women (60%) as compared to men (40%) men indicating popularity of the programme among its primary target audience i.e. women. 2. The survey found that about 45% of active radio listeners 1 had ever listened to AWH, indicating that the programme has been heard by approximately 11 million Afghans. Listenership was highest in the South Western province (61%) followed by Eastern (49%) and South Central (48%) provinces. Hazarjat province reported the lowest listenership at 22%. 3. More than half of all female active radio listeners had ever listened to AWH. Again, it is apparent that the programme is reaching its primary target audience with 55% of women having ever listened to the programme. Nearly all those who were aware of the programme had heard the programme at some point. 4. Of all those aware of AWH, 76% of men and 83% of women had listened to it in the last month or more recently. Nearly a fifth of all active radio listeners had listened to the programme in the last 7 days with more than a third having listened in the last month. 5. Just over a fifth of all active radio listeners listen to AWH once a week or more. Slightly less than a third of female all active radio listeners listen to the programme once a week or more. As expected this figure is lower for men. 6. Of all those who were aware of AWH 90% listened to the programme more than once a month or more. This means that about 9 million Afghans are listening more than once a month with half of them listening every week. 7. This high level of regular listening suggests that Afghan Woman’s Hour is extremely popular with those who are aware of it. Women tend to listen more regularly than men although a large proportion of men are listening on a regular basis – nearly half of all those who are aware of the programme. 8. As expected, the majority of AWH listeners are female (61%), but it is notable that in a country with significant separation of the sexes 39% of those who report listening to AWH in the last month are male. With the exception of gender, the demographic characteristics of AWH listeners mirror those found in the overall sample. The largest portion of the audience is rural women, but AWH is reaching a broad cross section of Afghan society and serves as vehicle for the distribution of information to a variety of different demographic groups within Afghanistan. 1 Active radio listeners aged 15+ defined as those who had listened to radio in the last 4 weeks 3 • The average age of listeners is 32 years old. Overall, listeners tend to be relatively young with 58% of respondents reporting to be age 34 or younger. • Slightly over half of AWH listeners (54%) report having no formal education compared to 58% for the whole sample. • The majority of AWH listeners live in rural areas (78%) with 22% living in urban environments. • Half of AWH listeners reported being housewives. Another 36% are working and 8% are students. • Overall, 46% of listeners described themselves as Pashtuns, 37% Tajiks, 7% Uzbeks, 8% Hazaras, and 2% other ethnicities. 9. Afghan Women’s Hour listeners most frequently listened to the programme either on their own or with family or friends. AWH listeners are talking about what they hear in the programme, indicating that the programme may be reaching more than the active radio listeners. Over half of listeners (56%) reported they had talked with someone regarding something they heard on AWH. Women were more likely to do so than men (65% compared to 35%). Those who discussed issues with others did so mostly with family members and friends. 10. The vast majority of listeners feel that listening to AWH is beneficial to them. Specifically: • 96% agree they think more positively about lives of women after listening to AWH. • 91% agree the show helps them better understand women in different situations than them. • 91% agree that listening to AWH helps them to solve problems. • 80% agree they often talk about things they hear on AWH. • 79% agree that men enjoy listening to AWH. 11. More than three-fourth listeners of AWH have listened to different segments of the programme –Testimonials, Music of Our Village, Women & Work, and Women in Parliament. Close to 90% listeners agree on the benefits of the specific segments. The benefits include inspiration they get from listening to individual experiences, influencing their opinions or behaviours in different ways, making them feel proud of Afghan culture and encouraging political, civic and electoral engagement among the listeners. 12. Qualitative research using Focus Group Discussions indicated that women displayed a significant capacity to aspire, which included specific aspirations in domains relevant to the programme segments they had recently finished listening to (suggesting that AWH has made an impact.) They also had critical awareness of social barriers, could identify causal agents that might help or hinder them, displayed the ability to brainstorm (an important component of problem-solving ) and had the capacity to express voice within the all-female group. Furthermore, they displayed the intention to inform other women of relevant issues, and, in some cases, the intention to discuss these issues. 4 13. Less encouraging, however, was that for the most part their aspirations were not particularly focused or specific, and they had a low perceived ability to influence and low perceived competence outside of the female domain of child-rearing, (which is already considered to be an area of female expertise.) This meant that they did not display knowledge of the ways in which to influence causal agents. For example, a woman might demonstrate knowledge that men were causal agents, but not be able to indicate how she would go about attempting to influence them. There was little evidence for leadership , and little indication that participants would take any direct action to influence outcomes other than discussing the issues raised with other women. The lack of perceived ability to influence and perceived competence proved critical to all the other components, as even in the areas where the women excelled, such as in their capacity to brainstorm, they displayed passivity; the suggestions they generated indicated not what actions they could take, but what could be done for them. 14. Encouragingly, there is evidence that AWH has the potential to enhance women’s capacity to aspire , by giving them ideas about specific goals. It is also has the potential to enhance women’s perceived ability to influence , and perceived efficacy . 15. The litmus test for empowerment is whether poor and subordinate groups have effectively advanced their particular interests through their own choice and action. In order for AWH to help women translate their aspirations into action, it must attempt to facilitate agency through psychological empowerment. In order for empowerment to occur, however, aspects of the opportunity structure (such as male opinion) must also be addressed. As there is a large male audience for Afghan Women’s Hour, a significant opportunity exists for the programme to tackle this aspect of the empowerment framework as well. 5 CHAPTER 1: BACKGROUND 1.1 Status of Women in Afghanistan Violence against women and girls, and other violations of their rights in Afghanistan have been widely reported by media and NGOs, in the last three decades. In 2000, the Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women, in her report to the Commission on Human Rights, wrote “Most countries of the world appear to tolerate some practices that discriminate against women, but only in some countries is discrimination official policy. In Taleban controlled areas of Afghanistan, discrimination against women is officially sanctioned and pervades every aspect of the lives of women.” 2 A recent report by Amnesty International notes that