Abstract

Women’s participation in community radio is critical to maintaining local interest in community development initiatives. In Northern Ghana, women have historically been excluded from the public sphere and the dialogues that lead to the transformation of their communities. Community radio presents an opportunity for rural women to participate in the public sphere. However, the use of radio listenership clubs for rural women to participate in community radio has not been thoroughly understood. This study assessed how radio listenership clubs help harness the participation of women in the activities of community radio stations in Northern Ghana. Five randomly selected community radio stations and a hundred randomly selected women listeners were used in a series of focus group discussions and purposive semi-structured interviews to collect data between January and May 2021. The study revealed that, through RLCs, women create content and alliances which aid the diffusion of agricultural technology, by listening to and producing their own programmes. RLCs expand women’s access to media and reduce the vulnerabilities of women in the household and village setting. We recommend the establishment of more women-focused radio listenership clubs.