Feminist Podcasting

Women and Broadcasting

Women have been a part of radio since its beginning (Veercamp 310). However, women’s voices have not always been recognized or accepted on the air, or within the industry (Veercamp 310). Veercamp notes that “while radio brought America together as a nation in the 1930s and 40s, it also highlighted the country’s ethnic, racial, geographic, and gendered divisions.” (308) Female radio executives are visible in the historical timeline of the medium; however, their memory is not well preserved (Oosterom and Moir 40) [Profiles of some women important to Canadian radio history can be found here]. The lack of recognition for women's history in radio can be attributed to the lesser value of women’s contributions, especially, to commercial business, in a patriarchal society. The notion that women have not been treated equally to men in radio is reflected by Veercamp in noting that “plenty of women were involved with amateur radio as it emerged but were pushed out as it became more commercialized.” (310) Veercamp writes that the history of women in radio reflects a need for feminism in radio, “to reverse a trajectory that veered away from the common good nearly a hundred years ago and to truly make a radio for everybody.” (313)

 

This page has paths: