Abstract

Radio listening has been intimately entwined with women's lives since its invention in the 1920s. The emerging field of radio studies has encompassed research about female radio pioneers and the historical importance of radio made by women, providing a critique of the gender blindness of radio history writing. There is now a body of feminist radio history work and related women's radio archives which demonstrate how women have been “rewritten” back into radio history. The relationship between women and radio spans research and practices concerning the nature of women's radio and feminist radio and the agency of women as program makers and managers. A reoccurring theme is the persistence of inequalities and limiting gendered roles in different parts of the radio industry worldwide and the opportunities afforded by newer forms of sound production and distribution such as community broadcasting and podcasting.

Research about women's radio production has been instrumental in reconfiguring modern media spaces of identity and agency. Women have used diverse approaches within feminist and community radio to be agents of resistance against traditional representations of themselves in radio and have made forceful inroads into gender equality. Women are active as program makers in different program genres and women's radio stations, programs, and services have been set up in most regions of the world in the latter half of the 20th century. New sound platforms such as podcasting and online archives have amplified the voices and ultimately the reach of women's radio, creative audio/radio production and women's radio activism.