BySCEME
NISAA FM: Palestinian Women Radio Station reaches growing audience
NISAA FM, based in the West Bank is a thriving and popular radio station that allows Palestinian women the opportunity to promote social change and justice.
The station, whilst keen to promote women’s independence, believes that it is only through work with the opposite sex, that gender quality can be achieved. “Social change does not happen unless women and men work together,” said the station’s director, Maysoun Odeh in a report to Women’s e News. “We are a mature society. Both men and women deserve a chance to be free of the oppression we are facing today, so that we earn our deserved roles.”
Women’s e News reported that a phenomenal 40% of listeners to the station are men. However, the majority of programs focus on women’s issues. One of the most popular is ‘Women’s Break’ a show that aims to promote, through open and varied discussion, the rights of Palestinian women.
“In an occupied land where men exert overwhelming media control, the station offers a unique forum for such subjects as polygamy, domestic violence, family and work matters” explained a Palestinian journalist and film producer Saad Aruri in a report to Women’s e News.
“Having a women’s radio station in Palestine that touches on issues of concern to women across the Middle East is critical and very positive,” he said. “So I hope it will continue to develop.”
“He added that NISAA FM plays an important role by advising women in the Arab world about their rights and providing an example of the Palestinian community that supports gender equality”, reported journalist, Emtyaz al-Mograbi.
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