How can gender-responsive media effectively increase women’s economic empowerment?

The Women's IN Business (WIN) programme aims to economically empower women in Mozambique by leveraging media to change societal attitudes and provide women with the information and confidence needed to start and grow businesses.

This case study aims to share insights on how gender-responsive media can effectively increase women’s economic empowerment.

Private sector companies can bring about changes in their market by addressing the constraints that low-income women face. For these women, this leads to increased access to business services and an improved business and employment environment.

These changes not only benefit the women micro-entrepreneurs, but also expand and diversify the audiences for media programmes and help companies reach new markets. This is why WIN has partnered with media actors to change attitudes around women’s entrepreneurship and increase their incomes.

Intervention description

Key interventions included developing and broadcasting media content tailored for women entrepreneurs, such as TV shows, radio programmes and interactive voice response (IVR) services.

The programme partnered with local media companies such as TV Sucesso, Anima, Panavideo and TV Miramar. Specific activities included co-designing content, training media partners and supporting the production of shows that highlight women’s entrepreneurship and business skills. For example, the TV show 'Clínica de Negócios' on TV Sucesso featured female micro-entrepreneurs and business experts discussing topics such as stock management and financial literacy.

Partners adopted the promoted models, and there was evidence of behaviour change, with increased engagement from female audiences and media companies integrating gender-responsive content into their programming.

This programme’s results measurement system underwent a pre-audit review using the DCED Standard.