Gender Issues : Ways And Means To Address Communication Breakdowns

Gender Issues need multipotent communication among the masses. Effective communication is the key factor in bringing about changes in the attitude of society at large.

Efforts to communicate Gender Issues and Related Messages do not concede intended results most often. The communication channels used to propagate the Gender Messages are also subject to various bottlenecks and limitations.

Problems can usually be avoided if communicators first strive to understand the attitudes,beliefs and social factors that determine people's behaviour and the problems that may arise as people begin to change their behaviour.

One of these bottlenecks is the “Ineffectivity Of Communication”.It is very natural and obvious that the message may reach only some of the intended target audience.This is mainly because of the ineffectivity of the communication channels used. Each channel of communication bears its limitations of “Reach”. Intended audience is a complete factor in itself but using a channel of communication often poses this limitation as the “Reach” is never absolute. For instance the use of printed material as a channel of communication has its own limitations. Apart from not reaching the message in printed form, upto each literate person, this also address to the limitation of “Non – Reach- factor”. These factors include all those who cannot read. Similarly the use of Radio and Television i.e. Audio and Video Media as communication channels also do not address to all those who do not have an access to these media.

This limitation can be get the better of by an intelligent mixing of mass media and “Person-To-Person” communication. The message always gets reinforced and its potency is increased. A whole hearted Participatory Research to find out the credibility of the mass media and person-to person communication leads to improved communication status and the credibility of the channel used.

( To Be Contd..........)