Gender Justice for Sustainable Development: Converging Media and Community Action in India

Globalization has led to a race for fast economic growth in South Asia. In India, people are challenged by the collapse of welfare measures and rising levels of inequality. Women in India have borne the brunt of development that often is accompanied by large scale exploitation of natural resources which were available freely to them to sustain community development. Development paradigms that had neglected women’s perspectives and issues in the past are now incorporating a gender component into its processes and strategies. The Millennium Development Goals (MGDs) adopted by several nations in 2000 and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted in 2015 were aimed at promoting gender equality and empowerment of women as the core goals of sustainable development. Community action has generated grassroots participation for gender justice that has gained wide support. Women’s collectives are advocates for development that does not destroy their natural resources and carefully consider the environmental, social, and cultural costs of economic growth. With the convergence of various social movements contesting inequality, communication strategies have become more dynamic, integrating community media with indigenous channels of communication, theatre and film which have converged with the mass media and new media technologies including the internet and social media through which the social movements raise a host of concerning gender justice. This paper analyses the struggle for gender justice to ensure sustainable development through the convergence of media and community action in India.