Women's Hands and Voices was initiated in 2002 in response to an ongoing need to include more women in the annual conference of the NCRA/ANREC. Funding was sought and obtained from Status of Women Canada and a larger project was developed to reflect and address the general lack of balance between men and women at campus and community radio stations.

This initiative seeks to provide full and equal access for women in all levels and spheres of non-profit, community radio broadcasting, including volunteerism, on-air presence, paid staff positions, and national directives.

The project involved four main components:

1. A steering committee of women from across the country who acted as representatives and consultants for each aspect of the project, and who supervised, supported and participated in the other project components. This steering committee was involved in a series of workshops held at the annual national conference in Edmonton in June 2004.

2. A strategic plan was written by a researcher with the assistance of the steering committee and input from individual women and radio stations through surveys and interviews and information collected from the workshops.

3. A "gender toolkit" was created by two consultants/specialists for use by stations in the presentation of gender-equitable programming.

4. Promotion of the project and distribution of the report, toolkit, and other materials were created by the steering committee through this website, the media, online discussion, and other means.

All materials © 2004 NCRA/ANREC. Financial assistance was provided by the Women’s Program under Status of Women Canada. The opinions expressed in these texts and documents do not necessarily represent the official policy of Status of Women Canada.