Banned — an attempt to improve the lot of half the world’s population

THURSDAY, International Women’s Day 2007, began without the sounds of Trócaire’s Lenten campaign on the airwaves of commercial radio stations.

Apparently the message that women — not in Ireland, mind you, but in developing nations — should be given the opportunity to earn money, be educated and to live without fear of physical, sexual or psychological abuse, is considered too political.

The Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) determined that a message to bring hope to billions of women, half the world’s population, is sufficiently political a sentiment that it should not be allowed on air.