South Asia
Pakistan
Mukhtiar Mai: The Struggle for Justice
In June 2002 Mukhtiar Mai’s 14 year old brother Abdul was accused of molesting a woman from a powerful rival clan in rural Punjab. To exact revenge, the clan members sent four armed men who gang raped Mukhtiar Mai. In patriarchal Pakistan violence in the name of honour is widespread, and rape perpetrators are rarely charged. But Mukhtiar, encouraged by her local mullah, lodged a formal complaint with the local police. After her case was taken up by human rights lawyers around the world, she received compensation from the Pakistan government and used it to start a school and woman’s welfare centre in her home village.
Production company email: Producer/Director Beena Sarwar
Related links: Yahoo Women Group, Women Living Under Muslim Laws (WLUML). Articles on Mukhtar Mai -bbc and truthout. Articles by Beena Sarwar on Mukhtar Mai Beena-Issues and Beena-Issues 2
India
Queens of the Grassroots
Harjeet Kaur, Jaswinder Kaur and Mahender Pal Kaur have each been elected to serve for five year as ‘sarpanch’ or head of their village councils in the Indian state of Punjab. In 1992 an amendment to India’s constitution mandated that a third of all seats in the local village councils, or ‘Panchayats’, should be reserved for women. But has the new legislation really helped empower women at the grassroots, or are they merely serving as proxies for their husband’s wishes? Poojita Chowdhury’s investigation finds that while sexism and prejudice are still alive and well in Punjabi villages, many women are taking up the challenge to serve and make a difference.
Production email: Producer/Director Poojita Chowdhury
Related links: Ministry of Panchayati Raj
Nepal
Lily counts!
Lily Thapa was a widow in her early thirties when she first came face-to-face with the brutality traditionally meted out to widows in Nepal. “The first people to treat me as an outcast were my own family,” she says. “There is so much injustice and oppression inflicted on a widow, that I decided to break my silence.” In 1994 Lily started Women for Human Rights (WHR), an association of widows which now has branch offices in 36 of the 75 districts of Nepal. WHR campaigns against ingrained stigmatization and prejudice against Nepal’s widows, and provides education and training in income generation to help them live dignified lives.
Production company email: Producer/Director Aarti Chataut
Related links: Women for Human Rights
Bangladesh
Long Way to Go...
Shukla Rani and her neighbour Nobendu Mollik fell in love in their teens, and were secretly married in 2004. But Nobendu’s family refused to accept the marriage, and Nobendu, frightened of being disinherited, ran away and abandoned Shukla at her in-laws’ home. Shortly afterwards, Shukla was attacked by her brother-in-law and another man, wearing masks, who threw acid over her. Today Shukla is fighting her case through the courts, determined that her husband will not go unpunished. “This should not happen in any girl’s life,” she says. “I want to efface my identity as ‘acid-scarred Shukla’ because I have a long way to go.”
Production company email: Banglavision-Shamol Bangla Media Ltd or Aminur Rashid
Related links: Acid Survivors Foundation
Afghanistan
Bravery
Twenty seven year old Afghan MP Malalai Joya is already a legend in her lifetime. A former refugee in Pakistan, she became a health worker and political activist on her return to Afghanistan. In 2003 she made headlines when she publicly denounced the Afghan war lords sitting as representatives of their provinces in the Afghan constitutional assembly. After standing for election and winning her seat outright in 2005 in Afghanistan’s parliament, she caused uproar with her maiden speech condemning the war lords as war criminals. Today, despite death threats and assassination attempts, she continues to fight against injustice and for women’s rights in Afghanistan.
Production company email: Ariana Film Production
Related links: The British Council, Afghanistan
