WUNRN
TV Series: Why
Women Count
Why Women Count is a series of 41 x 5 minute programmes made by broadcasters and producers in 41 countries focusing on the theme of empowerment - and what it means in the lives of ordinary women and men around the world. The series aims to inspire, increase awareness and stimulate debate about the key role that women’s rights and gender equality play in the social, economic and political development of their countries, communities and families.
The
short documentaries were produced by the Broadcasting for Change Network, a
unique group of international broadcasters and producers founded by TVE in
1995, and committed to producing and airing programmes on women's rights and
equality worldwide. Since then the Network has collaborated on the production,
exchange and broadcast of five series of programme exploring the status and
condition of women in different parts of the world (see also Snapshots of Change, Reel to
Real and Broadcasting for
Change: >From Rhetoric to Reality). In 2006 the Network grew to 41
countries, with the addition of nine new participants from Bosnia Herzegovina,
Ghana, Kosovo, Lebanon, Macedonia, Thailand, Uganda.
For
the new series, each of the broadcasters/producers in the Network has
researched and produced their own story on women’s empowerment – or lack of
empowerment –in their own country or region. In return, each receives from TVE
in London all 41 of the Why Women Count films - in English, Spanish or an
International version, for translating and dubbing into local languages – which
they can then broadcast on their own national, regional or local TV channels,
copyright free. This collaborative exchange model provides all the Network
members with access to a range of films on women’s rights they would never
otherwise have produced or broadcast – while giving audiences a unique insight
into the lives of other women around the world, experiencing the same kinds of
discrimination and oppression, and finding their own solutions to deal with
these.
The
outcome is a powerful series of 41 short films showing women struggling to
overcome difficulties in many walks of life, all round the world. The Power of
her Voice, from Kenya, profiles MP Njoki Ndung’u who made history in 2006 when
she shepherded a new Sexual Offences Law, finally outlawing violence against
women, through Kenya’s male-dominated parliament. Lily Counts Is the moving
story of Nepalese widow, Lily Thapa, fighting for cultural dignity for widows
facing discriminatory traditions and customary stigmatisation in Nepal. Esma’s
Secret explores entrenched attitudes towards rape victims in Bosnia
Herzegovina, and the breakthrough that accompanied one woman speaking out on
the issue in traditional Bosnian society, while Protagonists of the New History
recounts how the election of Evo Morales, Bolivia’s first indigenous president
- and his commitment to appointing women minister, including an indigenous
women as Minister of Justice, has moved women into the mainstream of Bolivia’s
development.
The Why Women Count series is available on Beta, VHS and DVD compilation tapes from TVE for non-broadcast use. Contact TVE Distribution Department
Why Women Count was made possible with the help of:
Global Opportunities Fund- FCO
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