WEBVTT

00:00:10.000 --> 00:00:18.000
[music]

00:01:00.000 --> 00:01:04.999
In India, village women learn to read
and take control of their lives.

00:01:05.000 --> 00:01:09.999
In Uganda, school girls argue about
whether they should be circumcised.

00:01:10.000 --> 00:01:14.999
In Kenya, Esther cuts trees and sells charcoal
to try to pay for her children’s education.

00:01:15.000 --> 00:01:19.999
Just three stories of women struggling
to cast off centuries of oppression.

00:01:20.000 --> 00:01:24.999
Equality for women is vital in the
struggle to hold the population explosion

00:01:25.000 --> 00:01:29.999
and holding population growth is
the key to sustainable development

00:01:30.000 --> 00:01:34.999
and our environmental future.

00:01:35.000 --> 00:01:39.999
Drawing women into the mainstream of development
will widen women’s economic choices

00:01:40.000 --> 00:01:44.999
but it will also liberate
their minds and spirits.

00:01:45.000 --> 00:01:49.999
As the leader of the Zimbabwe delegation
put it, it will empower women,

00:01:50.000 --> 00:01:55.000
not with the power to fight
but with the power to decide.

00:02:00.000 --> 00:02:04.999
[sil.]

00:02:05.000 --> 00:02:09.999
Two years ago, world leaders gathered in Cairo for the
International Conference on Population and Development.

00:02:10.000 --> 00:02:14.999
They hammered out a program of action,
on the agenda \"Women’s Right\"

00:02:15.000 --> 00:02:19.999
to have a say in their own lines.

00:02:20.000 --> 00:02:24.999
Two years on, what’s changed?
We’ve traveled to six countries

00:02:25.000 --> 00:02:29.999
to look at the progress women
are making after Cairo.

00:02:30.000 --> 00:02:34.999
[sil.]

00:02:35.000 --> 00:02:39.999
One success story is India.

00:02:40.000 --> 00:02:44.999
India’s population is rocketing
towards one thousand million.

00:02:45.000 --> 00:02:49.999
For 45 years,

00:02:50.000 --> 00:02:54.999
the government clung to just
one goal, to reduce numbers.

00:02:55.000 --> 00:02:59.999
Bribes, incentives and coercion,
persuaded millions of poor men

00:03:00.000 --> 00:03:04.999
and women to be sterilized. Under
Indira Gandhi’s Emergency Rule,

00:03:05.000 --> 00:03:09.999
the policies snowballed, the mid ‘70s
were witness to mass sterilization.

00:03:10.000 --> 00:03:14.999
The backlash was inevitable.

00:03:15.000 --> 00:03:19.999
Women’s groups, the press, and academics, criticized
the government’s dehumanized obsession with numbers.

00:03:20.000 --> 00:03:24.999
The women in India

00:03:25.000 --> 00:03:29.999
wanted the right to make their own
decisions. They had to have a voice.

00:03:30.000 --> 00:03:34.999
Literacy was the key.

00:03:35.000 --> 00:03:39.999
The southern Indian state of Kerala, has long
boasted of its higher literacy rates for women.

00:03:40.000 --> 00:03:44.999
But even so, some regions held out.

00:03:45.000 --> 00:03:49.999
The predominantly Muslim region of Valapuram was
one of them. Now, finally the women of Valapuram

00:03:50.000 --> 00:03:54.999
are breaking free from religious taboos.

00:03:55.000 --> 00:03:59.999
[sil.]

00:04:00.000 --> 00:04:04.999
These women are learning to read and write.

00:04:05.000 --> 00:04:09.999
Rabiya is their teacher.

00:04:10.000 --> 00:04:15.000
In classes like hers, the women raise big
questions about their role in family decisions.

00:04:35.000 --> 00:04:39.999
[non-English narration]

00:04:40.000 --> 00:04:44.999
As women’s literacy rates climb in
Valapuram, the birthrate is falling.

00:04:45.000 --> 00:04:49.999
Now women have the right to choose,
they are choosing to be sterilized

00:04:50.000 --> 00:04:54.999
but when they are ready.

00:04:55.000 --> 00:05:03.000
[non-English narration]

00:05:30.000 --> 00:05:34.999
As more women have learned to read,
the influence of the media has grown.

00:05:35.000 --> 00:05:39.999
In the cities, women journalists
have stimulated national debate.

00:05:40.000 --> 00:05:44.999
The media has definitely played a role,
uh… women journalists in particular

00:05:45.000 --> 00:05:49.999
have return a very hard hitting articles

00:05:50.000 --> 00:05:54.999
on the lacunae in our official policy and
what needs to be done. In that sense,

00:05:55.000 --> 00:05:59.999
the media has highlighted areas that
needed highlighting. But at the same time,

00:06:00.000 --> 00:06:04.999
I think the mainstream media still
goes by the official policy

00:06:05.000 --> 00:06:09.999
if it could uh… devote a little more
attention to what the NGOs are saying,

00:06:10.000 --> 00:06:14.999
what the women activists are saying.
I think we could do much better.

00:06:15.000 --> 00:06:19.999
Learning to read and write has encouraged more women to
follow the arguments in the press and on television.

00:06:20.000 --> 00:06:24.999
And activists are ensuring
the message gets through.

00:06:25.000 --> 00:06:29.999
In the southern Indian state of Karnataka,

00:06:30.000 --> 00:06:34.999
a silent revolution is taking place.

00:06:35.000 --> 00:06:39.999
In an unprecedented development,

00:06:40.000 --> 00:06:44.999
over 40,000 women have been elected

00:06:45.000 --> 00:06:49.999
to the local village
councils or panchayats.

00:06:50.000 --> 00:06:54.999
They have begun to shake up the decision making process
with one million seats reserved for women all over India,

00:06:55.000 --> 00:07:00.000
women are now forcing change.

00:07:20.000 --> 00:07:24.999
After the Cairo Conference, the Indian
government banned sterilization targets.

00:07:25.000 --> 00:07:29.999
Women in India can now decide for
themselves if and when they have children.

00:07:30.000 --> 00:07:34.999
But if the answer in India used
to be forced sterilization,

00:07:35.000 --> 00:07:39.999
in Cambodia the government is pushing women
into having as many children as possible.

00:07:40.000 --> 00:07:44.999
[sil.]

00:07:45.000 --> 00:07:49.999
Cambodia in Southeast Asia is
known as the land of widows.

00:07:50.000 --> 00:07:54.999
The country is just emerging from 25
years of bloodshed and civil conflict.

00:07:55.000 --> 00:07:59.999
For four years in the mid ‘70s, the
Khmer Rouge under their leader Pol Pot

00:08:00.000 --> 00:08:04.999
ruled the country through terror,
execution, forced labor,

00:08:05.000 --> 00:08:09.999
starvation and disease killed
one in seven Cambodians.

00:08:10.000 --> 00:08:14.999
Most of those who died were men.

00:08:15.000 --> 00:08:19.999
Now, it is the women of Cambodia
who are struggling to cope

00:08:20.000 --> 00:08:24.999
with the social and economic
fallout of the genocide.

00:08:25.000 --> 00:08:29.999
[sil.]

00:08:30.000 --> 00:08:34.999
Kompong Luong is a floating village in the
Tonle Sap lake in the heart of Cambodia.

00:08:35.000 --> 00:08:39.999
Here, three out of every four families

00:08:40.000 --> 00:08:44.999
are kept together by single women, the
rest of Cambodia is no different.

00:08:45.000 --> 00:08:53.000
[sil.]

00:08:55.000 --> 00:08:59.999
Many men desert their families, those who
stay behind are often too ill to work.

00:09:00.000 --> 00:09:04.999
Tou is the village midwife because
of her husband’s chronic illness,

00:09:05.000 --> 00:09:09.999
she has been her family’s only
breadwinner for 20 years.

00:09:10.000 --> 00:09:15.000
The Tuo too have suffered at
the hands of the Khmer Rouge.

00:10:30.000 --> 00:10:34.999
The huge death toll under Pol Pot, has
led the new government to urge women

00:10:35.000 --> 00:10:39.999
to have as many children as possible. Cambodia
needed a workforce to get back on its feet.

00:10:40.000 --> 00:10:44.999
The fact that there are a few men as not
men, has not meant there are a few children,

00:10:45.000 --> 00:10:49.999
extreme poverty and the strain of multiple pregnancies
means that nearly one in ten women die in child birth.

00:10:50.000 --> 00:10:54.999
Families of 10 children are common. The burden
this puts on women to ensure their families

00:10:55.000 --> 00:10:59.999
are fed and healthy is enormous. Tou
understands the problems only too well,

00:11:00.000 --> 00:11:05.000
as the villages only midwife, she sees the
continual childbearing her neighbors.

00:12:00.000 --> 00:12:08.000
[non-English narration]

00:12:10.000 --> 00:12:15.000
[sil.]

00:12:35.000 --> 00:12:39.999
[music] The local health authority

00:12:40.000 --> 00:12:44.999
has just opened a new clinic. Tou spends much
of her time persuading local women to attend.

00:12:45.000 --> 00:12:49.999
The clinic teaches women
about contraception

00:12:50.000 --> 00:12:54.999
and how to plan their family.

00:12:55.000 --> 00:13:00.000
[non-English narration]

00:13:20.000 --> 00:13:25.000
[non-English narration]

00:13:45.000 --> 00:13:49.999
[sil.] The work of women like Tou is Vital,

00:13:50.000 --> 00:13:54.999
if Cambodia is to rebuild it’s
economy and feed its people.

00:13:55.000 --> 00:13:59.999
The Cairo conference declared that
every child should be a wanted child.

00:14:00.000 --> 00:14:04.999
But Peru has one of the highest rates of
unplanned teenage pregnancies in the world.

00:14:05.000 --> 00:14:09.999
Here, as in many Latin American countries,

00:14:10.000 --> 00:14:14.999
the Catholic Church is a powerful force.

00:14:15.000 --> 00:14:19.999
Artificial contraception is
condemned, abortion is illegal.

00:14:20.000 --> 00:14:24.999
At Cairo, the Vatican stalled
the conference for three days

00:14:25.000 --> 00:14:29.999
arguing over the phrase \"Legal abortion.\"

00:14:30.000 --> 00:14:34.999
Finally, the program of action agreed to
education services to help protect young women.

00:14:35.000 --> 00:14:39.999
[sil.]

00:14:40.000 --> 00:14:44.999
This is Jeanette Rodriguez’s home in Lima.

00:14:45.000 --> 00:14:49.999
[sil.]

00:14:50.000 --> 00:14:54.999
She’s 18, her daughter, Solange
was born two years ago.

00:14:55.000 --> 00:14:59.999
Jeanette used to live with her parents and six sisters
and went to school but when she got pregnant,

00:15:00.000 --> 00:15:04.999
her parents threw her out. Now she lives
in this room in her aunt’s house.

00:15:05.000 --> 00:15:09.999
In Peru, everything conspires
against girls learning

00:15:10.000 --> 00:15:14.999
about their own sexuality. There’s
little or no sex education.

00:15:15.000 --> 00:15:19.999
Contraception is not discussed,
sex before marriage is taboo.

00:15:20.000 --> 00:15:24.999
At the same time, men are encouraged
to be macho. It’s a potent mixture

00:15:25.000 --> 00:15:30.000
that leads to many unwanted pregnancies,
poverty, and shame for too many young women.

00:16:10.000 --> 00:16:14.999
Marco Antonio has never
been to see his child,

00:16:15.000 --> 00:16:20.000
Jeanette has never received
any help from him.

00:16:30.000 --> 00:16:35.000
[sil.]

00:16:40.000 --> 00:16:48.000
[sil.]

00:17:25.000 --> 00:17:33.000
[sil.]

00:17:35.000 --> 00:17:39.999
A few months later, Janette was rushed
to hospital with chronic stomach pains.

00:17:40.000 --> 00:17:44.999
Jeannette was shocked to
discover she was pregnant again.

00:17:45.000 --> 00:17:49.999
Three months prematurely, she
gave birth to a second daughter.

00:17:50.000 --> 00:17:54.999
She had been to see Marco Antonio to ask for
help with the cost of bringing up Solonge,

00:17:55.000 --> 00:17:59.999
instead, Marco Antonio had persuaded
her to sleep with him again.

00:18:00.000 --> 00:18:04.999
[sil.]

00:18:05.000 --> 00:18:09.999
Jeannette story is all too
familiar around the world.

00:18:10.000 --> 00:18:14.999
Peru’s Family Planning Association now fund special
services for teenage girls from poor families.

00:18:15.000 --> 00:18:19.999
But adolescents still account for
women’s to quarter of all pregnancies.

00:18:20.000 --> 00:18:28.000
[music]

00:18:35.000 --> 00:18:39.999
Adolescent girls are probably the
most vulnerable group in any society.

00:18:40.000 --> 00:18:44.999
In many cultures around the world, girls reach womanhood
by undergoing the right of female circumcision.

00:18:45.000 --> 00:18:49.999
The Cairo conference
condemned the practice,

00:18:50.000 --> 00:18:54.999
as a violation of basic rights. This
woman is one of four in her village,

00:18:55.000 --> 00:18:59.999
severely mutilated by circumcision.

00:19:00.000 --> 00:19:04.999
Over one hundred million women around
the world have been circumcised.

00:19:05.000 --> 00:19:09.999
Every year, hundreds bleed to
death following the practice.

00:19:10.000 --> 00:19:14.999
Kapchorwa lies in the remote
mountains of eastern Uganda,

00:19:15.000 --> 00:19:19.999
home to the Sabina people.

00:19:20.000 --> 00:19:24.999
Isolated by geography and lack of industry, these
people are fiercely protective of their culture.

00:19:25.000 --> 00:19:30.000
They are the only Ugandans who
continue to circumcise their girls.

00:19:35.000 --> 00:19:39.999
But now, the women of Kapchorwa

00:19:40.000 --> 00:19:45.000
are starting to make their community
think again about this brutal practice.

00:19:55.000 --> 00:19:59.999
Rose was circumcised two years ago.

00:20:00.000 --> 00:20:04.999
I didn’t want it myself. I
was just forced to do it,

00:20:05.000 --> 00:20:09.999
so that I uh… I become one of the member
in the community. After circumcing

00:20:10.000 --> 00:20:14.999
uh… that experience, there’s a
lot of bleeding, of course,

00:20:15.000 --> 00:20:19.999
and that severe pain, a lot of pain

00:20:20.000 --> 00:20:24.999
of which we are not suppose to release it out, we’re
supposed to keep it within you, all that pain.

00:20:25.000 --> 00:20:29.999
Judith and Grace, if they follow tradition,

00:20:30.000 --> 00:20:34.999
will be circumcised this December like
their mother and grandmother before them.

00:20:35.000 --> 00:20:39.999
We should really avoid this. Uh… we should
avoid this. Our friend died of that matter.

00:20:40.000 --> 00:20:44.999
She over bleed and the… and the…

00:20:45.000 --> 00:20:49.999
and then she collapsed and he died like that. And
he… on the other hand, what did she get? Nothing.

00:20:50.000 --> 00:20:54.999
Judith and Grace are part of a new
generation determined to resist the neigh.

00:20:55.000 --> 00:20:59.999
This time I am going to work
two Sundays with the books.

00:21:00.000 --> 00:21:04.999
The fact that they can discuss the issue,
let alone decide their own futures.

00:21:05.000 --> 00:21:09.999
Shows that the community is
making a dramatic turnaround.

00:21:10.000 --> 00:21:14.999
They thought they were doing something good…
This turnaround has been inspired by REACH,

00:21:15.000 --> 00:21:19.999
a program set up by Dr. Pharaoh of
the United Nations Population Fund.

00:21:20.000 --> 00:21:24.999
REACH involves the whole community
in workshops about circumcision.

00:21:25.000 --> 00:21:29.999
This REACH program, it’s your own program, it’s the
program of the district, it’s your own responsibility

00:21:30.000 --> 00:21:34.999
to share the knowledge about the
harmful aspects of the practice.

00:21:35.000 --> 00:21:39.999
We are all parents, we all love our
children. Does anybody want to do any harm

00:21:40.000 --> 00:21:44.999
to his or her own child? But time is short.

00:21:45.000 --> 00:21:49.999
In Kapchorwa, the practice is
undertaken an even number of years.

00:21:50.000 --> 00:21:54.999
In 1996, this year in December will
be the season for circumcision.

00:21:55.000 --> 00:21:59.999
We’re working against the clock to
ensure that, come December 1996

00:22:00.000 --> 00:22:04.999
will have fewer, if at all, girls
will go through the practice.

00:22:05.000 --> 00:22:09.999
Jackson’s mother-in-law was
crippled by circumcision.

00:22:10.000 --> 00:22:14.999
Today, he manages the local REACH program traveling
through the area, encouraging discussion of the issue.

00:22:15.000 --> 00:22:19.999
The problem with the previous attempts

00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:24.999
to stop their practice
was that it was cohesive

00:22:25.000 --> 00:22:29.999
and it undermined the community’s
ability to listen for themselves,

00:22:30.000 --> 00:22:34.999
and because of that

00:22:35.000 --> 00:22:39.999
the community’s response was negative. The
community went to protect their culture.

00:22:40.000 --> 00:22:44.999
Reach has won the cooperation of
Kapchorwa by involving the men

00:22:45.000 --> 00:22:49.999
in this essential female concern.

00:22:50.000 --> 00:22:54.999
Men are the people who make the decisions

00:22:55.000 --> 00:22:59.999
in their respective families.
It’s important

00:23:00.000 --> 00:23:04.999
that you talk to their men, say that
the… you can influence their decisions

00:23:05.000 --> 00:23:09.999
to know the right thing.

00:23:10.000 --> 00:23:14.999
I’m very encouraged about the progress, that people
who have now come out openly to say sincerely

00:23:15.000 --> 00:23:19.999
the practice is bad.

00:23:20.000 --> 00:23:24.999
While Jackson has been persuading men to
change their minds at the village level,

00:23:25.000 --> 00:23:29.999
Dr. Pharaoh has been talking to the highly conservative
elders association, who’s role is to safeguard

00:23:30.000 --> 00:23:34.999
the traditional Sabine culture.

00:23:35.000 --> 00:23:39.999
As Dr Chuborian(ph) the elders chairman proves,
there has been a decisive shift in attitude.

00:23:40.000 --> 00:23:44.999
At the beginning I was
one of the supporters of

00:23:45.000 --> 00:23:49.999
the girl circumcision but as
I continued to learned more,

00:23:50.000 --> 00:23:54.999
I understood the harmful
aspects of girl circumcision.

00:23:55.000 --> 00:23:59.999
So I’m advising whoever
wants to be circumcised,

00:24:00.000 --> 00:24:04.999
have be circumcised, if
another one doesn’t want it,

00:24:05.000 --> 00:24:09.999
remain uncircumcised. You have that
responsibility to look after your body.

00:24:10.000 --> 00:24:14.999
Well, there has been a breakthrough with the
elders, teenagers often need convincing as well.

00:24:15.000 --> 00:24:19.999
Justine is one of the REACH’S peer educators. A
women who have been circumcised can milk a cow,

00:24:20.000 --> 00:24:24.999
but the girl who have not been
circumcised can not… can not milk,

00:24:25.000 --> 00:24:29.999
but I don’t say that. If you milk their cow, their cow…
their cow will die. They’re just trying to harass you,

00:24:30.000 --> 00:24:34.999
so that you are forced into the circumcision. If
you’re not circumcised, they will not respect you,

00:24:35.000 --> 00:24:39.999
they will not take you as a Sabine Culture,

00:24:40.000 --> 00:24:44.999
so there’s no way we can change our culture. If
their culture which have been established since,

00:24:45.000 --> 00:24:49.999
even my grand… grand… grand I don’t know even… This
culture of yours is not going to be our bodies.

00:24:50.000 --> 00:24:54.999
Judith and Grace are lucky. Their family has
now rejected female circumcision totally.

00:24:55.000 --> 00:24:59.999
For their mother’s generation,
being circumcised was the only way

00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:04.999
women could marry and be
accepted into womanhood.

00:25:05.000 --> 00:25:09.999
Grace and Judith’s future is
bright with other opportunities.

00:25:10.000 --> 00:25:14.999
For me personally, when I’ll
be transformed to a women,

00:25:15.000 --> 00:25:19.999
okay to womanhood, that will be,

00:25:20.000 --> 00:25:24.999
maybe after my education. For example,

00:25:25.000 --> 00:25:29.999
I have plans of reaching the University. The women of
Kapchorwa are finally escaping the tyranny of circumcision.

00:25:30.000 --> 00:25:34.999
For the one million women around the world

00:25:35.000 --> 00:25:39.999
still threatened with mutilation. The
Kapchorwa success will be an inspiration.

00:25:40.000 --> 00:25:44.999
[music]

00:25:45.000 --> 00:25:49.999
But in the neighboring country, in Kenya,
women are still struggling for voice.

00:25:50.000 --> 00:25:54.999
Here too the men of the family
make all the decisions.

00:25:55.000 --> 00:25:59.999
[sil.]

00:26:00.000 --> 00:26:04.999
At Cairo, the delegates agreed that equality between
men and women was the key to lowering the birthrate.

00:26:05.000 --> 00:26:09.999
But in Kenya, women still have little or no say about
how many children they have or when they have them.

00:26:10.000 --> 00:26:14.999
Cattle herd of Christopher
Lauriue(ph), has two wives.

00:26:15.000 --> 00:26:19.999
His first wife has nine children, his second
Esther has also given him nine children,

00:26:20.000 --> 00:26:25.000
now Esther is pregnant for the 10th time.

00:26:50.000 --> 00:26:54.999
Life in the African bush is Adieus.

00:26:55.000 --> 00:26:59.999
Last summer, this river dried up. The drought
wiped out the cattle of neighboring tribes.

00:27:00.000 --> 00:27:04.999
Esther’s home was ambushed
twice by local bandits.

00:27:05.000 --> 00:27:09.999
They took the families cattle and erased their homes to
the ground. Her husband went to live with his first wife,

00:27:10.000 --> 00:27:15.000
leaving Esther to rebuild
her home from scratch.

00:28:30.000 --> 00:28:34.999
Christopher set a target for the
number of children he wanted

00:28:35.000 --> 00:28:39.999
and refused to change his mind.
Erdo is their youngest child,

00:28:40.000 --> 00:28:48.000
he’s now two years old.

00:30:05.000 --> 00:30:09.999
Esther still wants to try
because she is a woman,

00:30:10.000 --> 00:30:14.999
she isn’t allowed to sell goods or cows, but she hopes to get
to children’s throught primary school by selling charcoal.

00:30:15.000 --> 00:30:19.999
In the bush, wood is scarce.

00:30:20.000 --> 00:30:24.999
The more trees as the cuts down the charcoal,
the more soil erosion destroys her land

00:30:25.000 --> 00:30:29.999
and the less food she can grow.
But For Esther,

00:30:30.000 --> 00:30:34.999
this is not her main concern. She
worries that with each new baby,

00:30:35.000 --> 00:30:39.999
the opportunities for other children fade away
and the baby she’s expecting is due very soon.

00:30:40.000 --> 00:30:48.000
[sil.]

00:31:50.000 --> 00:31:55.000
Christopher’s change of heart has come
late for Esther and her 10 children.

00:32:20.000 --> 00:32:24.999
The role of women in rural Kenya may
have changed little in the century

00:32:25.000 --> 00:32:29.999
but in other countries, women’s lives
have undergone a dramatic transformation.

00:32:30.000 --> 00:32:34.999
In developing countries job
opportunities for women are rocketing,

00:32:35.000 --> 00:32:39.999
but some of these amount a
little more than modern slavery.

00:32:40.000 --> 00:32:44.999
The Cairo Program of Action said that
employers should provide security

00:32:45.000 --> 00:32:49.999
and health benefits for women and
facilities for their children.

00:32:50.000 --> 00:32:54.999
Jakarta, Indonesia’s capital, home
to nine million people and growing.

00:32:55.000 --> 00:33:03.000
[sil.]

00:33:05.000 --> 00:33:09.999
Like other developing nations, Indonesia is
a magnet for the multinational companies.

00:33:10.000 --> 00:33:14.999
Nike, Reebok, and Squire, all
have their production lines here.

00:33:15.000 --> 00:33:19.999
They prefer to employ women because they say
women are more accurate and patient than men.

00:33:20.000 --> 00:33:24.999
And Indonesian women will
work for far lower wages

00:33:25.000 --> 00:33:29.999
than those guaranteed to North
American and European workers.

00:33:30.000 --> 00:33:34.999
Every day, more and more
leave their villages

00:33:35.000 --> 00:33:39.999
hoping for a better life in the city.

00:33:40.000 --> 00:33:45.000
Each bus brings its cargo
of optimists and dreamers.

00:33:50.000 --> 00:33:54.999
But are these new job opportunities
or are they just a dead end?

00:33:55.000 --> 00:33:59.999
[sil.]

00:34:00.000 --> 00:34:04.999
Sri left home to look for a
job when she was just 13.

00:34:05.000 --> 00:34:09.999
Her family couldn’t afford to send her to secondary
school and there was no work for her in the Village.

00:34:10.000 --> 00:34:14.999
She found a job, not with
one of the multinationals

00:34:15.000 --> 00:34:19.999
but in a backstreet embroidery factory.
She’s been there ever since.

00:34:20.000 --> 00:34:28.000
[sil.]

00:34:30.000 --> 00:34:34.999
It’s a sweatshop. 200 machinists are
crammed into every nook and cranny,

00:34:35.000 --> 00:34:39.999
85% percent of them are women.

00:34:40.000 --> 00:34:44.999
No one here is protected by labor laws.
There are no fringe benefits,

00:34:45.000 --> 00:34:49.999
no medical insurance, no job
security, no child care.

00:34:50.000 --> 00:34:54.999
Every Saturday, the women
queue to get their paycheck.

00:34:55.000 --> 00:34:59.999
It’s piecework, on average
they earn $2 a day.

00:35:00.000 --> 00:35:05.000
[non-English narration]

00:35:40.000 --> 00:35:48.000
[sil.]

00:35:55.000 --> 00:35:59.999
Sri is married to (inaudible),

00:36:00.000 --> 00:36:04.999
a paper factory worker. They have
a two-year-old daughter Ika.

00:36:05.000 --> 00:36:09.999
They live in a one bedroom house

00:36:10.000 --> 00:36:14.999
with two other relatives. [sil.]

00:36:15.000 --> 00:36:19.999
Sir’s 14-year-old cousin, Teen,

00:36:20.000 --> 00:36:24.999
lives with them to look after Ika, but soon
Teen will also get a job in a factory.

00:36:25.000 --> 00:36:29.999
[sil.]

00:36:30.000 --> 00:36:34.999
If Sri is to go on working,
she will have to take

00:36:35.000 --> 00:36:40.000
Ika back to the village, for
her mother to look after.

00:36:45.000 --> 00:36:53.000
[sil.]

00:37:00.000 --> 00:37:04.999
Even with Sri and (inaudible) working.
It is hard to make ends meet.

00:37:05.000 --> 00:37:09.999
There are no fresh facilities
at the embroidery factory,

00:37:10.000 --> 00:37:14.999
no flexible hours to fit around children.

00:37:15.000 --> 00:37:20.000
Sri can only hope some
other answer will turn up.

00:37:50.000 --> 00:37:54.999
[sil.] In this factory,

00:37:55.000 --> 00:37:59.999
the conditions have earned the
company a government award.

00:38:00.000 --> 00:38:04.999
The factory is licensed by
the US footwear giant, Nike.

00:38:05.000 --> 00:38:09.999
The work is semiskilled and
vacancies are instantly filled.

00:38:10.000 --> 00:38:14.999
Here, women make up three
quarters of the work force.

00:38:15.000 --> 00:38:19.999
The stampede of multinationals to
developing countries has drawn criticism.

00:38:20.000 --> 00:38:24.999
Journalists have reported the exploitation
of workers. Multinationals have hit back,

00:38:25.000 --> 00:38:29.999
saying they provide better services for
workers than those required by local news.

00:38:30.000 --> 00:38:34.999
Unlike the embroidery company, this
factory runs a free 24 hour clinic,

00:38:35.000 --> 00:38:39.999
with doctor’s and a
dispensary for prescriptions.

00:38:40.000 --> 00:38:44.999
And the women workers receive
paid maternity leave.

00:38:45.000 --> 00:38:49.999
Vivid, unlike Sri is a high school graduate

00:38:50.000 --> 00:38:54.999
but she’s only ever
worked on the Nike shop.

00:38:55.000 --> 00:38:59.999
She knows she is lucky to have found a job with benefits,
but for all the thousands of soles she has glued,

00:39:00.000 --> 00:39:04.999
Vivid still can’t afford to
buy a pair of Nike trainers.

00:39:05.000 --> 00:39:09.999
The factory pays the minimum government
wage. Each month her take home pay is $50.

00:39:10.000 --> 00:39:18.000
[sil.]

00:39:20.000 --> 00:39:24.999
Vivid lives with her sister and two friends
in a rented flat near the factory.

00:39:25.000 --> 00:39:29.999
[sil.]

00:39:30.000 --> 00:39:34.999
For Vivid and Sri, working
conditions are worlds apart.

00:39:35.000 --> 00:39:39.999
What they share are few choices and limited
opportunities to improve their living standards.

00:39:40.000 --> 00:39:44.999
Women workers in Indonesia are trapped
in the Catch-22 of the global economy.

00:39:45.000 --> 00:39:49.999
If the cost of labor in Jakarta arises,

00:39:50.000 --> 00:39:54.999
the multinationals will simply move out.
Thousands of women like Vivid and Sri

00:39:55.000 --> 00:39:59.999
will be made redundant.

00:40:00.000 --> 00:40:04.999
In Cairo, world leaders urged employers to
provide fair wages and social benefits.

00:40:05.000 --> 00:40:09.999
The reality for all too many
women is very different.

00:40:10.000 --> 00:40:14.999
[sil.] Two years after Cairo,

00:40:15.000 --> 00:40:19.999
our women getting the chance to change
their lives and slow population growth.

00:40:20.000 --> 00:40:24.999
In some countries, the weight of culture
and tradition still holds women back.

00:40:25.000 --> 00:40:29.999
And it’s the environment that loses out.

00:40:30.000 --> 00:40:34.999
But in others, women are defeating
ignorance and outmoded beliefs.

00:40:35.000 --> 00:40:39.999
While unwanted pregnancies
are still a major problem,

00:40:40.000 --> 00:40:44.999
government’s are funding more family
planning and education services

00:40:45.000 --> 00:40:49.999
than ever before.

00:40:50.000 --> 00:40:54.999
In villages and cities across the world,
women are claiming their rights to improve

00:40:55.000 --> 00:41:03.000
both their and their family’s health, and
the health of the global environment.