Hear Women’s Stories
WATCH
Aquila and Marzaya
Afghanistan | Video account
Sisters Aqila and Marzaya recount the Taliban invasion of Kabul – the immediate terror and destruction, and lasting effects on cultural norms, particularly the sharp decline in freedom for girls and women. When the war quieted down, boys were sent back to school, but life had changed even monroe drastically for girls, for whom going to school had suddenly become a perilous endeavor.
“I wish for all girls to have the same condition for life as other girls have outside of afghanistan”.
Nandar
Myanmar | Video account
Nandar shines a light on the feminist landscape in Myanmar pre and post the 2021 coup, as well as the impacts of living in fear daily. Though the coup stunted the country’s progress – where diverse feminist literature was being translated, studied and shared – Nandar shares how she straddles hopelessness and hope, and reflects on how the shifts in power and regression continue to affect mental health nationwide, which has been degrading since the coup.
“All of the people [in myanmar] are living under fear – and fear can be very, very damaging”.
Nahed
palestine | Video account
A Bethlehem native, Nahed remembers the exact moment she had her first experience with conflict: her father called our that war had started as he watched soldiers barreling over a hill – the start of the Six Day war. Today, a mother of 4, she reflects on the sense of grounding and compassion yoga has given her, and that she is able to share with other women as a teacher.
“Since i was introduced to yoga, being violent and sad and angry doesn’t change anything. Sadness and hating will harm you more than serve you”.
Randiesia
united states | Video account
Randiesia shares the perils female Marines face off of the battlefield. She grapples with being sexually assaulted twice by men she knew in a culture where complaining or showing weakness is a failure, how these systemic failures led to her not report them, and consequential scars. Now, as a civilian, Randiesia advocates for women who are sexually assaulted in the military to be automatically flagged for PTSD without the requirement of proving injury.
“I did not immediately report these incidences because I Was not confident in the system to make things right. I still lack this confidence that things will be made right”.
Carrie
United states | Video account
Carrie reflects on the wide impacts of war. After his first deployment in Iraq, she wasn’t expecting her husband – a bomb technician – to return. 13 years after his death, she struggles with such a sudden loss, how her identity has been rearranged in the eyes of others, and consistent reminders of a chapter that is almost impossible to close.
“When i think of the word “sacrifice” i think of you’re willingly giving something up. I didn’t willingly give anything up”.
Pashtana
Afghanistan | Video account
Pashtana brings light to the future of Afghanistan: a reckoning. For the country to survive, the Taliban must come to terms with the importance of women, and this is the angle that negotiators are taking. Touching on how women have been compromised from all angles from class to the loss of their husbands and sons, she shares how she’s decided to prioritize and leverage when working for the reinstitution of women’s rights – step by step.
“More people in school, more people in public offices, less people joining the taliban, less recruitment, less focus on terrorizing the world - that’s like the whole idea right now”.
Amy
United States | Video account
Early in her diplomatic career, Amy was sent to Baghdad for her consular tour. For women, daily life in the Green Zone meant living with a confounding contradiction: an atmosphere of supposed safety hidden away from the city center, but where threats of subjugation by men loomed large – and constantly. Amy shares her hopes for her daughters, how her experiences have impacted those hopes, reflects on life with lasting trauma, and her struggle around the threshold of trauma validation women are often burdened with: ‘Is my experience enough to be trauma?’
“I never felt like what i went through justified feeling traumatized”.
Moriah
Israel | Video account
As a young girl in an Orthodox community in Jerusalem, Moriah was not supposed to join the army. Instead, as she was taught in school, girls go into social work. But as the granddaughter of a Holocaust survivor who felt strongly that his family defend Israel, Moriah enlisted in a gender-neutral unit, with the support of her family and at the expense of her childhood community.
‘Something they said to me I’ll never forget: they told me ‘shame on you,’ and I’m asking myself ‘how can it be that they are shaming me, I’m going to serve in the military and defend this country?’”
UnDivided
Cameroon | Documentary (trailer)
UnDivided follows the day-to-day lives of Ramatu, Yvonne, Veronica, Ekandim Meg, and Caryn, five women living in the ongoing civil war in Cameroon. They all have one thing in common: they are undivided in their battle for peace. Undivided traveled to Cameroon to interview the peace activists and provide a workshop in video storytelling.
These women take that knowledge to capture footage of their lives and tell their stories, in their words.