WEBVTT

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Bradshaw: Where in the world
are women really marginalized?

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In the West,
there\'s the glass ceilingÑ

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Latin countries,
all that macho stuffÑ

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then there\'s the Middle East
or Africa,

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the \"Big Man\" culture.

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You probably don\'t think first
of Asia,

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all those women presidents
and prime ministers,

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but there is
also a silk ceiling.

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[dramatic music]

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In the apartment
she shares with friends,

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25-year-old Ritu Bhardawaj
is expecting visitors.

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[voices heard over TV]

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It\'s 3:00 in the afternoon.

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The kids are leaving school.

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But these kids
are not going to play.

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One day,
Ritu wants to work for UNICEF.

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She\'s already
helping underprivileged kids.

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Three days a week,

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she helps them
with their homework.

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- J for...
- [indistinct]

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- K for...
- [indistinct]

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- L for...
- Lion.

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- M for...
- Mango.

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Bradshaw: Ritu herself comes
from a modest background

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in Haryana state,

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but here,
she\'s already a star.

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- [speaking a foreign language]

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- When I grow up,
I will be just like you.

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- [speaking a foreign language]

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- I want to be like you
when I grow up.

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- [speaking a foreign language]

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Bradshaw:
Why Ritu seems so glamorous:

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she\'s made it,

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and in a country

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that doesn\'t always favor
ambitious girls,

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no matter how hardworking.

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This small town girl

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is now an up-and-coming
journalist

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on national TV channel
NewsX.

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We filmed her
making her next big report.

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What it\'s about:

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why so few South Asian women

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have a future
as bright as hers.

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- When men and women
have a lot of equality,

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their economies grow faster

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and every person

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can contribute
to their country\'s progress.

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India needs to work on
improving the status of women

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while ensuring
greater gender equality.

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The work that is being done
needs to be speeded up,

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and there is a greater need
for intervention

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at the policy level.

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This is Ritu Bhardawaj

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reporting on India\'s
silk ceiling.

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Bradshaw: Ritu specializes
in women\'s rights,

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the silk ceiling
that stops so many women

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getting jobs like hers

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and more harrowing stories:

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female feticide,
trafficking,

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and other kinds of violence
and exploitation.

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- Though India has developed
in various fieldsÑ

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economically, technically
in every fieldÑ

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the women are discriminated
in the society.

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In the smaller cities,
like where I\'m from,

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the girls are basically facing,
like, feticide, infanticide

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and discrimination,
illiteracy.

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There are many problems
they\'re facing,

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but in the, like, metro cities
like Delhi and Bombay,

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the basic thing
they\'re suffering

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is, like, right to survival
or even the right to security.

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Bradshaw:
We gave Ritu a sneak preview

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of a new U.N. report
about women in Asia,

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Power, Voice, and Rights.

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It shows women
have a worse deal than men

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in politics, the law,
and jobs,

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even when economies
are booming.

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And there\'s a wider message.

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- It is in men\'s interests

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to bring about
greater gender empowerment,

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because the economy
will be bigger;

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the economy will be better;

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people will live better
and happier lives.

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So it is
in everybody\'s interest.

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Bradshaw:
We followed Ritu

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as she made a film
about the report for NewsX.

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There\'s plenty more
source material in the papers.

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She starts by heading
for Delhi\'s red-light district.

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Ritu\'s chasing
the story of Rekha,

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as the press are calling her,

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a woman campaigning on HIV
and child abuse

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who\'s been revealing the secrets
of life in the sex industry...

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The sex trade,

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where exploitation
is most visible and shocking.

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At 25,
Rekha\'s the same age as Ritu

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and has her own kids.

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She was rescued
from a brothel

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in the red-light area
on GB Road.

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She became destitute
in an earthquake in Latur,

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1,500 kilometers away.

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She was effectively held captive
for seven years

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and now battles with AIDS.

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Unlike many women here,

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Rekha has decided
to tell her story.

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- [speaking foreign language]

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- Where are you from,
and how did you get here?

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- [speaking foreign language]

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- Well, I met this woman

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who told me that I would
have to do what they wanted

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or else they would kill me.

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I insisted that they should
let me go back home to Latur,

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then they started
to beat up my kids.

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When they started doing that,
I was forced into this work.

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One day, I told the woman,
\"I am very sick.

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Please get me a doctor
or let me go home.\"

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She told me she didn\'t care
if I died.

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I decided then
to run away.

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The angel that helped me
got me medical treatment

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and also tested me for AIDS.

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I was HIV-positive,

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and at the same time,
I was also suffering from TB.

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- Do you think that women
are still weak in India

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and have not got rights
in comparison to the men?

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- It is really tough
for uneducated women,

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and many times,
there is no support for them

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from their families,

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especially if there are
three or four children

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to be fed at home.

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This makes the uneducated women
even more vulnerable.

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- After meeting with Rekha,

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I\'m left thinking about the life
that she has today,

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living with AIDS,

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and I wonder
what her fault is.

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Her childhood is stolen
from her.

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She was thrown into a life
of darkness,

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from where it was tough
for her to escape.

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Every day,
so many women like Rekha

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are taken from their homes
to be used as a commodity,

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and they are the ones

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who face the consequences of
poverty and starvation the most.

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I want to question
what our government and society

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has been doing
to solve this problem.

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Bradshaw:
Ritu doesn\'t want her film

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to be just about
the sex trade,

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but these stories
are hard to ignore.

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And the very next morning,
there\'s another:

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a girl rescued
from a red-light doorstep.

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- She\'s only ten years old.

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She\'s from Sikkim,

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and she was brought by women

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whom this child doesn\'t know.

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She was listening something

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that she was beingÑ
will be sold for 25 lakh rupees.

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She ran away through a window.

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Suddenly, a beat constable
saw this child who was crying.

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This child is so lucky,

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because she was rescued
just outside the brothel.

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If anyone could have taken
this child upstairs,

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we could never have saved
this child.

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Bradshaw:
Sad stories so far,

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but Ritu wants to show
both victims and role models,

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so she\'s here to tell the story
of Sunita.

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There are 40,000 auto rickshaw
drivers in Delhi.

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Former child bride Sunita,
who\'d fled a violent marriage,

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is the first female
auto rickshaw driver.

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- [speaking a foreign language]

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- My whole family
is uneducated.

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I have been driving
an auto rickshaw for five years,

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and some of my family
does not know this.

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Society asks many questions.

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They ask me,

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\"Why do you wear
this work dress?\"

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\"Why are you in a man\'s role?\"

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And, \"You should behave

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like a traditional
Indian woman.\"

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I don\'t care
for what society says.

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I let them say what they want.

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I am not the old Sunita,

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who wouldn\'t dare to leave
the four walls of her house.

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When I wear my uniform
and work,

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I feel very powerful.

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[rhythmic percussive music]

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? ?

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Bradshaw: Reverence for women
in their right place

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goes back a long way
in India.

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It\'s the festival
of Navratri.

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For nine days,
men and women celebrate

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the incarnations
of a female goddess:

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warrior,
mother of the universe.

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? ?

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TV reporter Ritu\'s
back in the office.

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She wants
to widen her film out.

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She\'s busy finding stories

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of women marginalized
and exploited

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and more surprising statistics.

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Ritu\'s been talking
to fellow filmmakers

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in Southeast Asia\'s
most populous country,

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largely Muslim Indonesia.

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They\'ve been sending her
their own stories.

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- Like, there are
three ladies

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who are sitting in a room,

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or they are talking
to each other,

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and I don\'t know.

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What are they talking about?

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[laughs]

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Bradshaw:
The most high-profile:

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a message from Ayu Utami.

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She\'s the leading novelist
who shocked many Indonesians

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with the frankness
of her language,

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by mixing political
and gender issues,

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and by making
this personal declaration.

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- I choose not to get married,

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and I declare outwardly
that I will never get married

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unless the marriage law
is revised

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according to gender equality.

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- Yeah, like,
she\'s a very confident

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and, like, very brave girl,

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and really, like, her thing
is really nice.

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In this society,
she\'s being a role model.

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Bradshaw:
For some Indonesian women,

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Ayu\'s novel Saman

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was a new way of looking
at genderÑ

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shocking to some,
an inspiration to others.

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- Yeah, I think Saman
is really a broad discussion

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about sex relation,
marriage,

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the relation
between man and woman,

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and also homosexual life,
lesbianÑeverything there.

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And that\'s really,
I think, encouraged

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people who have same idea

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that marriage for a woman
is not the only choice in life,

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like promoted by the government
and by the marriage law.

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Bradshaw:
Ayu\'s political message:

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even when women do have a stake
in the economy,

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lack of political clout means
they\'re easily manipulated

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and subject to all kinds
of discrimination.

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- Without political power,

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without even the access
to decision making,

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the woman\'s strength
in economic life

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becomes vulnerable
of being manipulated by others.

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That explains the discrimination
and objectification of women

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that still exists in Indonesia.

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Bradshaw: The filming Ritu\'s
been sent from Indonesia

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shows how women
can be manipulated.

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Record numbers
of Southeast Asian women

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are moving to cities.

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Most had worked on farms,

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though less than one in ten
had run one.

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For many women, it\'s empowering
to be in the cityÑ

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a career,
an independent life.

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But there are shantytowns

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even in the heart
of the urban dream.

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- There is a gap, yeah,

00:13:34.792 --> 00:13:38.250
between people in the city
and in the rural

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and the gap between
the rich and the poor

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is so wide,

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and we have, like,
10 million people

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still living under poverty line
in Indonesia,

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and the government failed
to provide jobs for them

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and provide basic needs
for them.

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Bradshaw: With jobs
for uneducated women limited,

00:14:05.459 --> 00:14:08.667
many are lured
into the leisure industry.

00:14:08.709 --> 00:14:09.918
- [speaking foreign language]

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- There are people
who go to the villages

00:14:11.417 --> 00:14:13.999
and hire these women

00:14:13.999 --> 00:14:16.584
only to send them
to karaoke bars in cities

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like right here in Jakarta.

00:14:19.709 --> 00:14:23.999
Bradshaw: But they don\'t always
end up in Jakarta.

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Some 4 million Indonesians
work abroad.

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Most are women
with no education

00:14:29.751 --> 00:14:31.375
beyond primary school.

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- [speaking foreign language]

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- The majority,

00:14:36.999 --> 00:14:41.000
80% of migrant workers
from Indonesia,

00:14:41.042 --> 00:14:43.709
are women.

00:14:43.751 --> 00:14:46.626
They come from villages,

00:14:46.667 --> 00:14:48.876
the provinces of Indonesia,

00:14:48.918 --> 00:14:51.542
from farming communities.

00:14:51.584 --> 00:14:55.626
That\'s the profile
of our migrant workers.

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Bradshaw: But women migrants

00:15:00.876 --> 00:15:03.417
are even more easily exploited
abroad than at home.

00:15:03.459 --> 00:15:05.334
So the next story

00:15:05.375 --> 00:15:08.167
for Ritu\'s film about women
in Southeast Asia:

00:15:08.209 --> 00:15:10.751
a girl we\'ll call E.

00:15:10.792 --> 00:15:12.375
- [speaking a foreign language]

00:15:12.417 --> 00:15:13.999
- I am 18 years old.

00:15:14.000 --> 00:15:15.959
I wanted
to complete my schooling,

00:15:15.999 --> 00:15:17.792
but there wasn\'t enough money,

00:15:17.834 --> 00:15:21.083
so I was persuaded to go
and work in a foreign country.

00:15:21.125 --> 00:15:24.501
I was promised a job abroad
as a housekeeper

00:15:24.542 --> 00:15:28.999
or in a cafe
or maybe a restaurant.

00:15:28.999 --> 00:15:33.375
[propulsive club music]

00:15:33.417 --> 00:15:36.083
- For those
who are undereducated,

00:15:36.125 --> 00:15:38.459
they become victims,

00:15:38.501 --> 00:15:40.459
maybe because women
are less educated,

00:15:40.501 --> 00:15:42.709
only primary school graduates

00:15:42.751 --> 00:15:44.792
or maybe not even that.

00:15:44.834 --> 00:15:47.709
Well, maybe they are
a bit pretty, and there you go.

00:15:47.751 --> 00:15:49.417
They are the ones
who become victims,

00:15:49.459 --> 00:15:52.792
trafficking victims
who end up being prostituted.

00:16:02.292 --> 00:16:04.959
- And often they are asked
to sign a blank paperÑ

00:16:04.999 --> 00:16:07.876
blank paper.

00:16:07.918 --> 00:16:10.999
Some of the women
who are migrant workers,

00:16:10.999 --> 00:16:13.042
some of these migrant workers,

00:16:13.083 --> 00:16:15.626
they work in a kind of bondage

00:16:15.667 --> 00:16:19.999
without
actually being in debt.

00:16:19.999 --> 00:16:22.999
And we can consider that
to be trafficking,

00:16:22.999 --> 00:16:24.792
trading in humans.

00:16:27.250 --> 00:16:28.626
Bradshaw:
Lured to Malaysia,

00:16:28.667 --> 00:16:30.999
E was trapped into selling sex.

00:16:32.999 --> 00:16:36.083
- Because at first
I did not want to work,

00:16:36.125 --> 00:16:39.250
there were days
they pulled my hair.

00:16:39.292 --> 00:16:40.918
I was thrown against the wall.

00:16:40.959 --> 00:16:43.292
I was beaten, slapped,

00:16:43.334 --> 00:16:47.209
even locked up for three days
without food or water

00:16:47.250 --> 00:16:51.999
because I did not want to work
as a commercial sex worker.

00:16:51.999 --> 00:16:57.959
But what hurt me most was,
they sold my virginity.

00:17:01.501 --> 00:17:03.042
Bradshaw:
The International Convention

00:17:03.083 --> 00:17:04.999
on the Protection
of Migrant Workers

00:17:05.000 --> 00:17:08.167
could help protect women
working abroad.

00:17:08.209 --> 00:17:11.375
The Indonesian government
has signed the convention

00:17:11.417 --> 00:17:13.417
but not yet ratified it.

00:17:13.459 --> 00:17:15.125
Critics say it fears
the convention

00:17:15.167 --> 00:17:17.709
might limit the number of women
going abroad

00:17:17.751 --> 00:17:20.000
and the cash
they send back home.

00:17:23.083 --> 00:17:24.999
- What is the point
of the Indonesian government

00:17:24.999 --> 00:17:27.709
ratifying this convention?

00:17:27.751 --> 00:17:30.417
Well, it is
of the utmost importance

00:17:30.459 --> 00:17:33.626
to provide a standard
of protection

00:17:33.667 --> 00:17:37.167
for Indonesian migrant workers
abroad.

00:17:39.626 --> 00:17:41.000
Bradshaw:
The Indonesian government

00:17:41.042 --> 00:17:42.999
is working on ratification,

00:17:42.999 --> 00:17:44.292
and there
are regional agreements

00:17:44.334 --> 00:17:46.999
and controls
on labor agencies.

00:17:46.999 --> 00:17:50.709
But critics say
the underlying problems remain:

00:17:50.751 --> 00:17:55.000
poverty and women\'s lack
of political power.

00:17:55.042 --> 00:17:56.999
- [speaking a foreign language]

00:17:56.999 --> 00:17:59.959
- Women should be involved
in politics and the economy,

00:17:59.999 --> 00:18:02.375
but it\'s not
just about helping women.

00:18:02.417 --> 00:18:07.292
It\'s also about improving
the whole quality of life.

00:18:07.334 --> 00:18:10.083
I believe that
the elimination of poverty

00:18:10.125 --> 00:18:11.334
would be more effective

00:18:11.375 --> 00:18:14.999
if the status of women,
especially poor women,

00:18:15.000 --> 00:18:17.999
became the whole target
of poverty eradication.

00:18:19.375 --> 00:18:20.876
Bradshaw: Polls show

00:18:20.918 --> 00:18:22.584
that when women
are selected as candidates,

00:18:22.626 --> 00:18:24.834
people will vote for them.

00:18:24.876 --> 00:18:27.250
But less than one in five
of Indonesia\'s elected lawmakers

00:18:27.292 --> 00:18:28.459
are women.

00:18:28.501 --> 00:18:31.334
Perhaps that\'s less surprising

00:18:31.375 --> 00:18:35.083
when you consider one in seven
adult Indonesian women

00:18:35.125 --> 00:18:37.209
still can\'t read or write.

00:18:42.667 --> 00:18:43.999
Back in Delhi,

00:18:43.999 --> 00:18:45.999
TV reporter Ritu
knows the problems.

00:18:46.000 --> 00:18:48.876
Now she wants answers.

00:18:48.918 --> 00:18:51.584
And she\'s found some
in Gujurat,

00:18:51.626 --> 00:18:54.250
where some women
are defying traditional roles.

00:19:05.792 --> 00:19:08.334
The Siddi tribe in Gujurat

00:19:08.375 --> 00:19:11.167
are descendents
of migrant workers.

00:19:11.209 --> 00:19:13.000
Their families
came hundreds of years ago

00:19:13.042 --> 00:19:14.876
from Africa.

00:19:14.918 --> 00:19:16.292
Some of the Siddi men

00:19:16.334 --> 00:19:17.999
now make a living
out of tradition

00:19:18.000 --> 00:19:20.959
with their tales
of fighting lions,

00:19:20.999 --> 00:19:21.999
but the womenÑ

00:19:21.999 --> 00:19:24.542
Ritu knows
that\'s a different story,

00:19:24.584 --> 00:19:28.792
and tired as she already is,
she\'s determined to film it.

00:19:31.542 --> 00:19:37.584
Listen for the lions,
but no time to look.

00:19:37.626 --> 00:19:40.167
Even in Gir\'s
famous national park,

00:19:40.209 --> 00:19:43.667
Ritu\'s busy researching
human behavior.

00:19:43.709 --> 00:19:46.584
She\'s here to film
how the women of the pack

00:19:46.626 --> 00:19:48.959
can assert themselves.

00:19:51.000 --> 00:19:53.751
In Jambhoor Village,
women used to liveÑ

00:19:53.792 --> 00:19:55.999
well, much like women
have done for centuries

00:19:55.999 --> 00:19:58.999
right across Asia.

00:19:58.999 --> 00:20:00.292
- [speaking a foreign language]

00:20:00.334 --> 00:20:02.792
- What was it like earlier,
and what happened next?

00:20:02.834 --> 00:20:05.125
- [speaking a foreign language]

00:20:05.167 --> 00:20:06.959
- Our life was very tough.

00:20:06.999 --> 00:20:08.792
We had just one set of clothes.

00:20:08.834 --> 00:20:12.042
We\'d go to wash it
by the river.

00:20:12.083 --> 00:20:13.459
We\'d first wash our clothes,

00:20:13.501 --> 00:20:17.334
and after those dried,
we would wash our undergarments.

00:20:17.375 --> 00:20:20.918
After this, we would head home
and arrange for the firewood

00:20:20.959 --> 00:20:24.125
and then make the chapotes.

00:20:24.167 --> 00:20:26.000
Our husbands would come home

00:20:26.042 --> 00:20:29.083
and complain about the food
not being ready.

00:20:29.125 --> 00:20:34.501
That\'s how
we were betrayed by life.

00:20:34.542 --> 00:20:36.375
We were discouraged
and saddened

00:20:36.417 --> 00:20:38.626
and desperately wanted
a solution.

00:20:45.125 --> 00:20:47.918
Bradshaw: Ritu\'s here to meet
the woman they like to call

00:20:47.959 --> 00:20:51.999
Heer Bai Ben Lobhi,
Diamond of the Forest.

00:20:51.999 --> 00:20:54.751
The Forest Diamond tells Ritu
about the old days,

00:20:54.792 --> 00:20:56.417
when the city
lived in the forest

00:20:56.459 --> 00:20:59.626
and women were harassed
and exploited

00:20:59.667 --> 00:21:03.999
until the Forest Diamond
realized something.

00:21:03.999 --> 00:21:07.209
- So what happened
in the jungle?

00:21:07.250 --> 00:21:08.709
- [speaking a foreign language]

00:21:08.751 --> 00:21:11.042
- When the girls of our village
went to the forest

00:21:11.083 --> 00:21:12.459
to collect firewood,

00:21:12.501 --> 00:21:14.999
the forester
used to harass them a lot.

00:21:14.999 --> 00:21:16.959
When the girls used
to run away from the jungle,

00:21:16.999 --> 00:21:18.501
they used to get injured.

00:21:18.542 --> 00:21:21.459
Our youngers
were also sexually harassed.

00:21:21.501 --> 00:21:25.125
So I realize that we should not
go into the forest

00:21:25.167 --> 00:21:27.334
to collect wood anymore.

00:21:27.375 --> 00:21:30.834
Instead, we needed
to save our money up.

00:21:30.876 --> 00:21:32.999
But the bank
would not open accounts for us

00:21:32.999 --> 00:21:35.459
since some of us
could not read or write.

00:21:35.501 --> 00:21:39.584
They asked us, \"Who will fill
your deposit slips?\"

00:21:39.626 --> 00:21:42.999
I was outraged, and I told them
that from tomorrow,

00:21:42.999 --> 00:21:45.918
all the women will be able
to fill the slip.

00:21:45.959 --> 00:21:46.999
Bradshaw: It worked.

00:21:46.999 --> 00:21:48.417
The Forest Diamond
and her friends

00:21:48.459 --> 00:21:49.834
formed a cooperative.

00:21:49.876 --> 00:21:53.459
Their savings fund businessesÑ
their businesses.

00:21:53.501 --> 00:21:54.459
Opposition?
Yes.

00:21:54.501 --> 00:21:57.626
But diamonds don\'t fade away.

00:21:57.667 --> 00:21:59.417
- Did the people in the village
try and help you

00:21:59.459 --> 00:22:01.999
or try and stop you?

00:22:01.999 --> 00:22:04.667
- Yes, they did try
to stop me,

00:22:04.709 --> 00:22:06.751
but I didn\'t stop.

00:22:06.792 --> 00:22:10.501
I asked myself,
\"What do women need the most?\"

00:22:10.542 --> 00:22:11.876
If women need money

00:22:11.918 --> 00:22:13.999
and they don\'t have
any property,

00:22:14.000 --> 00:22:16.292
the land belongs to the men

00:22:16.334 --> 00:22:19.042
and the houses
also belong to the men.

00:22:19.083 --> 00:22:21.999
I figured then
I need to ensure

00:22:21.999 --> 00:22:25.000
that the women
also own some property.

00:22:25.042 --> 00:22:27.375
That way, they at least
have some confidence

00:22:27.417 --> 00:22:29.626
in themselves.

00:22:29.667 --> 00:22:31.792
Bradshaw:
Now, unusual in South Asia,

00:22:31.834 --> 00:22:36.876
900 village women
hold assets in their own names.

00:22:36.918 --> 00:22:39.999
- Today, through
our women\'s cooperative bank,

00:22:39.999 --> 00:22:41.959
the women have access
to money,

00:22:41.999 --> 00:22:44.250
and the men come
and ask their wives

00:22:44.292 --> 00:22:46.667
if they can
borrow some moneyÑ

00:22:46.709 --> 00:22:48.918
say, 1,000 to 1,500 rupeesÑ

00:22:48.959 --> 00:22:51.999
and the women are able
to access this instantly,

00:22:51.999 --> 00:22:54.751
so their position
has vastly improved

00:22:54.792 --> 00:22:59.209
and there has been a lot of
improvement in the village too.

00:22:59.250 --> 00:23:00.751
Bradshaw:
Jambhoor, Ritu finds,

00:23:00.792 --> 00:23:01.999
is a thriving village,

00:23:01.999 --> 00:23:04.999
thanks partly to Heer
and the cooperative.

00:23:04.999 --> 00:23:08.918
Money from the co-op
even helps the village school.

00:23:08.959 --> 00:23:11.999
If more women went to school
and got paid jobs,

00:23:11.999 --> 00:23:14.209
it\'s been estimated
the Asia-Pacific region

00:23:14.250 --> 00:23:16.999
could be $90 billion
U.S. a year better off.

00:23:16.999 --> 00:23:18.999
[school bell rings]

00:23:18.999 --> 00:23:20.709
And tradition
is not forgotten,

00:23:20.751 --> 00:23:23.501
including Gandhi\'s
favorite hymn,

00:23:23.542 --> 00:23:26.959
known abroad as the one
in Slumdog Millionaire.

00:23:26.999 --> 00:23:31.999
- [singing in foreign language]

00:23:31.999 --> 00:23:36.626
[children singing
in foreign language]

00:23:36.667 --> 00:23:42.000
? ?

00:23:42.042 --> 00:23:44.751
Bradshaw:
Tradition can be inspiration,

00:23:44.792 --> 00:23:48.083
the hymn calling
on all women to be revered

00:23:48.125 --> 00:23:49.459
as you would your mother.

00:23:49.501 --> 00:23:55.125
? ?

00:23:55.167 --> 00:23:58.209
- Now we see more girls
are coming to the school.

00:23:58.250 --> 00:24:00.959
What do you think about the way
the village is developing?

00:24:00.999 --> 00:24:02.501
- [speaking a foreign language]

00:24:02.542 --> 00:24:06.834
- If a poor and uneducated woman
can do so much,

00:24:06.876 --> 00:24:09.626
if women are educated
and they come forward,

00:24:09.667 --> 00:24:15.000
this will bring a great change
in society.

00:24:15.042 --> 00:24:18.125
- It\'s Heer Bai\'s generosity
that she believes in,

00:24:18.167 --> 00:24:20.375
not only
empowering older women,

00:24:20.417 --> 00:24:22.751
but younger ones too
by educating them,

00:24:22.792 --> 00:24:25.417
because if one girl
is well educated,

00:24:25.459 --> 00:24:27.792
then she is capable
of teaching others

00:24:27.834 --> 00:24:29.876
and being empowered.

00:24:29.918 --> 00:24:33.209
- My husband dissuaded me
from joining the cooperative,

00:24:33.250 --> 00:24:36.834
but even so, I\'d go and attend
the meetings with Heer Bai.

00:24:36.876 --> 00:24:38.999
When he fell sick,
he asked me for money.

00:24:38.999 --> 00:24:41.918
I asked him
how he could ask me for money

00:24:41.959 --> 00:24:46.042
when he was the one who didn\'t
let me join the cooperative.

00:24:46.083 --> 00:24:48.459
Nevertheless,
I withdrew 5,000 rupees

00:24:48.501 --> 00:24:49.459
from the cooperative

00:24:49.501 --> 00:24:52.375
and took my husband
to the hospital.

00:24:52.417 --> 00:24:55.959
- Do you ever wonder
why God has made you a woman

00:24:55.999 --> 00:24:59.167
and burdened you
with so many problems?

00:24:59.209 --> 00:25:00.459
- [speaking a foreign language]

00:25:00.501 --> 00:25:01.999
Thank God I am a woman.

00:25:01.999 --> 00:25:03.042
If I were a man,

00:25:03.083 --> 00:25:04.999
I would have done nothing.

00:25:04.999 --> 00:25:08.999
It\'s because I am a woman
that I can accomplish so much.

00:25:09.000 --> 00:25:10.999
I am happy to be a woman.

00:25:10.999 --> 00:25:14.999
I don\'t want to be a man.

00:25:14.999 --> 00:25:20.299
[dance music]

00:25:20.375 --> 00:25:23.459
Bradshaw: Next Ritu meets men
who want to be women,

00:25:23.501 --> 00:25:27.542
if only for a day...

00:25:27.584 --> 00:25:29.709
her film
on gender discrimination

00:25:29.751 --> 00:25:32.834
about to take a bizarre twist.

00:25:32.876 --> 00:25:37.751
[music]

00:25:37.792 --> 00:25:40.751
- [singing in foreign language]

00:25:40.792 --> 00:25:47.834
[music]