Women's Rights as Human Rights: Rights & Wrongs—Human Rights Television
More than half a million women die each year from pregnancy and childbirth. Gender-based violence kills and disables as many women between the ages of 15 and 45 as cancer does. Women are twice a likely as men to be illiterate. These were some of the issues that were discussed at the Beijing Women’s Conference. This episode looks at the progress that has been made in the struggle for women’s rights, and how far there still is to go. Feminist activist Bella Abzug discusses the growing empowerment of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the strategies that made the Beijing conference so successful. Also featured are reports on three grassroots organizers from Bangladesh, Zimbabwe, and the United States, and how women’s issues are linked globally, plus an interview with Vandana Shiva, an Indian environmentalist and women’s activist. Part of the series Rights & Wrongs: Human Rights Television. Original broadcast title: Women’s Rights and Human Rights, Show #406. (26 minutes)