The Conversation

Take your baby into prison or leave them behind? Kim Chakanetsa speaks to two women from Kenya and the US faced with that reality when their lives were up-ended by their wrongful imprisonment. They talk about how they found a purpose while serving time, and have since gone on to support others.

Sunny Jacobs was sentenced to death for her role in an alleged double murder in the US in 1976. Separated from her two children, she served five years in solitary confinement - and was only finally released on appeal in 1992, after 17 years behind bars. Sunny met and married another man who had served time on death row. They have set up a sanctuary at their home in Ireland, for others who have been wrongfully incarcerated.

Teresa Njoroge served time in Kenya for a financial crime she didn't commit. When her sentence began, she chose to take her three-month old baby into prison with her. Sharing a cell with 50 to 60 other inmates, she was shocked by the plight of the women she met and the revolving door of crime and poverty. After her release - and exoneration - she set up Clean Start Kenya, an organisation that empowers female inmates to better prepare for reintegration into society.

Left: Sunny Jacobs (credit: Alexander Duyck)

Gowns, glittery bikinis and a lot of hair spray: thousands of women around the world wear them on stage every year, hoping to win a beauty pageant. Many say these pageants are demeaning and outdated but others argue that beauty pageants can be life changing experiences that help contestants to go on to academic and professional success. Kim Chakanetsa brings together two beauty queens to find out what's in it for women?

Dee-Ann Kentish-Rogers is an Anguillan-British barrister and former athlete who is the first black woman to represent Great Britain at a Miss Universe pageant. She says that since winning her title this year many women of colour have reached out to congratulate her for representing black female beauty. She says that she entered pageantry for self-development and hopes that future competitions will change their requirements to allow single mothers to compete.

Jamie Herrell is a Filipino-American business entrepreneur who won Miss Earth for the Philippines in 2014. Initially she thought pageants were degrading for women but entered to earn some extra money when her father became unwell. She says there are many different sides to pageantry and many different reasons why women compete. Since winning she has launched an eco flip-flop business to help tourism in the Philippines.

Producer: Sarah Kendal

Image: (L) Jamie Herrell Credit: Euguene Herrera

The most extreme hate crime against women is femicide, the act of killing a person because they are a woman. But there is a growing movement of women who are taking a stand against this crime and demanding that their community takes it seriously. Nelufar Hedayat talks to two activists from countries where the death toll for women through violence is high: Mexico and Pakistan.

Khalida Brohi grew up in Pakistan and saw her family being torn apart when her cousin Khadija was strangled to death with their uncle suspected of having killed her. This spurred Khalida on to fight against so-called honour killings. She says the problem with so-called honour killings is that people merge religion with tradition and are ignorant of what the Quran actually says about respecting women. She decided to work with tribal leaders to change attitudes. Through her organisation Sughar, Khalida gives women practical skills, empowering them economically and giving them confidence. She has written a book about her experiences called I Should Have Honour.

Andrea Narno Hijar is a graphic artist and activist in Mexico, where the UN estimated in 2016 that 7 women a day are being murdered. Using her skills as a graphic artist, Andrea is trying to draw attention to this, even though she says it's something most Mexicans don't want to talk about. She says as a woman living in Mexico she faces harassment and violence everyday. She designs posters and puts them up around Mexico City to raise awareness about femicide and to challenge machismo in her culture.

Image and credit: (L) Andrea Narno Hijar and (R) Khalida Brohi

Campaigning for gay rights in Uganda and Sri Lanka - Kim Chakanetsa speaks to two women activists in countries where homosexual acts are punishable with a prison sentence.

Kasha Nabagesera has been described as 'the face of Uganda's LGBT movement'. Since her twenties Kasha has fought for the rights of her fellow lesbian, bisexual and transgender people, which has brought her into conflict with the authorities. She says she faces daily harassment and serious threats, and doesn't walk the streets alone for fear of attack, but it's worth it. Kasha now runs Kuchu Times, a multi-media platform for the sexual health and rights of queer Africans.

In Sri Lanka, consensual sex between women was only criminalised in 1995. Rosanna Flamer-Caldera is an activist who returned to Sri Lanka after living in San Francisco and founded an organisation called Equal Ground, which educates and lobbies on behalf of LBGT+ people. She says as a lesbian she has to be hyper-vigilant at all times, and can't really have a personal life. Rosanna wants to achieve decriminalisation of homosexuality in her country by 2020.

Image: (L) Rosanna Flamer-Caldera

Is women's sport still not taken as seriously as men's? What needs to happen to achieve the same pay, prize money and media coverage as their male counterparts?  Presenter Kim Chakanetsa talks to two women about how they have fought to get equality with men in their chosen sport.  

Kathryn Bertine was a professional cyclist in the US for five years. She was shocked to discover that the average earnings of a professional female cyclist are well below the poverty line.  She was so outraged that she lobbied successfully for a women's version of the Tour de France. But Kathryn believes that this new race is 'tokenism' because it lasts for only one day. Kathryn has gone on to co-found Homestretch Foundation, a charity to support female cyclists financially as they train for events and compete. 

Hajra Khan is the Captain of the Pakistan women's national football team but says they are given less priority than the men. When she first got into football she says sportswomen were looked down on in her country. Although attitudes are slowly changing she says that there is still a huge wage gap and her club has had to train on local cricket grounds. Hajra is organising a match in Pakistan with female players from around the world to raise awareness and to get better opportunities for female footballers.

Produced by Sarah Kendal

Image: (L) Hajra Khan. Credit: Huma Akram (R) Kathryn Bertine. Credit: courtesy of Cylance Pro Cycling.

Traditionally made by men and often criticised for sexism and colourism, Kim Chakanetsa asks two top female directors if the portrayal - and the power - of women in music videos is now changing.

Kemi Adetiba is the only high-profile female video director on Nigeria's thriving music scene, working with artists such as Tiwa Savage, Wizkid and Falz. Now branching out into feature films, she still directs videos on request. She says she wants young girls to know that she is competing in a male-dominated field, and succeeding.

Kinga Burza is an Australian director who made the video for Katy Perry's controversial debut single I Kissed a Girl a decade ago, and has worked with a slew of successful young female artists since, including Lana del Rey, Aurora and Dua Lipa. She says more women are now getting into the business but she was in a tiny minority when she started out.

Producer: Sarah Crawley

(L) Image: Kemi Adetiba. Credit: J. Countess/WireImage/Getty Images

One year ago a #MeToo tweet by Hollywood actor Alyssa Milano encouraged an outpouring of women using the hashtag to talk about experiences of sexual harassment or assault. What followed were allegations against high profile figures in entertainment, the media and politics with many of the accused denying any wrongdoing. Kim Chakanetsa brings together two women who have made public allegations of sexual abuse in countries where that's highly unusual, to find out if the ripples of #MeToo are being felt beyond Hollywood and the West?

Tatia Samkharadze is a Georgian TV journalist and actor who successfully sued her former boss, Shalva Ramishvili, for discrimination after her claim of sexual harassment in January 2018. It was viewed as a landmark case because there is currently no law against sexual harassment in Georgia. Shalva was ordered to pay her nearly 800 US dollars in moral damages, though he denied the claim and is appealing the ruling. Since Tatia made her allegations, she says people have told her that his behaviour wasn't a problem or that it was her fault, and she has been bullied online. She says because she spoke out she has been unable to find work as a journalist. She believes Me Too was a blessing for her and her case. She now campaigns for women's rights.

Shiori Ito is a Japanese freelance journalist. In April 2015, she alleged that she had been raped by Noriyuki Yamaguchi, a high-profile Japanese journalist, at a Tokyo Hotel. He strongly denies the allegations and after a lengthy investigation, prosecutors dropped the case against him, citing insufficient evidence. In May 2017, Shiori took the unusual move of going public with her claims to try to change how Japan treats allegations of sexual assault, legally and socially. Shiori says after she went public she received many threats and even had to leave her home in a disguise. She says the Me Too movement is slowly helping to shift attitudes towards sexual abuse in Japan.

L: Shiori Ito (credit: Hanna Aqvilin)

Produced by Sarah Kendal

Does the beauty industry fuel insecurity and undermine a woman's choice to look how she wants? Kim Chakanetsa brings together two beauty entrepreneurs from Singapore and the UK who say they have lifted women up.

Pauline Ng is a Singaporean entrepreneur who founded a skincare spa business in 2009 with her mum. Porcelain has grown into an award-winning beauty chain with four spas, a staff of 60, and a line of popular skincare products. Pauline says that in Singapore there are a lot of opportunities for women in the beauty industry, even if the big multinational beauty companies are still mainly run by men.

(L) Image and credit: Pauline Ng

Producer: Sarah Crawley

How do you improve women's access to good healthcare? Two female doctors talk to Kim Chakanetsa about the issues they face in two starkly different places - Somalia and the United States.

Paula Johnson is an American cardiologist who has dedicated her whole career to thinking about health from a woman's perspective, focussing on the different ways men and women respond to diseases. When Paula learnt that medical research and trials traditionally were only tested on men, she decided she had to fight for the inclusion of women. Paula believes the lack of testing on women, combined with sex differences, can lead to women not receiving effective diagnosis and treatment. Paula thinks that we should be focusing on women's health and well-being as central to women's equality.

Deqo Mohamed is a Somali doctor who helps run a 400-bed hospital in a refugee camp west of Mogadishu. It was her mother, the pioneering doctor Hawa Abdi, who opened a small clinic in the 1980s, which became a shelter for thousands of displaced people, the majority of them women and children. Today Deqo oversees a hospital, primary school and women’s education centre. She says she prioritises women's health because her female patients are often singly caring for their whole family. Deqo believes her gender helps her to connect with her female patients and negotiate with warlords.

L: Dr Deqo Mohamed (credit: Vital Voices Global Partnership)

What is it like to put yourself in danger fighting for your rights as a woman? Kim Chakanetsa unites two women from Iran and Saudi Arabia, who decided to defy their governments' discriminatory laws - and suffered huge personal sacrifices as a result.

In Iran women must cover their hair in public, according to the dress rule enforced after the Revolution in 1979. Masih Alinejad says she began to defy this compulsory wearing of the hijab as a teenager and continued to question it from within Iran until it became too dangerous for her to stay. In 2014, Masih posted a picture of herself uncovered online and the My Stealthy Freedom movement began, encouraging ordinary Iranian women to share photos of themselves without the headscarf. Now living in the US, Masih says she suffers abuse, death threats and hasn't seen her parents for nine years, but the truly brave ones are the women in Iran who risk arrest defying this discriminatory law. Masih's book is The Wind in My Hair - My Fight for Freedom in Modern Iran.

Manal al-Sharif's rebellion began when she got behind the wheel of a car in Saudi Arabia in 2011. Whilst there was no formal ban, it was not legal for women to drive at that time. Manal was driving her own car but was arrested and imprisoned. After her release she continued the campaign she had co-founded #Women2Drive, which led to the loss of her job and eventually leaving the country. On June 24th 2018, the ban on women driving in Saudi was lifted. However women's rights activists continue to be arrested and Manal, who now lives in Australia, says she no longer feels safe to go back. This means she cannot see her elder son who is not allowed to leave the country to visit her. Manal's memoir is Daring to Drive - The Young Saudi Woman Who Stood up to a Kingdom of Men.

Image: (L) Manal al-Sharif. Credit: Manal al-Sharif (R) Masih Alinejad. Credit: Kambiz Foroohar