Women for Women/Bangladesh

Women for Women was formed in 1974 by Bangladeshi women to create awareness about women's needs and to generate support of women's stand against oppression and exploitation. The search for an effective communication channel led these women to explore the possibilities of making films documenting the situation of rural women of Bangladesh.

This group has already produced several videos: Asea: the Midwife and Healer, Shomola, Women in Jute Craft, Kakon Para Haath (Hand with Bangles), Courage on Wheels.

In a conversation with Chan Wai Fong, Mahbuba Kaneez Hasna, the researcher and video/filmmaker of the Women for Women Video and Film Group shared with us her experience in video production on rural women, the difficulties encountered by women filmmakers in particular, and how videos are used in conscientizing women and the society at large.

• Why do you choose to work with video and women?

In Bangladesh, the majority of women are living in 65,000 villages scattered all over the country. Rural women especially spend most of the day doing household work which makes a major contribution to the economic development of Bangladesh. However, this work is unpaid labor. Women are given no recognition for it. We want to do something for the Bangladeshi women, to raise their consciousness and encourage them in income-earning activities. We thought that video, which has been predominately controlled by male producers, would be the best communication channel since our women have very limited access to education. It is an incredibly powerful tool and it is the best way to reach the Bangladeshi women.

• I know that all four of you in the group have had neither film nor video experience before. You and one other women knew photography but the other two did not have any audiovisual training whatsoever. So how did you start off?

We joined a three-month video training program. It was organized by the Worldview International Foundation, a Norwegian communication media agency working with the Ministry of Education in Bangladesh at that time. There were twelve men and four women students. We found it very interesting.

• Three months, is that enough to turn a video illiterate into a confident and able camerawoman?

Yes, I found that three months of training is enough. Actually, there is not that much technique involved. We had lectures for one week. The rest of the time was mostly spent in production. There were sessions on sound technique, light adjustment, and practical demonstration of the camera: what it is; how to fix it on the tripod; how to do hand hold; how to focus; how to mount an extra lens; how to shoot, etc. Then we went to the field. We chose the women in jute craft as our subject. We were also given training on how to make the script. On the final day, the ministers, the funders, some film critics from the Bangladesh television corporation, and the film societies came. Everybody were surprised by our women's group. They appreciated and remarked very highly on our work. Whether we would take video professionally seemed to have interested them a lot.

• Tell us the experience of your first venture with rural women?

We started off doing field visits. Since the majority of the Bangladeshi population is Muslim, we tried to locate a village where Islam predominates and the villagers are mostly landless, dependent mainly upon paddy cultivation. We also wanted it to be traditional and remote with no road access.

We visited more than twenty villages during the first month. A village stretching along a river artery was chosen. It is an hour by boat from a major roadway and an oxcart track with three bamboo bridges is the main and only inland access. There were many constraints in going in and out since we are all living in Dhaka City, about 75 miles away. We also had some limitations with the equipment. There is no electricity in the village and each battery can only run for three hours. It rained all the time, was humid and extremely hot. We had immense difficulties in maintaining the valuable equipment.

We had been told that four women alone, especially outsiders, could expect skepticism and suspicion. We were supposed to approach the village authorities first. What we did was just walk into the village and talk openly to the women. They might be cooking, winnowing and husking rice, boiling palm sap, suckling their children or simply standing in the background listening attentively. The women worked as they talked.

We spent hours and hours talking and we started taking pictures.

They were very surprised when we showed them the photographs because they had never been given back their pictures before. We also used a small recorder to register as well as play back whatever stories they told. This process lasted for about six to seven months.

• Why did you do this?

It's because video equipment is foreign to them. If we just go and shoot, they might not take it easily. The village women are not accustomed to even small cameras. They were stiff in front of the camera and sometimes they got frightened and wondered whether we were going to publish their pictures in any way. By presenting them the prints, playing back the conversation and allowing them to hold and look through the camera, we alleviated their suspicion and desensitized them to the presence of the large camera and recorder. Actually, it seemed to be the photos that made the women open up to us in the beginning. I think that it was worth taking that six months.

• What particular difficulties have you encountered in the village, especially being a women filmmaker?

We came across all kinds of comments and criticism. The men in the village usually came and listened the whole day while we were working and talking with the women. Sometimes they questioned us and said that we came there just for fun. The religious leaders feared that we were there to convert women to Christianity. Some men said that we were trying to motivate women for family planning. They asked why we had no men to work with and wondered if our husbands would be angry with us.

• Have you ever thought of withdrawing under all pressure?

We are very devoted. We feel the problems women face in Bangladesh. When we were working we always found the men yelling at the women. Why do women have to work like machines and men just come and yell? We realize that we must do something so that men also change and recognize the productivity of women. Maybe after seeing what women do, they will start thinking. We are very committed.

• What practical problems did you have during the process?

We started shooting in daylight without extra artificial lighting. We used the inbuilt microphone. Not that much technique and not that much equipment, just a small VHS recorder, a light handy camera and six batteries of three hours capacity since we have very limited funds. We didn't buy any editing equipment or tripods. We did hand held shooting. Due to the high temperature, we had to stop working from time to time. Forty-five minutes is the maximum span under the fierce summer sun. The camera gets hot, and the film will just get washed away and destroyed if we keep on running for too long. A lot of the film was unusable because of this. With the assistance of the training organization, we did the editing in two weeks. As there was a lot more material than we expected from the beginning, we had to change the original script. The video was made between ten to fifteen minutes in order not to be boring.

• What kinds of response have you had to this video production?

The men in all the organizations were surprised. A lot of them bought the film. We also received many invitations from different organizations. Actually we got positive reactions in the process of production, even before completion. Men of different ages gathered at the back while we were shooting, and the women didn't do anything. They didn't cover their heads. Some of them shouted and asked the men to go back to work.

The film has also been well accepted by rural women. After watching the film, women told us that if they could have education, they would go to the city. "Let them (the men) see, we have lots of work to do, we will do more work and you will take more pictures and show them," they said. We wanted to hear from them what they want to convey. And they really say it.

• How did you disseminate the video, especially in the remote villages?

We went with the family planning organization that showed 16mm film on village market days at the beginning. We shared their vehicle and managed from our budget somehow to buy a small battery tv set. We usually presented our video after their show and we accompanied it with songs and dances and talked with them afterwards. Now we take the tv in our own car. There is no other means than going ourselves. The commercial tv station does not pay much attention to us and the cinema hall cannot provide us the necessary facilities. Up till now we have reached about 25 villages.

• Which audiovisual would you prefer, in terms of accessibility, effectiveness, dissemination and cost?

We want to do more videos. They are more captivating than slides and more economical as the tapes are reusable. However, we think that it is better to do 16mm films because in every village headquarters there is one cinema hall. You can say that women, especially village women, don't have access to cinema halls. They stay at home and don't even walk from one village to another. Their mobility is restricted. Unfortunately, there is no organization in Bangladesh at this moment to give training in 16mm film production.

• How is your financial situation? Is it possible for small organizations like yours to be financially independent?

We don't have any grants from the Bangladesh government. We depend on funds. But I think that it's possible to be self-sufficient. We plan to distribute our productions to international agencies abroad and charge them. More requests will come.

I would like to add one more point. We have difficulties in getting more women in the team. We want to do some training programs but it takes time to get funds. We have to fight on two fronts: the financial constraints and the deeprooted cultural oppression of women.