The Video Project of Women For Women
Roushan Jahan
In 1974, a few Bangladeshi women formed Women For Women: A Research & Study Group with two objectives:
- To create awareness among Bangladeshi people and policy planners about the need for improving women's status and to mould public opinion in support of women's stand against oppression and exploitation.
- To organise, undertake and promote research and study in all areas of Bangladeshi women's life in general and to focus on the specific problems obstructing their integration in development efforts in particular.
Very soon, the members realised that in a country burdened with illiteracy the written word can reach only a fraction of their target audience, the rural poor women. They also felt that more graphic presentation is needed to heighten the effect of the information collected by them during field-visits. Their search for an effective communication channel led them to explore the possibilities of making films, documenting the situation of rural women of Bangladesh.
In 1980, Helen D. Lawhead, an affiliate member, designed a video project which was intended to (i) highlight the ways in which a woman interacts with the family, the community, and society, (ii) create increased awareness and recognition for women's contributions in family income (iii) present information about rural women's needs and aspirations.
The project was completed in two phases. Phase I included planning for production, selection of camera persons, basic orientation about video production, preliminary training in camera handling, exploratory visits to a number of villages with a view to selecting a village and identification of characters' to be filmed.
Phase II included professional training of four Bangladeshi women in video — the production and formation of a video-film team, the first such women's team in Bangladesh. During the training they met the customary scepticism from their male classmates. As one of them puts it:
often in the classroom when questions were put by the instructors they would be directed to the men. Whenever one of us proferred a reply the instructor would express embarrassed joy that we were 'in' on a subject as specialised as film production... In the practical field classes, our willingness to handle the camera ... shoulder-carry the equipment was looked at by them as short-term defiance.
However, the training period was soon over and actual production began. Two video films were produced; one titled Asiya: Midwife and Healer, the other Shomola: the Muriwali. Asiya, the dai (midwife) was selected because it was felt that (a) her skill is essential for the community in meeting the primary health care needs for the women and children; (b) the role of midwife and traditional healer in rural women's health care is not widely known or recognised among non-rural people including development planners. This ignorance can be removed through projection of medical and midwifery practice by a village expert.
Shomola, who makes and sells puffed rice (muri in Bangla) was selected because the team felt that her case demonstrated: (a) how a poor landless family develops a family trade mainly based on the labour of its female members and subsists on that trade; (b) the ways in which the woman dominates the family trade through planning, skills and personality.
The team found that though hospitable and gentle, rural women are generally diffident. It took them several visits to establish meaningful contact. In addition, the team soon realised the importance of having the support of village elders without which an outsider may not function effectively in the well-knit social structure of a village.
The films has been shown in and around Dhaka city and in small towns and rural centres in Bangladesh. The response, especially from the rural audience, has been highly favourable. The urban educated audience, on the other hand, was critical about technical aspects of the production. However, both rural and urban audiences responded favourably to the 'content', focusing on the lives of two successful women, contributing significantly to the family income and playing an important role in the family and community. Requests keep coming from development agencies, women's organisations, both local and foreign, for special showings of the films. Even Bangladesh Television has put these on a special show. Such demands have encouraged the Women for Women group to explore further the possibilities offered by this challenging mode of communication to reach those who so far symbolised the outreach — the rural poor women without the benefit of formal education.