BBC Radio 4 FM

BBC Radio 4 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced BBC Home Service.

BBC Radio 4

Radio 4

Radio 4 (FM)

Afghan Women: Speaking Out, Losing Lives

Documentaries

Factual

08/12/2014

BBC Radio 4 - Afghan Women: Speaking Out, Losing Lives

Lyse Doucet visits Kabul to hear about the lives of Afghan women as the troops depart.

Lyse Doucet visits Kabul to see how the lives of Afghan girls and women have changed since the Taliban's defeat 13 years ago and hears concerns for the future as the troops depart.

Afghan Women: Speaking Out, Losing Lives paints a vivid portrait of the everyday lives of girls and women at a turning point in Afghan history.

Lyse Doucet visits Kabul to see how the lives of Afghan girls and women have changed since the fall of the Taliban 13 years ago, and to hear concerns that these hard-won gains are already being threatened as the troops depart.

From female illiteracy to maternal mortality and sexual violence, Afghanistan is still one of the worst places on earth for women's rights.

Considerable advances have been made since the fall of the Taliban, as Lyse hears.

She speaks with Rula Ghani, whose very public profile as the new First Lady - the first First Lady in a generation - gives a sense of how women's opportunities are improving, at least in cities such as Kabul.

She visits the Rabia Balkhi Women's Hospital and the Zarghuna High School for Girls - the largest girls' school in the country. As doctors, midwives, new mothers, teachers, schoolgirls and one of the country's very few female rappers share their personal stories, she hears optimism about life in cities.

But these women also share their grave concerns.

Lyse hears shocking accounts of domestic violence and rape; the rapper, Paradise, shares the heart-breaking true story behind one of her songs; and Lyse chances upon an all too common instance of still-birth.

Additionally, the testimonies of three women who had shared their stories for a play specially commissioned by Amnesty International, and whom Lyse had hoped to meet, are read by the actor Olivia Colman, giving voice to the women who fear even today to speak out.

A timely portrait of Afghanistan from Lyse Doucet, the BBC's Chief International Correspondent

Producer : Beaty Rubens.

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Afghan Women: Speaking Out, Losing Lives

Genres

Formats

BBC Radio 4 FM

About BBC Radio 4