Gloria Steinem's Revolutionary Show 'WOMAN' Is On VICELAND Tonight

We celebrate International Women's Day to curb prejudice against women, promote gender equality and equal opportunity, and support feminist activism and engagement. Some countries choose to observe March 8 as a public holiday. Despite unequivocal progress toward gender equality globally, it is too early to relax efforts to empower women, defend women's rights and achieve gender equality. The gender income gap is barely budging, with developed countries such as Australia slipping to 46th position on the World Economic Forum Gender Gap Index. The World Health Organization reports that 35 percent of women around the world have experienced domestic abuse or human rights violation. Most schools in the world enrol fewer girls. International Women's Day is also an opportunity to restore women's self-confidence. According to a global survey carried out by Ipsos MORI, one of five female respondents declared women inferior to men.

In VICELAND's WOMAN series (nominated in 2016 for a Primetime Emmy Award for outstanding documentary or nonfiction series) renowned feminist activist Gloria Steinem explores women's rights violations and the oppression of women around the world from femicide (targeted killing of women based on their gender) in El Salvador to rape and female mutilation in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The series tells the story of womanhood, personal hardships and glaring injustices that continue to plague the condition of women. Gloria Steinem emphasises the universality of gender issues, deriding the commonly held view that there is a hierarchy of rights from one region to another. Each episode examines a gender issue through the lens of an individual subject, typically a victim or an activist. The series provides gripping portraits of women advocates confined in the shadows, victims of assault breaking the silence and many more thought-provoking and engaging personal accounts. Watching the series is the closest thing to being on the ground.

An episode set in Little Rock Arkansas features former female soldiers and marines speaking out about the sexual assaults they were victims of while in service. Most rape victims in the US military hide it. When they finally come forward, their efforts are quashed by a misogynist culture of shaming and protection of perpetrators. Ciera Bridges's career in the Air Force was terminated after reporting a sexual assault by a superior. Former Air Force staff sergeant Colleen Bushnell's life also crumbled after being raped, going into a depression that eventually led to losing her job and custody of her children.

Another episode produced by Academy Award winner Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy takes us along Pakistan's border with Afghanistan which is controlled by the Taliban. The resurgence of the fundamentalist Islamist movement in Pakistan due to its partial retreat from Afghanistan has curtailed women's rights and freedoms in the region. In certain villages, women are not allowed to leave their homes and girls are fully denied access to schools and education. Journalist and documentary filmmaker Maheen Sadiq spoke to a brave woman in Niqab who bears witness to the conditions of pervasive oppression, lawlessness, and subordination she lives under. 'Our lives have changed as we used to go out to the fields and works. Then the Taliban came and ordered us to stop working in the field' she says feeling betrayed by government inaction: 'the government has stopped helping us, and we got nothing from them.'

Led by a global team of women activists and reporters, the series seeks to integrate the gender perspective into all struggles for equality and progress 'By confronting the problems once marginalized as women's issues; we can tackle the greatest dangers of the 21st century. Behind every major crisis, there is an unseen factor at play, a story we haven't told. The greatest indicator of the world's stability, wealth and safety is the safety of women' Steinem says in the intro sequence of each episode, echoing the decision of the United Nations to enshrine women's rights and gender equality in every sustainable development goal.

To celebrate International Women's Day, we're screening a marathon of WOMAN episodes. Tune into VICELAND, Sky Channel 13 from 5 PM.