A female Iraqi major who is refused a salute from an enlisted soldier. An aspiring journalist in Afghanistan who is stigmatized even while her salary supports her entire family. A Liberian doctor working to fight AIDS as her country recovers and rebuilds after a decade of civil war.
What war has destroyed, these women are rebuilding; what war has divided, they are reconciling. These are the women at the forefront of change, and this is their story.
Introduction
Women at the Forefront is a multimedia project that examines the struggles of war and conflict as experienced by women living in some of the world’s most dangerous places. Marginalized and facing the daily threat of violence, these women play crucial roles within their nations and across borders.
The team behind the project knows that women who experience war and conflict have stories that deserve to be told—not when it is safe to tell them, but right now, when they are relevant, engaging, and, most importantly, still being lived. Stories told to women by women, related in the midst of the very conditions that compel their bravery, resilience, and power to inspire.
Women at the forefront create stories that are universal; their struggles are what link women in war zones to each other and what links us to them.
What We’re Doing
Women at the Forefront began with Liberia: Women and War. The journey of exploration continues with the recently released documentary What Was Promised which examines the story behind the courageous, hopeful women who answered a call for recruitment into the Iraqi security forces.
What Was Promised was screened at the 2008 National Geographic All Roads Film Festival and is currently distributed globally by TVF International.
Our next project is an Education Fund for Women of War, which is scheduled to launch in 2010.