27/10/2013 Reporters

Welcome to the special edition of Reporters. Hundreds of the most

inspiring women took part in a day of coverage at the historic Radio

Here to at broadcasting house, we will bring you a series of reports

showing it in issues and challenges facing women in the 21st century.

Coming up: Sexual violence against women. We are hearing reports of

what is calling an epidemic sweeping Egypt. I think that because one of

them was trained to strangle me with a scarf that was around my neck.

Michelle Hussain talks to be Burmese Opposition Leader about her hopes

for Burma's future I think that people assume it readily that we are

on the path to democracy, that we are democratising at a very fast

rate. It is nothing like that at all. TRANSLATION: The fight has

started. A dangerous tree. The Afghan women poll was risking their

lives to express their deepest thoughts. Poetry is to be rooted in

the traditions of this country. In rural areas where largely illiterate

women have been using poetry for centuries. Changing times in the

workplace. We meet American breadwinning mothers. And the body

beautiful or pictureperfect? We take the airbrush challenge.

That doesn't even look like me any more. Many thought that the Arab

uprising might herald a new are in women's writes in the Middle East

but human rights campaigners believe that sexual violence against women

in some parts of the region has now reached epidemic levels. A recent

United Nations study suggests that nine out of ten women in Egypt had

experienced some form of Sir `` social her `` sexual harassment.

Assaults by mobs of men have increased rapidly since the

overthrow of Hosni Mubarak. As we report from Cairo, there is little

hope from justice. Handing out the tasters. Volunteers

get ready to patrol the streets of Cairo. And dispense vigilantes

justice. TRANSLATION: If you resist, we know how we will deal

with him. We joined his group, called Harass the Prices. They hunt

for attackers during busy holiday period. `` Harass the Harassers.

They say that they are on the streets because they have no choice.

They are doing the jobs that the authorities should be doing. The

most part, the police look the other way. They said that they are ready

for violence is necessary. Minutes later, they surround an alleged

attacker and restrain him in a headlock. Guilty or innocent, his

publicly humiliated. Harasser is a stencilled on his back.

But most of the worst attacks have happened under cover of darkness,

during political protest in Tahrir Square. This was June 30. Two

terrified women were rescued here but activists say that there were 46

mob of salts that night. These are the pictures taken from the

demonstration. There was no one to rescue this freelance journalist as

she was taken `` taking pictures in Tahrir Square last January. I found

myself surrounded by a huge circle of men who were attacking me. Every

inch of me. I thought I was going to die. I thought that I was going to

die because they were very aggressive and at a certain point,

think I fainted because one of them was trying to strangle me with a

scarf that was around by next. What is fuelling these cases? Impunity is

there. It is encouraging all of the molesters to go because they can get

away with it. Molesters may feel encouraged by ultraconservative

cleric 's such as this one. This television channel has now been

shut down but plenty here are ready to blame the victim. The police here

are presenting a more concern to face, parading officers from the new

unit set up to tackle violence against women. But with next to no

prosecutions, victims fear that this is a token gesture.

It is seen as such a fearful procedure that it is now considered

the grounds for seeking asylum here in the UK. Female genital mutilation

is a well`known cultural ritual in many parts of Africa. It can have

major health risks and even cause a fatal bleeding. It is outlawed now

in the countries where it has been practised but the laws are poorly

enforced. We went to one of those countries, Gambia, but the report

begins here in the UK where she has met one Gambian woman seeking

asylum. Fatimah is a 23 `year`old mother

from Gambia seeking asylum in the UK. She does not want to show her

face because she does not want the neighbours in the north of England

where she lives with her three`year`old daughter to know that

she has been cut. It happened when I was nearly ten. There were two

people who are holding your legs. You see them holding a razor blade

and then they just cut it. And then that is it. Painful. But you have to

live with it for the rest of your life. Wyee seeking asylum in this

country? Because it is not right to be cut and they now fearing that my

daughter will be cut if she goes back to Gambia. Might Gambia would

not have any chance to stay there without being cut. The UK border

agency has rejected the claim. She and her daughter could be deported

any day. I went to Gambia to find out whether Fatimah is telling the

truth. Her family was a prominent one in her village and it was not

hard to track down her mother who is in no doubt of what would happen if

her daughter returns. TRANSLATION: It is our tradition. Fatimah comes

back, her daughter must be cut. If not, everyone will point at her and

call her an unclean girl. If your daughter comes back here and says

that she does not want her daughter to be cut? TRANSLATION: She has no

choice. A local anti` FGM campaigner explains to the village leaders that

FGM can kill children from loss of blood and infection and cause death

in childbirth. They would normally blamed this on witchcraft. They do

listen. If the programme works in this community. This is the last

generation of girls will be the victims and survivors of FGM. It

could take four years before they agree to ban FGM, too late for the

daughter of Fatimah. So`called dropping the knife ceremonies are

being held here but it takes time and effort and campaigners say that

a more helpful, enlightened approach by their former colonisers would be

welcome. She is known as one of the world 's

most inspirational women. The Leader of the Opposition in Burma, Aung San

Suu Kyi, has warned that there is a long way to go before her country

will be fully democratic. The level peace prize winner called on the

international community to press the government to stop the ethics

violence in her country. She has been speaking to the BBC in London

during a visit to the UK. I think that people assume too

readily that we are on the path to democracy, that we are democratising

at a fast rate. It is nothing like that at all. If anybody takes the

trouble to read the Constitution, they will be able to understand why

we cannot become a genuine democratic society with such a

constitution in place. Amid the positive development that we have

seen in the last few years in your country, there are some troubling

ones. I think particularly of this wave of ethnic violence that has

targeted the Burmese Muslim community. What is your view of what

has been happening there. Some people are calling it ethnic

cleansing. It is not ethnic cleansing. It is a new problem and

yet it is linked to old problems as well. I would make the point that

there are many moderate Muslims in Burma who have well integrated into

our society that these problems arose last year and I think that

this is due to fear on both sides. You would accept the view that the

vast majority of the victims of the violence have been more sons? There

is evidence that they have been systematically... Muslims have been

targeted but also Buddhists have been subjected to violence. There is

fear on both sides. This is what is leading to these troubles. We would

like the world to understand that the reaction is based on fear. I

think that you will accept that there is a perception that Muslims

power, global Muslim power is very great and that is the recipient in

many parts of the world and in our country too. If there is fear on

both sides, you accept that this suffering is not equal on both

sides. There are thousands of them is Muslims displaced and homes and

living in camps. They then the brunt of the violence. There are many

Buddhists who have left the country for various reasons. There are many

Buddhists in refugee camps for reasons, various reasons. You will

find them in Thailand, many of them, and you will find them scattered all

over the world. This is the result of our sufferings and `` under a

dictatorial regime. I think that if you live under a dictatorship for

many years, people do not learn to trust one another. A dictatorship

generates a climate of distrust. That people have to take

responsibility for their actions? And that is what the government has

to do to make sure that there is accountability. It is not seem that

the government is making people accountable at the moment. I think

particularly of the Buddhist monk who used to be imprisoned but was

let out and now is a very popular and influential figure. He goes

around, spouting what it takes speech. Talking about more sons

being like dogs and blaming them for stealing Bernie to women and think

that that. `` Muslims being like dogs. You condemn that kind of hate

speech? I condemn of any kind. You are right that the government has

not been playing a responsible part in this. I would very much like to

urge EU and others `` urge you and others to us a government what the

policies and what they are trying to do or what they are doing and not to

improve the situation. Ten years since the fall of the Taliban, how

much is life changed for women in Afghanistan? Under Taliban rule they

were not allowed to work all the educator. As international slant to

pull out next year, many are concerned that the countries that

are about the country 's respect for women's rights. Some women are

fighting back. The waiting a war that is both literary and financial.

They call the poetry the sword. TRANSLATION: The fire of war has

started. My heart is burning in these claims. My body is burning.

Words of war, of Walton. Afghan women gather every week to recite

the poetry. It is a small but significant freedom. But some can

still only take part by telephone. Fearing retribution from their

families, they write in secret and call in defiance. Today it is a

schoolgirl from outside the capital. Every woman has had to

fight to be here, fight for the right to be heard. TRANSLATION: I

miss you. My hands are stretching from the ruins of Kabul. She was

called is an infidel. She was accused of dishonouring her village.

TRANSLATION: I want to invite you to my room for a smoke. And you who

gave me refuge in your shivering red body. Forced to flee her home in

northern Afghanistan, she now lives in Kabul with her brothers.

TRANSLATION: There were people who harshly a post my poetry. They said

I should be got rid of. They meant I should be killed. `` opposed my

poetry. Was it worth it to leave your home and family for your

poetry? TRANSLATION: Even if it costs me my life I will continue. To

a life lived as a hostage in silence I prefer a dignified death. In this

very conservative society, Afghan women have always broken taboos with

words. Poetry is deeply rooted in the traditions of this country. In

rural areas where largely illiterate women have been using poetry for

centuries as a means of expression and escape from lives `` lives that

are almost completely controlled by men, except the deepest thoughts. In

this village poetry room this doctor takes on the men with guns.

TRANSLATION: Oh my God, all the warlords are testing the weapons

again and earning a lot of money out of war. Afghan warlords dominate the

walls here as they do society. They forced this doctor to censor her

poems. Watch didn't they like about what you are writing? TRANSLATION:

The truth. They want us to ignore crimes in Afghanistan, killings and

bombings. In Kabul there is a poem to President Karzai. At this moment

in Afghan history women were to draw on their own history, have their say

on the future, including the lives of a will lead.

Times are changing in the American workplace. More and more families

are relying on mother to make the most money. It is a social change

that has been happening slowly for decades. But now around 40% of

American households with children have so`called breadwinner moms.

Parap what has been to Richmond in Virginia to meet some.

This is the face of the modern American executive. A mother in her

mid` 40s with another child on the way she is the CEO of a consulting

firm. We have offices in the three companies. We are a multimillion

dollar company. With rice responsibilities running the company

are a lot of responsibilities fall to her husband Scott who also works

at Frontier. Brian's schedule overrides mine. I am the one who

ensures she can be where she needs to be. They are example of a growing

reality in Virginia and across the country that mum is the main

breadwinner. In 1960 only about 11% of American women were the primary

providers of households with children. A recent poll put it now

at 40%, an all`time high. Many of the new breadwinner and ``

breadwinners are single mothers. This woman and a small nursing

business and worked a number of other jobs to provide for her

children. It is a daily struggle. There are always deals and financial

obligations that I am attached to. My kids are always in need. It can

become overwhelming. Aretha is a dynamo. She somehow squeezes in time

to produce a reality TV show for a local TV station. The message `

single mothers can make it on their own. These are social shifts mean

teaching children the days of the week often falls to hide help.

Mothers are working longer hours, which is good business for day care

centres like this one. When women are more they also spend more. That

gives them a lot of power as consumers. Take cars, for example,

women in America now buy as many cars as men. If you are coming a

factor, that means a new way of doing business. Everything from a

designed to be marketing of cars at Ford is now done with women buyers

in mind. She has a laundry list of features she wants in her car. That

means employing more women, from the showroom to the boardroom. Today you

walk into dealerships and you see women in management roles, selling

cars, being service advisers, making that consumer experience for women

different when they come in. I have the key my pocket... It is this kind

of thinking that is opening even more doors for American women.

Body image is an issue which preoccupies many in `` women today.

If the media putting too much pressure on us to achieve physical

perfection? The British eating disorder charity called Eat was to

put a ban on photo shopping. The camera doesn't lie, or does it?

We decided to find out just how different I could look using some

postproduction magic. Airbrushing has been used in the fashion and

advertising industries for decades. It has the technology has evolved to

bring us more powerful cameras, capturing every line of blemish, so

has the postproduction that goes with it. That is a worry for eating

disorder charity Beat. It has hosted a debate at the end of London

Fashion Week looking at what it says is the extreme use of

postproduction. I know that the whole notion of a hyper perfect

reality is damaging some young people 's lives. It is not cause an

eating disorder by itself, they are more complex than that. We know that

some people get trapped in the eating disorder because of the way

it is images affect them. Plenty of young people are now taking a

similar approach to their own photos. You can't see any of my

imperfections on that. You think not photo shopping yourself is you

looking back? Yes. The government says it is working with the fashion

and advertising industries to get them to take more responsibility is

full of the images. Advertisers have sent this back to schools to help

children understand how postproduction works. A certain

amount of it is about buying a dream, and if you're talking about

cosmetics you do not expect to look like the most beautiful person in

the world, you associate with the dream. Back in the edit suite, the

new me. This is before and then after. While. That is not even look

like me any more. That is all from this special

edition of reporters celebrating the BBC's 100 women celebration. ``

Reporters. From me and the team, goodbye.

I hope you feel a refresher Sunday begins based on an extra hour