0:00:00 > 0:00:00Nottinghamshire Police was investigating the case.
0:00:00 > 0:00:01Sima Kotecha, BBC News, Nottingham.
0:00:01 > 0:00:04Now on BBC News - to mark International Women's Day,
0:00:04 > 0:00:28a special edition of Witness.
0:00:28 > 0:00:33Hello and welcome to a special edition of Witness to celebrate
0:00:33 > 0:00:37International Women's Day here at The British Library.
0:00:37 > 0:00:40We are looking back at five remarkable women who have featured
0:00:40 > 0:00:46in the programme over the past year.
0:00:46 > 0:00:50We'll meet the civil servant who challenged one of India's top
0:00:51 > 0:00:53policeman after he sexually harassed her, a pioneering racing
0:00:53 > 0:00:55driver and member of the Women's Land Army,
0:00:55 > 0:01:03who helped to feed Britain during the Second World War.
0:01:04 > 0:01:08But first, in 2004, the Kenyan environmental campaigner
0:01:08 > 0:01:10Wangari Maathai became the first African woman to win
0:01:10 > 0:01:11the Nobel Peace Prize.
0:01:11 > 0:01:14She spent much of her life trying to protect Kenya's forests.
0:01:14 > 0:01:27We went to the forest on the edge of Nairobi to talk to her daughter.
0:01:27 > 0:01:29My mother was often asked, were you afraid?
0:01:29 > 0:01:35You were fearless, how can you do all of these things?
0:01:35 > 0:01:38She said I was afraid, but what needed to be done
0:01:38 > 0:01:43was so compelling that I had to do it.
0:01:43 > 0:01:51She grew up surrounded by nature, surrounded by the beauty of nature.
0:01:52 > 0:01:54I also remember her describing her mother being a farmer,
0:01:54 > 0:01:57her mother grew all the food that they ate.
0:01:57 > 0:01:59And then she goes away to school, to university,
0:01:59 > 0:02:02out in the United States, and she comes back and she was
0:02:03 > 0:02:07a very young member of the academic staff at at the university.
0:02:07 > 0:02:10She was struck by the issues that were being presented by women
0:02:10 > 0:02:14who were very much like her mother.
0:02:14 > 0:02:17There was a lack of fuel, lack of water and lack
0:02:17 > 0:02:20of nutritious food.
0:02:20 > 0:02:23And everything with a described she felt was connected
0:02:23 > 0:02:26to a degradation of the landscape, and so why not plant
0:02:26 > 0:02:35trees, she asked them?
0:02:35 > 0:02:39The women here till the land so it is important that they know
0:02:39 > 0:02:40how to convert conserve the soil.
0:02:40 > 0:02:44She founded the green belt movement in 1977 to help women plant trees
0:02:44 > 0:02:47and at the same time begin to understand how to look
0:02:47 > 0:02:49after the land themselves.
0:02:49 > 0:02:51It is 50 million trees now and counting.
0:02:51 > 0:02:54Very quickly, the green belt movement became more than just
0:02:54 > 0:02:56about planting trees, because we had an extremely
0:02:56 > 0:03:03dictatorial government and a 1-party system.
0:03:03 > 0:03:06The land was being parcelled out to the friends of
0:03:06 > 0:03:07the administration of the day.
0:03:08 > 0:03:19And so, protecting it necessarily becomes political.
0:03:19 > 0:03:22This was by far one of the scariest battles.
0:03:22 > 0:03:25People are showing a lot of anger because nobody knew the extent
0:03:25 > 0:03:27to which the forest is destroyed.
0:03:27 > 0:03:32It was vicious.
0:03:32 > 0:03:35She got very physically hurt and she was in hospital, but she survived.
0:03:35 > 0:03:39And so, whenever she survived she knew it was time to go back
0:03:39 > 0:03:40and finish the work.
0:03:40 > 0:03:43We are here in Karura forest, of the most beautiful urban
0:03:43 > 0:03:45forests in the world.
0:03:45 > 0:03:48And it is ranked to the movement and the efforts of my mother
0:03:48 > 0:03:50at the time that saved it.
0:03:50 > 0:03:55But she also was a human rights activist, a women's rights activist.
0:03:55 > 0:03:58I have no idea where these police men are taking me now.
0:03:58 > 0:04:02I have done nothing...
0:04:02 > 0:04:09To challenge the president and the party of the day, that was gutsy.
0:04:09 > 0:04:12An ecologist from Kenya has become the first African woman to win
0:04:12 > 0:04:14the Nobel Peace Prize.
0:04:14 > 0:04:15Wangari Maathai...
0:04:15 > 0:04:19She just didn't believe that it was her.
0:04:19 > 0:04:27I think for a while she probably thought, maybe it is a mistake!
0:04:27 > 0:04:30But it was one of the most amazing moments, to see her enjoy
0:04:30 > 0:04:39the spotlight and the platform, which she had never had before.
0:04:39 > 0:04:42I think the whole day she sort of spent saying,
0:04:42 > 0:04:46I didn't know anyone was listening.
0:04:46 > 0:04:48My mother died on the 25th of September 2011.
0:04:49 > 0:04:53She has left quite a legacy I think.
0:04:53 > 0:04:55Suddenly, for us as Kenyans, as women, as Africans,
0:04:55 > 0:04:59to believe in the power of one, I think the fact that one woman
0:04:59 > 0:05:03from the highlands of Kenya could be such a potent force for change,
0:05:03 > 0:05:12it is one of the most inspiring things.
0:05:12 > 0:05:17Wangari Maathai, talking to the programme in the beautiful
0:05:17 > 0:05:21Karura forest in Nairobi.
0:05:21 > 0:05:25In 1988, India's first ever sexual harassment case was brought to court
0:05:25 > 0:05:28and the accused was a senior policeman celebrated
0:05:28 > 0:05:35for fighting militants.
0:05:35 > 0:05:38She may be educated, an educated, working class, an officer,
0:05:38 > 0:05:44a high-ranking officer like me.
0:05:44 > 0:05:53Nobody is immune, and it happens every day.
0:05:53 > 0:05:56In 1988, I was serving as special secretary for finance.
0:05:56 > 0:06:00I had about 20,000 people under me and 90% were men.
0:06:00 > 0:06:02There was a dinner party.
0:06:02 > 0:06:04Hosted by the Home Secretary and the Director-General
0:06:05 > 0:06:08of the police was also there, and he called out to me
0:06:08 > 0:06:19and he said that I want to talk to you about something.
0:06:19 > 0:06:23He got up and he came and stood in front of me, towering above the.
0:06:23 > 0:06:27He put a finger on my face like that and said, up, come on.
0:06:27 > 0:06:27Come along.
0:06:27 > 0:06:42Come on, you come along with me.
0:06:42 > 0:06:49So, I said, I said above Mr Gill, go away from here, you're misbehaving.
0:06:49 > 0:06:52And so I got up and that was the time when he
0:06:52 > 0:06:58slapped me on the bottom.
0:06:58 > 0:06:59That's what he did.
0:06:59 > 0:07:02Always people have considered it to be a very trivial thing
0:07:02 > 0:07:11but I could not get over the enormity of it.
0:07:11 > 0:07:15Letting it go meant living with lowered self-esteem,
0:07:16 > 0:07:20gulping down my humiliation, facing all the other people.
0:07:20 > 0:07:22The consequences of complaining I had not really
0:07:22 > 0:07:25estimated at that time.
0:07:25 > 0:07:30Nobody was willing to take up the case for me because they were
0:07:30 > 0:07:32so frightened of him being the highest ranking police
0:07:32 > 0:07:39officer, no-one wanted to do anything against him.
0:07:40 > 0:07:50And I found that no-one had ever filed in section 509,
0:07:50 > 0:07:54which is the lesser offences.
0:07:54 > 0:07:5717 years, long years, of my life, all of it was taken up
0:07:57 > 0:08:02by this, by this one case.
0:08:02 > 0:08:05The Lords had quashed the case, the case reached the Supreme Court
0:08:05 > 0:08:09and it was the Supreme Court which called for all of the records,
0:08:09 > 0:08:22reinstated the matter and they gave the definition of modesty.
0:08:22 > 0:08:25They've reprimanded the High Court judge and said, this cannot be
0:08:25 > 0:08:26treated as something trivial.
0:08:26 > 0:08:29All the people in every household, this was the talk
0:08:29 > 0:08:35between husband and wife.
0:08:35 > 0:08:38The limelight was not on Gill, it was on me, why had
0:08:38 > 0:08:45I registered the case?
0:08:45 > 0:08:46Must be something wrong with me!
0:08:47 > 0:08:49I attended the proceedings of the trial throughout,
0:08:49 > 0:08:52along with my husband.
0:08:52 > 0:08:55But on the day the verdict came, I especially requested, I said,
0:08:55 > 0:09:01I don't want to go there.
0:09:01 > 0:09:04KPS Gill was expecting to win and then my husband's
0:09:04 > 0:09:06driver rang up and said, he has been convicted
0:09:06 > 0:09:09on both counts.
0:09:09 > 0:09:12I never fought against KPS Gill, I fought against
0:09:12 > 0:09:21the mindset of a society.
0:09:21 > 0:09:24People have seen that offences against women are increasing.
0:09:24 > 0:09:24No.
0:09:24 > 0:09:32Now, now more women are speaking out.
0:09:32 > 0:09:35And Rupan Bajaj is now retired from the civil service.
0:09:35 > 0:09:37Next we're going back to the Second World War,
0:09:38 > 0:09:40when thousands of British women signed up to work on farms
0:09:40 > 0:09:43to grow vital crops for a country under siege.
0:09:43 > 0:09:45They became known as the land girls.
0:09:45 > 0:09:54And Mona McLeod was one of them.
0:09:54 > 0:09:57I can look back on the war and I can know that
0:09:57 > 0:09:59what I did was worth doing.
0:09:59 > 0:10:12Creating food was essential.
0:10:12 > 0:10:15RADIO: Down on the farm the land girls are doing
0:10:15 > 0:10:16their bit and a bit more!
0:10:18 > 0:10:21I was 17, studying, I thought, to go to Cambridge.
0:10:21 > 0:10:33And I knew nothing about the land army.
0:10:33 > 0:10:37My father appeared one day and said, I want to talk to you.
0:10:37 > 0:10:40And he said, I believe I have always spoken about the importance
0:10:40 > 0:10:43of the higher education of women, but first we should concentrate
0:10:43 > 0:10:44on winning the war.
0:10:44 > 0:10:46And so I said, yes, daddy.
0:10:46 > 0:10:49And a week later or so I had left school and I was
0:10:49 > 0:10:50on the train for Scotland.
0:10:51 > 0:10:56NEWSREEL: The war has taken most of the younger men away
0:10:56 > 0:10:58from Scotland's farms, leaving the farmers without enough
0:10:59 > 0:11:00help to produce our vital supplies...
0:11:00 > 0:11:03They treated me very nicely, and it was a dairy
0:11:03 > 0:11:15farm, about 65 cows.
0:11:15 > 0:11:17And the first week I was sent into the dairy.
0:11:17 > 0:11:20And I was told to and milk the difficult cows.
0:11:20 > 0:11:25And I'm sorry to say that at the end of the week they have all gone dry.
0:11:25 > 0:11:29And the Dairymen said he thought I ought to be sent to the stables.
0:11:29 > 0:11:31Fortunately I love horses and the horses and I got
0:11:31 > 0:11:34on very much better.
0:11:34 > 0:11:36Work was very hard, and we have no protective clothing,
0:11:37 > 0:11:39and the uniform we had was absolutely useless
0:11:39 > 0:11:47for keeping you warm in winter.
0:11:47 > 0:11:50So, the first winter I had chilblains, my arms,
0:11:50 > 0:11:57my ears and my hands and my knees and my heels and my toes.
0:11:57 > 0:12:00And until I got my brother's cast-off jackets and I got some
0:12:00 > 0:12:03wonderful wooden knickers that came down to my knees, I discovered that
0:12:03 > 0:12:07you didn't have to be freezing.
0:12:07 > 0:12:11But when I first went out I thought, you have just got
0:12:11 > 0:12:17to suffer to win the war.
0:12:17 > 0:12:22The land girls I knew all worked quite separately on different farms.
0:12:22 > 0:12:28I never met a girl who worked in again.
0:12:28 > 0:12:29-- in a gang.
0:12:29 > 0:12:31All the girls I got to know were isolated,
0:12:32 > 0:12:32totally and absolutely.
0:12:32 > 0:12:42One girl on a farm, and the nearest girl ever was four miles away.
0:12:42 > 0:12:45NEWSREEL: Women have proved themselves able to undertake
0:12:45 > 0:12:46the most skilled work.
0:12:46 > 0:12:49All thanks and honour to the land girls, who are doing
0:12:49 > 0:12:51this magnificent job.
0:12:52 > 0:12:54I never for one moment thought of giving up.
0:12:54 > 0:13:04I didn't expect the war to go on for five years.
0:13:04 > 0:13:06But the idea of stopping was not thinkable.
0:13:06 > 0:13:08You just went on, went on and on.
0:13:08 > 0:13:11And Mona McLeod went on to write a book about her
0:13:11 > 0:13:12experience as a land girls.
0:13:12 > 0:13:14experience as a land girl.
0:13:14 > 0:13:19Remember, you can watch Witness every month on the BBC
0:13:19 > 0:13:28News Channel or you can catch up on all of our films
0:13:28 > 0:13:31and radio programmes in our online archive.
0:13:31 > 0:13:34Just go to the BBC website and look for Witness.
0:13:34 > 0:13:36In 1977 racing car driver Janet Guthrie became the first woman
0:13:37 > 0:13:39to compete in the prestigious Indianapolis 500 motivate.
0:13:39 > 0:13:48She talked to Witness about taking part in a male dominated sport.
0:13:48 > 0:13:51NEWSREEL: Race drivers are a special breed of American folk hero,
0:13:51 > 0:13:56they have always been men, until Janet Guthrie.
0:13:57 > 0:13:59I had no house, no husband, know jewellery, no insurance,
0:13:59 > 0:14:01I had one used up race car.
0:14:01 > 0:14:04I was playing in a millionaire's sport from the very beginning.
0:14:04 > 0:14:11And not having been born with a trust fund, I learned how
0:14:11 > 0:14:14to build my own engines and do my own body work.
0:14:14 > 0:14:17I thought there was a reasonably good chance that I would be
0:14:17 > 0:14:21successful at it, because I wanted it a lot.
0:14:21 > 0:14:22I loved the sport.
0:14:22 > 0:14:25It was the passion of my life, really.
0:14:25 > 0:14:29Part of the fun is to accept the risk, and deal with it
0:14:29 > 0:14:34gracefully and well.
0:14:34 > 0:14:37You have to have an interest in what it's like out there
0:14:37 > 0:14:40at the limits of human capability.
0:14:40 > 0:14:47I was saying to myself, you know, you really must come to your senses
0:14:47 > 0:14:51and make some provision for your old age.
0:14:51 > 0:14:55And that was the point at which the phone rang and a voice
0:14:55 > 0:14:58completely unknown to me said, "how would you like to take a shot
0:14:58 > 0:15:07at the Indianapolis 500?"
0:15:07 > 0:15:09It was sometimes said that the Indianapolis 500 wasn't
0:15:09 > 0:15:12the most important race, it was the only race,
0:15:12 > 0:15:18and that's how most of the United States feels about it.
0:15:18 > 0:15:21Over 400,000 people showed up.
0:15:21 > 0:15:29You can't imagine how many people but is until you see them in person.
0:15:29 > 0:15:32When I got my big chance at the top levels of the sport,
0:15:32 > 0:15:37made a huge commotion.
0:15:37 > 0:15:40They simply had not had the experience of running
0:15:40 > 0:15:44against a woman and they were sure I was going to kill them all.
0:15:44 > 0:15:47All I had to do at the beginning was opened up a newspaper
0:15:47 > 0:15:51and there was some other driver saying that his blood
0:15:51 > 0:15:54was going to be on the officials' hands.
0:15:54 > 0:15:57Seriously, when I say commotion, it was big!
0:15:57 > 0:15:59Oh, I was so happy.
0:15:59 > 0:16:02I was happy that I had put a car in the field
0:16:02 > 0:16:14for the Indianapolis 500.
0:16:14 > 0:16:18I think a lot of drivers would tell you the first time they make
0:16:18 > 0:16:21the field at Indianapolis is a moment you will never forget.
0:16:21 > 0:16:24Of course then you figure out that what you really
0:16:24 > 0:16:25want to do is win the thing!
0:16:26 > 0:16:28You're thinking, who's behind you, what are their driving habits?
0:16:28 > 0:16:30Who is ahead of you?
0:16:30 > 0:16:32What mistakes are they likely to make?
0:16:32 > 0:16:35On the first lap you just really want to keep yourself
0:16:35 > 0:16:36out of any trouble.
0:16:36 > 0:16:38In that race, I had a mechanical failure.
0:16:39 > 0:16:42When we finally decided the car was not going to be fixable,
0:16:42 > 0:16:51I left the pits and headed back to the garage.
0:16:51 > 0:16:54There was a lot of enthusiasm in the stands at that point.
0:16:54 > 0:16:56Janet is not a newcomer to car racing...
0:16:56 > 0:17:00My best finish at Indianapolis was ninth in 1978 with a team I've
0:17:00 > 0:17:06formed and managed to myself.
0:17:06 > 0:17:09My best finish in IndyCar racing was fifth at Milwaukee.
0:17:09 > 0:17:13I wasn't racing to prove anything about women,
0:17:13 > 0:17:16because the fact that I was a woman in my opinion had
0:17:16 > 0:17:20nothing to do with it.
0:17:20 > 0:17:29A racing driver was what I was, right through to my bone marrow.
0:17:29 > 0:17:31And in 2006 Janet Guthrie was inducted into the International
0:17:31 > 0:17:33Motorsport Hall Of Fame.
0:17:33 > 0:17:35And finally we turn to 1964, when the Windmill theatre
0:17:35 > 0:17:43in London's red light district Soho closed its doors.
0:17:43 > 0:17:46It had become a national institution because for a long
0:17:46 > 0:17:50time it was one of the few places in Britain where it was possible
0:17:50 > 0:17:51to see naked women on stage.
0:17:51 > 0:17:54But a change in the law on nude performances met
0:17:54 > 0:17:57But a change in the law on nude performances meant
0:17:57 > 0:17:58a decline for its fortunes.
0:17:58 > 0:18:07Jill Millard Shapiro was one of the Windmill girls.
0:18:07 > 0:18:12NEWSREEL: A blend of glamour and sweat...
0:18:12 > 0:18:15Something seedy, yet also touching in innocence...
0:18:15 > 0:18:18It was a national institution, there was nowhere else like it,
0:18:18 > 0:18:20there never can be.
0:18:20 > 0:18:27Whatever it was, it has a great story...
0:18:27 > 0:18:32It was by accident, I was walking along the street and I saw
0:18:32 > 0:18:34the sign saying Windmill Theatre, stage door.
0:18:34 > 0:18:39So I walked in, I don't know why.
0:18:39 > 0:18:44And I said to the stage doorman, can I have an audition, please?
0:18:44 > 0:18:51And so he phoned upstairs to the office and I was sent
0:18:51 > 0:18:54upstairs, and Vivian van Damme didn't audition me but he just said,
0:18:54 > 0:18:57I like you, we will take a chance on you.
0:18:57 > 0:19:01What he didn't know was that I was 14 and a half years old.
0:19:01 > 0:19:05He signed the contract and then realised my age and told me to go
0:19:05 > 0:19:08home and come back when I was 15 and a half.
0:19:08 > 0:19:09So I did.
0:19:10 > 0:19:12I didn't realise it was naughty.
0:19:12 > 0:19:32Looking back at it I think yes, it was!
0:19:32 > 0:19:35The Windmill was non-stop revue, it was called Revuedeville,
0:19:35 > 0:19:36it was a revue theatre.
0:19:36 > 0:19:38We did six shows a day.
0:19:38 > 0:19:40Once you'd bought your first ticket, that was it.
0:19:40 > 0:19:42So, the audience could sit there all day.
0:19:42 > 0:19:44NEWSREEL: The proudest years of the Windmill
0:19:44 > 0:19:46were during the Second World War.
0:19:46 > 0:19:48It allowed nothing to interfere.
0:19:48 > 0:19:51They were the only West End theatre open throughout the London Blitz.
0:19:52 > 0:19:54Really brave girls who stood there while the bombs
0:19:54 > 0:19:58landed, all around them.
0:19:58 > 0:20:01The house manager came out onto the stage and asked this show
0:20:01 > 0:20:03and asked the audience if they wanted the performance
0:20:03 > 0:20:14to continue, and almost every time the answer was yes.
0:20:14 > 0:20:18One of the most important things, the think the audience would come
0:20:18 > 0:20:21One of the most important things, the thing the audience would come
0:20:21 > 0:20:29to see, was the nude poses at the back of the stage.
0:20:29 > 0:20:32It was the obscenity laws, and you were not allowed to move
0:20:33 > 0:20:36in the nude on a London stage or on any stage in the country.
0:20:36 > 0:20:38It was censorship.
0:20:38 > 0:20:43You can't be sexy if you stand still.
0:20:44 > 0:20:45Oh, I don't know!
0:20:45 > 0:20:47So, the Lord Chamberlain's office, they'd come, very happily!
0:20:48 > 0:20:51They were very pleased to come to the shows and say,
0:20:51 > 0:20:54oh, no, that's a bit too much, you can't say that.
0:20:54 > 0:20:57But they always tipped us off when they were on their way!
0:20:57 > 0:21:051964, by then, Soho had changed with all the strip clubs.
0:21:05 > 0:21:17Our little friend Miss Fifi was three streets away!
0:21:17 > 0:21:21Where we weren't allowed to move, she could shake it all about as much
0:21:22 > 0:21:23as she liked.
0:21:23 > 0:21:27So, we lost a lot of the audience, people who perhaps wanted to see
0:21:27 > 0:21:30more, they could go to the clubs, whereas we were still a theatre.
0:21:30 > 0:21:37And we felt it was better to close
0:21:37 > 0:21:39while we were still respected than to even attempt to change,
0:21:39 > 0:21:42and the girls wouldn't have done it.
0:21:42 > 0:21:44So, we closed, with our heads held high.
0:21:44 > 0:21:48We're all friends to this day, those of us who are still living.
0:21:48 > 0:21:51I think we were very lucky, we were privileged to have
0:21:51 > 0:21:53been Windmill girls.
0:21:53 > 0:22:00Jill Millard Shapiro at her home near London.
0:22:00 > 0:22:02That's all from this special edition of Witness,
0:22:02 > 0:22:03celebrating International Women's Day
0:22:03 > 0:22:04at The British Library.
0:22:04 > 0:22:07We will be back here next month to bring you more
0:22:07 > 0:22:09extraordinary moments in history and the remarkable people
0:22:09 > 0:22:10who witnessed them.
0:22:10 > 0:22:18But for now from me and the rest of the Witness team, goodbye.