Educational Media Reviews Online

There is an extreme contradiction between the laws in many developing countries and their customs and traditions. This program focuses mainly on displaying the shackling cultures that are no longer in step with the laws. We are shown the human rights abuses suffered by a variety of women because of tradition, religion, or prejudice.

Although, we are told, the Bangladeshi constitution forbids discrimination against women, the conservative customs bring forth marriage for girls at the average age of 11 1/2 and childbirth in their early teens. Although dowries are illegal in India, they still account for bride burning by in-laws, thus freeing the man to re-marry a woman with a better dowry. Dowries have apparently risen to "50% of a household's income" and have been the cause of female infanticide as desperate families fear complete ruin if they have more than one daughter. There is also a resignation that the status quo cannot be changed as women are too ashamed or afraid to report the crime.

We are told that in South East Asia, prostitution is the third most lucrative trade, after drug trafficking and arms sales, accounting for between 2% and 14% of a country's Gross Domestic Product. In South Africa, because of the AIDS epidemic, men seek out younger girls as they feel they are less likely to be infected.

Female circumcision, or clitoridectomies are shown performed on toddlers by village women in Africa. These painful scenes lead to an unusual village meeting at which a consciousness raising is attempted to dispel myths, and to evolve the attitudes of both the men and women present.

The video's most interesting discussion looks at both sides of Islamic law. Taslima Nasreen, a Bangladeshi feminist and author maintains that "If women want to live like human beings, they have to live outside the religion and Islamic law." The wearing of the hijab, however, can be both confining and liberating depending on the viewpoint and the country. An Iranian man claims that a woman completely shrouded in cloth discourages rape and corruption while an Iranian woman doctor claims that 20% of Iran's doctors are women and that the hijab is an equalizer. Yet for shrouded women in Afghanistan, education is not even an option under the current regime.

Shackled Women presents glimpses of a variety of cultural abuses against women as many other documentaries have previously done. Like a number of earlier works on this topic, it is unclear where the quoted statistics are from, what percentage of the female population it affects, and what the socio-economic status of the women affected is in relation to those presumably less affected. Finally, there is no indication of the research sources. Was the information for the documentary gathered from government documents, academic papers, or organization-sponsored research? The video works well as a basic overview of, or introduction to, the many topics it addresses: dowry deaths, prostitution, infanticide, female circumcision (genital mutilation), the Islamic zina laws and the rigors of the hijab. Because its scope is too ambitious, it is not a thorough exploration of any of the topics. The video does go beyond the standard in its last few minutes when it shows areas in which attempts are being made to change attitudes as a first step to changing cultural traditions. Areas covered are Women's Studies, Anthropology and Sociology.