LESSON PLANS - ITVS

05About the DocumentaryIn 2006, Pulitzer Prize winning-journalists Nicholas Kristof and SherylWuDunn published a ground-breaking book about the oppression ofwomen and girls worldwide.That book was Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for WomenWorldwide — an instant bestseller that immediately catalyzed an already burgeoningmovement to eradicate gender inequality. The landmark PBS documentary series aims toamplify the central message of the book — that women are not the problem, but the solution— and to bolster the broad and growing movement for change. With the story of thebook and its impact as a launch pad, the film zeroes in on the lives of women and girls insome of the countries around the world where gender inequality is at its most extreme,and explores the very real ways in which their oppression can be turned to opportunity.Featuring six celebrated American actresses and the commentary of the world’s leadingadvocates for gender equality, Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunityfor Women Worldwide is a passionate call-to-arms — urging us to not only bear witnessto the plight of the world’s women, but to help to decisively transform their oppressioninto opportunity.Episode OneIn Episode One we follow Nicholas Kristof and three American actresses to developingcountries where gender-discrimination is at it’s most extreme. We explore the shockingextent of gender-based violence in Sierra Leone with Eva Mendes, the global crisis of sextrafficking as experienced by women and girls in Cambodia with Meg Ryan, and the needfor and power of educating girls in Vietnam with Gabrielle Union, where she visits aninnovative education program that is transforming, not only the lives of the country’s poorestand most vulnerable girls, but also the futures of their families and their communities.Featuring commentary from Sheryl WuDunn and interviews with some of the world’s leadingadvocates for gender equality — including Hillary Clinton, Michelle Bachelet, and GloriaSteinem — Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide:Episode One offers a nuanced and moving account of this century’s most pressing problems,and an uplifting, actionable blueprint for changeGender-Based ViolenceOur first stop is Sierra Leone, a country recovering from years of colonial oppressionand a terrible civil war and which is still suffering from rampant gender-based violence.Guided by Amie Kandeh, the passionate and dedicated coordinator of the InternationalRescue Committee’s Women’s Protection and Empowerment Program, Nicholas Kristofand actress Eva Mendes come face-to-face with the enormous challenges women andgirls face in a country where rape is practically the norm — challenges embodied byFulamatu, a buoyant 14-year-old who hopes one day to become a bank manager. Whenwe meet Fulumatu she was raped repeatedly by a family friend and local church pastorwho is close enough to be officially considered her uncle. She had risked the shameof telling her parents and the ridicule of her community to break her silence and presscharges against the perpetrator. The outcome is a sobering object lesson in the insidiouseffects of gender-based violence, and the urgent need to end impunity for the violators.