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On International Women's Day, Aljazeera has identified 8 documentaries as worth seeing on women empowerment.
Indian women cops:
Though the first all women was opened way back in the seventies, it has taken momentum and spread across India in the 21st century. They deal with cases relating to women including domestic abuse, sexual violence and crime.
Indians are generally reluctant to interact with the police, more so women. Many cases of harassment go unreported because of the fear and suspicion about the police. This has been addressed to an extent but not fully.
Meanwhile, a few women officers have won laurels for their exemplary service.
Black Women in the USA:
Rekia Boyd was only 22 when she was killed by an off-duty police officer. Dante Servin fired five shorts, one of which struck Boyd in the head. She was unarmed.
The officer resigned days before a departmental inquiry. He was criminally charged for misconduct, manslaughter and reckless use of firearm, but was later acquitted.
This film investigates the lesser-known story of black women who have fallen victim to police violence in the US and asks why they are left out of the conversation on police brutality.
Hip-Hop Hijabis:
The hip-hop group, Poetic Pilgrimage, a type of rap music, became popular in the early 2010. The group was started in 2002 by Muneera and Sukina, born to immigrant Jamaican parents in Bristol, who met in school and later shifted to London for studies.
Both converted to Islam in 2005 and their music addresses faith, gender and color, which they share with other Muslim women around the world.
Egypt's Women Drivers
Um Waleed's life is one of determination, true grit and perseverance. Driven by circumstances she became a taxi driver, one of the very few female taxi drivers in Egypt's bustling capital, Cairo.
Encouraged to buy a taxi by her father to make a living, she has been picking up passengers for more than 30 years.
Her story, along with those of other Egyptian women who spend their days behind the wheels of everything from a rickshaw to a 36-tonne truck, are the focus of this film.
Journalists Under Threat
This award-winning film follows women working in one of the most dangerous and conservative areas of Pakistan.
Khalida Niaz after finishing school became a radio newsreader for the Tribal News Network, which broadcasts across Pakistan's border region with Afghanistan.
Threats by armed groups have shut down most media outlets, but Khalida and her colleagues continue braving the risk.
Cuba's Women Rumba Player:
The Cuban city, La Marina, is considered the birthplace of rumba music and dance.
Traditionally, women are not allowed to play the drums in rumba. But Gonzalez and her friend Regla Mesa Milanes, determined to change this, formed the Female Rumba Association three years ago and hold drum classes there for girls and boys.
Through Gonzalez's story, we gain an insight into this vibrant place and its culture, to which Gonzalez's past and present - as the daughter of an avid rumba dancer - are tied.
Exploring FGM
Despite having no health benefits, female genital mutilation (FGM), the partial or complete removal of the external female genitalia, is considered an essential part of raising a girl and preparing her for womanhood.
It is prevalent in Africa, the Middle East and Asia, but happens all over the world, despite it being illegal in most countries.
At least 200 million women and girls alive today have undergone FGM.
In this film, journalist Fatma Naib, whose family are from Eritrea where FGM is common, but who grew up in Sweden, where the practice is illegal, takes a personal journey - from Somaliland to Sweden - to explore the traditions and controversies that surround FGM.
Bullets and Burqas
To safe guard Afghanistan against extremist and prevent their occupation and influence, burka clad Muslim women have taken up arms against the fighters in the border areas between Afghanistan and Turkmenistan
In the country's most northerly provinces, ISIL are believed to be attempting to expand their influence into Central Asia and Russia, causing Afghan authorities to encourage the general populace in those areas to join local militias and provide help and support to security forces.
Afghan filmmaker Najibullah Quraishi gains unique access to a group of female recruits to find out why they decided to fight, and what it means for their families, their communities and the country at large.
Indian women cops:
Indians are generally reluctant to interact with the police, more so women. Many cases of harassment go unreported because of the fear and suspicion about the police. This has been addressed to an extent but not fully.
Meanwhile, a few women officers have won laurels for their exemplary service.
Black Women in the USA:
The officer resigned days before a departmental inquiry. He was criminally charged for misconduct, manslaughter and reckless use of firearm, but was later acquitted.
This film investigates the lesser-known story of black women who have fallen victim to police violence in the US and asks why they are left out of the conversation on police brutality.
Hip-Hop Hijabis:
Both converted to Islam in 2005 and their music addresses faith, gender and color, which they share with other Muslim women around the world.
Egypt's Women Drivers
Encouraged to buy a taxi by her father to make a living, she has been picking up passengers for more than 30 years.
Her story, along with those of other Egyptian women who spend their days behind the wheels of everything from a rickshaw to a 36-tonne truck, are the focus of this film.
Journalists Under Threat
Khalida Niaz after finishing school became a radio newsreader for the Tribal News Network, which broadcasts across Pakistan's border region with Afghanistan.
Threats by armed groups have shut down most media outlets, but Khalida and her colleagues continue braving the risk.
Cuba's Women Rumba Player:
Traditionally, women are not allowed to play the drums in rumba. But Gonzalez and her friend Regla Mesa Milanes, determined to change this, formed the Female Rumba Association three years ago and hold drum classes there for girls and boys.
Through Gonzalez's story, we gain an insight into this vibrant place and its culture, to which Gonzalez's past and present - as the daughter of an avid rumba dancer - are tied.
Exploring FGM
It is prevalent in Africa, the Middle East and Asia, but happens all over the world, despite it being illegal in most countries.
In this film, journalist Fatma Naib, whose family are from Eritrea where FGM is common, but who grew up in Sweden, where the practice is illegal, takes a personal journey - from Somaliland to Sweden - to explore the traditions and controversies that surround FGM.
Bullets and Burqas
In the country's most northerly provinces, ISIL are believed to be attempting to expand their influence into Central Asia and Russia, causing Afghan authorities to encourage the general populace in those areas to join local militias and provide help and support to security forces.
Afghan filmmaker Najibullah Quraishi gains unique access to a group of female recruits to find out why they decided to fight, and what it means for their families, their communities and the country at large.