WOMEN WAR & PEACE | PBS

Oct. 25: Peace Unveiled

October 25, 2011

Watch the full episode:

When the U.S. troop surge was announced in late 2009, women in Afghanistan knew that the ground was being laid for peace talks with the Taliban. Peace Unveiled follows three women who immediately began to organize to make sure that women’s rights don’t get traded away in the deal. One is a savvy parliamentarian who participated in writing the Afghan constitution that guarantees equality for women; another, a former midwife who is one of the last women’s rights advocates alive in Kandahar; and the third, a young activist who lives in a traditional family in Kabul. Convinced that the Taliban will have demands that jeopardize women’s hard-earned gains, they maneuver against formidable odds to have their voices heard in a peace jirga and high peace council. We go behind Kabul’s closed doors as the women’s case is made to U.S. Ambassador Karl Eikenberry, U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues Melanne Verveer, General David Petraeus and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who promises the women that “peace and justice can’t come at the cost of women and women’s lives.” But will this promise be kept? Narrated by Tilda Swinton.

Watch the promo

Credits for Peace Unveiled

More from the Women, War & Peace series:

I Came to Testify
The moving story of how a group of 16 women who had been imprisoned and raped by Serb-led forces in the Bosnian town of Foca broke history’s great silence – and stepped forward to take the witness stand in an international court of law.
Pray the Devil Back to Hell
The astonishing story of the Liberian women who took on the warlords and regime of dictator Charles Taylor in the midst of a brutal civil war.
The War We Are Living
In Cauca, a mountainous region in Colombia’s Pacific southwest, two extraordinary Afro-Colombian women are braving a violent struggle over their gold-rich lands.
War Redefined
The capstone of Women, War & Peace challenges the conventional wisdom that war and peace are men’s domain through incisive interviews with leading thinkers, Secretaries of State and seasoned survivors of war and peace-making.

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Comments

  1. July 18, 2011 at 11:39 pm
    Laura Carriker says:

    I cannot wait to see this project air. Hard work, dedication and courage went into making it. Bravo to producer Claudia Rizzi!!!

    Reply
  2. July 18, 2011 at 11:45 pm
    Laura Carriker says:

    and congrats to the other producers on the team!!!

    Reply
  3. October 20, 2011 at 8:52 pm
    Ethel Shank says:

    When and where will these programs be aired. One source had it listed as 3:00 AM, not a good time for working people.

    Reply
    • October 25, 2011 at 4:28 pm
      Rosie duPont says:

      Airtime is at 10 PM EST. Check your local PBS listings here: http://www.pbs.org/tv_schedules/

      Unfortunately, it is not being carried in certain places. If you can’t watch it tonight, it will be available for streaming here, the day after it airs. Thank you for your patience!

      Rosie

      Reply
      • October 26, 2011 at 7:13 pm
        Judy Pearson says:

        As a student of women’s courage in the midst of a book on the subject, I LOVE this series. However, I missed last night. Can’t seem to find where on the site I can watch it. Can you help? Thanks much. Hope to meet all of you at a future event!

        Reply
  4. October 24, 2011 at 6:32 pm
    Sarah says:

    Airtime??? Have been on your site 15 minutes and have not found. Tuesdays….but when.

    Reply
    • October 25, 2011 at 4:26 pm
      Rosie duPont says:

      Airtime is at 10 PM EST, but you have to check your local PBS listings here: http://www.pbs.org/tv_schedules/

      Unfortunately, it is not carried in certain places (a loss!) but if you can’t watch it tonight, it will be available for streaming on this website the day after it airs. Thank you for your patience!

      Rosie

      Reply
  5. October 25, 2011 at 11:58 pm
    historyright says:

    The program fails to even mention the progress in women’s rights and modernization made in Afghanistan during the 1980-s by USSR-supported government (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women's_rights_in_Afghanistan): “..Throughout the 1970s and 1980s … Afghanistan made significant advances towards modernization. Minorities of women were able to hold jobs as scientists, teachers, doctors, and civil servants and had a considerable amount of freedom with significant educational opportunities…”

    While many of the reforms during this period were ill conceived and transplanting communism into semi-feudal society was not a good idea, the reversal of these secular trends was a direct result of the US-supported islamic fundamentalist insurgency, culminating with Taliban coming to power five years after Soviets left.

    Bottom line, Afghanistan was sacrificed for the sake of giving the Soviets their Vietnam – it was enough to call Taliban “freedom fighters” and keep them on the US payroll until 1999. Let’s not be hypocritical and have some historical perspective on this issue.

    Reply
  6. October 26, 2011 at 1:29 pm
    RClink says:

    I was very moved by this story. I thought it really conveyed the frustrations and the struggles of the Afghan women, as well as Hillary Clinton’s in wanting to better the lives of Afghan women, children and its society. What I found most interesting was the attitude of the Abassador and his wife. I thought she was belittling to the women and obviously not in tune with their struggles. Her suggestions were stupid!!! The women are not living in the past, they have to remind people of their recent history under the Taliban, because the Taliban has not paid for their criimes and are now being courted by Karzai in the policy making of the country. So, the Afghan women’s past, under the Taliban, may likely be their future!!! The Abassador’s wife was pathetic and she should have just not said anything. Again this proves that Abassadorships are fluff posts, consuming government money, which could be used to actually help people and make a difference. All that said I have learned so much about women all over the world with this series and am very thankful that we live in a country that shows like this can be aired. Thank you very much.

    Reply
  7. November 6, 2011 at 8:54 am
    Sam Smith says:

    When will those of us living outside the US be able to watch this extraordinary programming? Thank you!

    Reply
  8. March 27, 2012 at 7:35 am
    Poola says:

    Will this ever be available outside of the US? A few are available online but not the latter ones which are the ones i am most interested in.. Thanks

    Reply
  9. May 23, 2012 at 2:00 pm
    Krisztian Gal says:

    hello, I have the same problem, cannot watch it from Hungary, any chance I can do that? many thanks!

    Reply

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