A Deadly Double Standard

2013 Global Thinker Gulalai Ismail and 2015 Global Thinker Leslee Udwin debate whether the patriarchal mindset so pervasive in South Asia can be reprogrammed—or if women must persevere in a rape culture.

FP_podcast_article_artwork-1-globalthinkers
FP_podcast_article_artwork-1-globalthinkers

In this week’s Global Thinkers podcast, "India’s Daughter" director Leslee Udwin joins human rights activist Gulalai Ismail to share personal stories of discrimination and discuss the challenges in convincing women of their own power. FP Story Editor Amanda Silverman hosts.

In this week’s Global Thinkers podcast, “India’s Daughter” director Leslee Udwin joins human rights activist Gulalai Ismail to share personal stories of discrimination and discuss the challenges in convincing women of their own power. FP Story Editor Amanda Silverman hosts.

About the participants:

Gulalai Ismail is a Pakistani human rights activist and 2013 Global Thinker. She co-founded Aware Girls in 2002, when she was just 16, to advocate for equal rights in education, health care, and employment. Aware Girls also started the Youth Peace Network to combat religious extremism and promote young people in politics. For her work, Gulalai has been honored with the 2013 Democracy Award from the National Endowment for Democracy and the 2014 International Humanist of the Year Award at the World Humanist Congress in Oxford. Follow her on Twitter: @Gulalai_Ismail.

Leslee Udwin is a British filmmaker and a 2015 Global Thinker. A longtime producer of films like “East is East,” for which she won a BAFTA award, she most recently directed and produced the documentary “India’s Daughter.” The film, about the 2012 gang rape of medical student Jyoti Singh and the protests that followed, features sweeping interviews with Singh’s parents, women’s rights activists, and also some of the men in jail for Singh’s rape. The film was banned in India but has screened globally. Udwin is taking a break from filmmaking to advise the U.N. Human Rights office on Think Equal, a global human rights education initiative that she founded. Follow her on Twitter: @lesleeudwin.

Amanda Silverman is a story editor for print at FP. Follow her on Twitter: @apsilverman.

Subscribe to the Global Thinkers podcast and other FP podcasts on iTunes here.

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