Female Fighters of Kurdistan - Iraq

Fighting to carve a homeland in a region not known for its women's rights, the female guerrillas of the Kurdish Liberation Movement have quite a challenge ahead. Can they really equal their male comrades?
"It is not right to consider a woman fragile", argues one female fighter. For the armed women of PJAK - a rebel group fighting for Kurdish independence in the mountains of northern Iraq, Turkey and Iran - their mission is to defend women from the "persecution" of sharia law, whilst also creating a Kurdish homeland. Their male comrades support their vision of an emancipated Kurdish nation; "women are much better than men at leadership and organisation", one PKK fighter insists. It isn't an easy path: "You are not allowed to be a guerrilla and have a family. You will be distracted". Yet from their remote mountain outpost this ragtag group are determined that their sacrifices will lead to "equality and equity".
VBS.tv