“Beam of Hope” TV Show Tackles Long-Silenced Issues

Beam of Hope a TV program tackling long-silenced women issues

   The Wattan TV-Palestine talk show ―Beam of Hope” is empowering Palestinian women by providing them with a free platform to discuss social issues and governmental actions and share their ideas and views with national and international audiences. The 24-episode program, produced through a MEPI local grant project, discusses in-depth and seeks solutions and answers to social issues of concern to Palestinian women.

  Wattan TV’s MEPI local grant project aims to utilize media to mobilize Palestinian society to voice opinions on taboo women’s issues. The show’s topics are diverse and responsive to the imminent needs of the local community, to include violence against women, women's right to education, discriminatory laws and legislation, gender equality, and the imperative role of women in social development.

  Prior to the start of the show, the ―Beam of Hope” preparatory team formed a committee that brought together Palestinian women activists and advocates to identify and prioritize the issues to be tackled throughout the show. The goal was to engage audiences in thought-provoking discussions of topics previously deemed too sensitive to address.

  For example, the sixth episode of the 24-episode program covered the topic of violence against women. Guests were Hassan Al-Oury, Presidential Legal Advisor and Colonel Wafa Muamar, Director of Family Protective Services of the Police Department. The show was marked by an enriching discussion and challenging questions to guests, during which the host called upon the Presidential Legal Advisor to change the laws pertaining to violence against women. The show also highlighted two individual women’s struggles with abuse in their families.

  On its episode on women’s right to education, ―Beam of Hope” invited Lina Al-Qadiri, who had broken social and gender barriers by becoming a Teaching Assistant at Al-Najah University, in Nablus in the West Bank. Lina rebuilt her life after she had dropped out of school and gotten married at the age of fifteen. Her journey could have ended there, but she decided not to succumb to bad fate and low expectations. Lina told "Beam of Hope” that after ten years of marriage she went back to school and earned a high-school degree. Lina described with determination and vigor how she went on to college.

  It was not easy for a young woman to re-chart a path in society. Many expected her to stay at home, despite how she might feel and the ambitions she might harbor. So Lina’s rank in the highest tenth percentile upon college graduation is an incredible achievement despite the odds. And as if all of her achievements are not enough, Lina became a teaching assistant in the university she had attended.

  Lina told the ―Beam of Hope” audience that young girls should avoid early marriage because they lack understanding as to the full depth of the responsibility. Speaking to seasoned reporter Saida Hamad, Lina called upon the schools to play an awareness-raising role among young women, especially when it comes to explaining the consequences of early marriage. Lina also called for awareness-raising among mothers, who are the prime communicators with young girls, who learn to seek security and affection at home rather than opportunities in the world outside..

  To date, “Beam of Hope” has aired additional programs on sexual abuse in the family, women’s right to education, civil legislation and alimony, and the conditions of women in the workplace, violations, and the minimum wage law.

  View the sixth episode of “Beam of Hope” at http://www.wattan.tv