Malala Yousafzai’s New Documentary Raises Awareness For Afghan Women’s Rights

Pakistani activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Malala Yousafzai, is raising awareness of the terrors the Taliban is doing to women. After being shot in the face by a Taliban gunman at only 15 years old, she hopes to show the world how the Taliban is oppressing women through her newly produced documentary Bread & Roses.

Director Sahra Mani tells the aftermath of the Taliban takeover in 2021. It covers the lives of three women as they fight to keep their rights. While speaking to NBC News, Yousafzai said,“In this time, it’s extremely important that we bring the voices of Afghan women forward.”

The documentary includes footage of the three women showcasing their daily lives. It shows how the Taliban is controlling their lives in that they cannot work or freely go out let alone get an education.

The Taliban were able to regain their control of Afghanistan after the U.S. withdrew from the country in 2021. They quickly began imposing their conservative views on women and only allowed them to act a certain way. Women have been banned from using their voices and showing their bare faces in public.

Director Mani said she took on this project after the Taliban takeover occurred while she was working on another project in Afghanistan.“That’s how I met so many women that were sharing their daily life with me and recording their daily activities,” Mani shared. “When they went to demonstrate in the street, they kept sending me videos. I decided to make an archive out of all those videos.”

Jennifer Lawrence also acts as a producer in the documentary. Lawrence believes the documentary’s themes were important for people around the world and wanted the messages to reach them too.

Because of Bread & Roses, women in Afghanistan are standing up to the Taliban and demanding their rights. However the dangers of raising your voice and fleeing are also depicted in the film. The film only shows a small part of what is truly going on in Afghanistan and Mani and Yousafzai urge for this to come to an end.

Bread & Roses is now streaming on Apple TV+.