In July, Vice unveiled Broadly, its new women-focused channel that debuted on August 3, which covers topics that run the gamut – politics, culture, lifestyle, sex, fashion, and much more – all from the perspective of women around the world.
It’s a global endeavor, like its parent company, broadcasting in-depth documentaries about various subjects – especially those that may not be as well covered by mainstream news sources. Vice has made a point of being a place for men looking for “non-traditional” stories and news coverage, so this is an attempt at trying to appeal to women also seeking "non-traditional" stories, featuring a team of all-women correspondents (as you’d fully expect), tackling news with the same unfiltered approach that has give its parent – Vice – the uncompromising reputation it has today. I’m certainly a subscriber, and have shared some of Vice’s content on this blog in the past.
This is the first Broadly piece I’ve published on S&A, and it likely won’t be the last.
Titled "The Land of No Men: Inside Kenya’s Women-Only Village" the 30-minute documentary report takes audiences to northern Kenya, "where the foothills of Mount Kenya merge into the desert," home to the people of Samburu, which is also where Rebecca Lolosoli founded Umoja village as a safe haven for women from a society long-maintained as a strict patriarchy for over 500 years.
Further… "Umoja, which means "unity" in Swahili, is quite literally a no man’s land, and the matriarchal refuge is now home to the Samburu women who no longer want to suffer abuses, like genital mutilation and forced marriages, at the hands of men. Throughout the years, it has also empowered other women in the districts surrounding Samburu to start their own men-excluding villages. Broadly visited Umoja and the villages it inspired to meet with the women who were fed up with living in a violent patriarchy."
Watch the full episode below (by the way, in 2010, filmmaker Elizabeth Tadic produced a short documentary on Umoja village; the 32 minutes film is available via Women Make Movies):
