In celebration of International Women’s Day, Netflix and UN Women launched a collection named “Because She Watched” of series, documentaries, as well as films that were made by or featured female creators. The collection, which will be available for viewers throughout the year, features female creators around the world including Malaysia’s Fatimah Abu Bakar’s masterpiece titled Babies.
Babies docuseries explores the growth of babies, motherhood and fatherhood
The Malaysian mother-of-four has aptly chosen Babies to stand among the list, which is a docuseries that centres around the emotional story of a baby’s first year of life while combining elements of both motherhood and fatherhood.
The heart-warming docuseries uses ground-breaking science to explore the growth of babies from the angles of love, first food, crawling, first words, sleep and taking their first steps.
"Babies lets us peep into the exquisitely mysterious world of these complex little human beings and how both parents are immensely involved in the process of raising and caring for them. It’s important to show that fatherhood is just as deep as motherhood”, said Fatimah.
The thespian, writer and acting coach also talked about the importance of strong female characters on screen as they inspire others to combat barriers in breaking the space for women in today’s world.
“It’s important to see strong women characters on screen who defy the odds as they teach young women to stand up tall and overcome barriers. I felt the most empowered when I was involved in Maria, it mirrored my own life at the time and it was interesting to say the least to flit in and out of reality. The experience was truly enriching,” she said.
Collection to celebrate inclusion of female creators
Meanwhile, other female creators from behind and in front of the camera include Sophia Loren, Salma Hayek, Stranger Things’ star Millie Bobby Brown and Lana Condor from To All The Boys: P.S. I Still Love You.
With the this year’s International Women’s Day theme of “I am Generation Equality: Realizing Women’s Rights,” the collection celebrates the stories that have inspired the women who inspire us. Series, films and documentaries such as Unbelievable, Luna Nera and Followers to Orange Is the New Black and Lionheart, have started important, often hard, conversations that challenge the status quo and societal views.
Founder of the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative Dr. Stacy L. Smith stated that research has shown that inclusion behind the camera leads to greater inclusion on screen.
"We're encouraged that last year, 20% of the directors of Netflix original films were women and we are excited to celebrate these female creators on International Women's Day. There's still more to do to reach equality, but by recognising female talent from around the world, we hope more women will feel encouraged to tell their stories, pushing that number even higher,” said Stacy.
UN Women and Netflix’s partnership in support of the Generation Equality campaign comes on the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action - a platform recognised as a visionary agenda for women's rights.
“This collaboration is about taking on the challenge of telling women’s stories and showing women in all their diversity. It’s about making visible the invisible, and proving that only by fully representing and including women on screen, behind-the-camera and in our narratives overall, society will truly flourish,” said UN Women Deputy Executive Director Anita Bhatia.
The collection is available at Netflix.com/BecauseSheWatched - or by searching “Because She Watched” on Netflix. Every title in the collection will be labeled “XXXX’s Women’s Day Pick” and subscribers will be able to choose from a selection of “Because She Watched” profile icons to celebrate their favourite female characters from the collection.