Defying limits: Women's voices in challenging professions

Join award-winning filmmaker Charysse Tia Harper for a 90-minute Women's History Month event. 

The event will feature "The Jill of the Trade", a 22-minute Best Documentary winner showcasing five women in male-dominated professions. Additionally, there will be a guest speaker from a woman in a male-majority field, followed by a Q&A session with the filmmaker and the guest speaker.

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About the film

Women make up half of the world's population, though less than half of them (46%) are in the workforce. The five women who are showcased in The Jill of the Trade are not only employed, but are engaging in professions that are dominated by men - some of which can have deadly consequences.  Meet each woman:

• Ruth - Mining manager from Eritrea
• Alison - Plumber from the United States
• Anna - Software developer from Russia
• Olga Lucia - The first female Latin American priest from Colombia
• Zarifa - One of the few female mayors in Afghanistan (and the youngest mayor)

Meet the speaker

Being a dual citizen of the United States and Trinidad & Tobago, Charysse Tia Harper has focused projects on her Trinidad culture: award-winning film, The Other Side of Carnival; T&T 50 in Fifteen and Panomundo Part 1: The Evolution of the Steelpan and Part 2: Pan Worldwide; and on her American identity: award-winning documentary, 12 Months, First Weekend February and Insurance: Putting Newark on the Map. She created Xplore the World in 2010 to further this mission. 

Amidst the Covid-19 lockdown, Charysse made The Jill of the Trade (2021), a documentary short that highlights women from around the world who work in male-dominated industries.  She is in pre-production for Las Matadoras, a feature-length documentary about three female bullfighters.  Charysse resides in London.

Event organiser:
SOAS Library