'Woman' power: Monica Dogra to feature in docu series on gender-related violence

It was a little under a year ago that Monica Dogra grabbed headlines for her attempt to garner acceptance for the LGBT community — by requesting fans for Rs 50 lakhs in funds that she could then use to make a music video. In exchange, she promised these sponsors her company while they partied and shopped together. [caption id=“attachment_2772318” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Monica Dogra[/caption] The backlash over that move took a while to die down, but it seems that Monica is finally ready to move on, and take on another cause. This time, she’s battling gender-related violence through a series titled Woman. Right off the bat, we can tell you that this project sounds a whole lot more promising than the previous one. For one, it’s headed by Gloria Steinem (who is the executive producer and host of the series) and two, it takes a very insightful look at the marginalisation of women in different parts of the globe. Woman will air on Viceland, a new channel in the US. Monica announced her association with the project, and said she would be playing the role of a correspondent in the docu-series. Monica said, in a statement: “I shot for Woman in northern British Columbia in Canada about six months ago. We covered the rising issue of missing and murdered women on Highway 16, popularly known as ‘The Highway of Tears’. Growing up in the US, I was completely ignorant of the issues happening in a neighbouring country. But now that I know about it, it’s an honour to be a part of a series such as Woman.” Premiering on May 10, the weekly series tells stories of women and men on the front lines of fighting gender-based violence. There is also a special episode produced by Oscar-winning filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy on the rise of extremism in Pakistan. — With inputs from IANS