Sixteen Decisions

WE meet Selina 18, and mother of two children; Dr. Muhammad Yunus, the founder of Grameen Bank; and Gayle Ferraro, filmmaker. Their combined presence and voices articulate, interact, and develop a powerful and profound story, revealing a reality of past and present pain, uplifting goals, and the need for resources to move forward. Self-empowering structures such as the '16 decisions' demonstrate the challenge to traditional social roles and values, which undermine women's progress. Overarching anthropological questions are raised as they transition from a barter to a cash economy. While covering these important and meaningful topical issues, the real power of "Sixteen Decisions'" is in the depiction of Selina's everyday life. Selina, 18, is like most rural Bangladeshi housewives. She was a child laborer at 7 because her parents were too poor to feed her. Her parents arranged her marriage at 12 and sold their land for dowry, leaving themselves as beggars when her father lost his eyesigh