Voice Of Baceprot are the metal band the world needs right now

 An all-female, Muslim metal band from conservative West Java, Voice Of Baceprot are the true sound of rebellion in 2021

In 2014, in a classroom in rural Indonesia, three schoolgirls fell in love with metal. During an extra-curricular arts programme at their school in Garut, West Java, Firdda Marsya Kurnia (vocals and guitar), Widi Rahmawati (bass), and Euis Siti Aisyah (drums), then aged 14, were introduced to metal by their school guidance counsellor, Ahba Erza.

Immediately, the teenagers were drawn to the “unique and beautiful” lyricism of System Of A Down, and “rebellious” spirit of bands such as Rage Against The Machine, Lamb Of God and Red Hot Chili Peppers. Before long, they had formed Voice Of Baceprot, (the word ‘Baceprot’ means ‘loud’ in Sundanese) and were making their own incendiary racket. Their 2018 single, School Revolution, is a fiery blend of elastic bass and furious RATM-indebted thrash.

Emerging as an all-female, Muslim metal band in a conservative community in West Java has posed its own challenges however. The girls have received death threats, while Ahba, who is now their manager, has received calls pressuring him to break up the band. 

Has the COVID-19 pandemic increased inequality against women?

The coronavirus has put inequality in the spotlight. Women are misrepresented in many industries and the pandemic's made that worse. Consultancy McKinsey says women are almost twice as likely as men to lose their job due to COVID.

Women's rights activists detained in Kyrgyzstan after hooligans attack IWD rally

Police detained dozens of protesters on Sunday shortly after journalists witnessed them being attacked. The activists gathered in one of the squares of the capital, Bishkek, when masked men, some of whom wore traditional Kyrgyz white felt hats, attacked the protesters, grabbing and tearing apart their banners. The attackers left as soon as police arrived on the scene. Officers detained about 50 activists, mostly women.

China's Fake Boyfriends

Under immense pressure to get married, Li Chenxi rents a fake boyfriend to meet her family and friends.

Having recently turned 27, Li Chenxi has reached the age at which unmarried women in China are labelled "sheng nu" or "leftover women".

It's a stigma that carries deep ramifications within her social life, workplace and especially among her family. But with a blossoming career in Beijing, Li Chenxi has no desire to get married.

In the Valley of Guns and Roses

The struggles of a single mother who works in a weapons factory in Bulgaria's Rose Valley.

In the heart of Bulgaria's Rose Valley, Irina is desperate to give her four-year-old daughter, Stefi, a better start in life. 

She is struggling single mother, working two jobs to put food on the table. Her main source of income comes from her dangerous work at a weapons factory where she measures and packs gunpowder into artillery shells.

Struggling to pay the rent, bills, and Stefi's kindergarten fees, she moves out of her parents' rural village to be closer to her work - despite not knowing whether she can afford it.

The Girls of the Taliban

An insight into a girls' school in Afghanistan which imposes an even stricter interpretation of Islam than the Taliban.

Kunduz in northern Afghanistan is the country's fifth largest city and home to more than 300,000 people.

It was once a Taliban stronghold where women were deprived of their basic rights and education for girls was prohibited.

Today, particularly in towns and cities, women can go outside without their husbands or fathers, they can work, and girls can attend school and even university.

But with a new wave of privately run madrasas - or religious schools - being opened across the country, there is a growing feeling among women's rights groups that these freedoms are again under threat.

Hip-Hop Hijabis

A musical journey of faith that follows Britain's first female Muslim hip-hop duo on tour.

This is a universal story about friendship, love and idealism, and two young women finding their place in the world.

Muneera and Sukina are Poetic Pilgrimage, Britain's first female Muslim hip-hop duo. And this is their personal, spiritual and physical journey.

As a tour of the UK takes the women into diverse communities, they remain undeterred by the fact that some Muslims consider music and public female performances to be forbidden.

India's Miracle Babies

India's elderly new mothers: Are doctors playing God, or does every woman have the right to bear a child?

In India, hundreds of women in their 60s and 70s are defying age and having children.

Elderly couples are turning to in vitro fertilisation (IVF) to have babies and avoid the stigma associated with being childless in India.

India is now home to the oldest mothers in the world, and a fierce debate is raging over age limits for IVF.

Behind the Wheel: Egypt's Women Drivers

The stories of four Egyptian women and the different vehicles they drive - from a rickshaw to a 36-tonne truck.

In the heart of Egypt's bustling capital Cairo, only very few female taxi drivers brave the unforgiving traffic.

Um Waleed is one of them. Driven by force of circumstance and the need to make a living, she went down a road that very few other women in the Arab world would contemplate.

This Egyptian woman has been driving for more than 30 years and first bought a taxi when her father encouraged her as he had no sons. This kind of work is dominated by men - but the discrimination she has encountered along the way has only her made her more determined.

The Countries Where It's the Worst And Best To Grow Up A Girl

Ahead of International Women's Day an annual report has revealed the hardest countries in which to grow up female, finding the index is topped predominately by African countries.

The Poverty is Sexist 2016 report by ONE, released Monday, compiled data from 166 countries to rank opportunity around the world.

The report index takes into account statistics across a range of subjects, including GDP per capita, school attendance by girls, access to bank accounts, the proportion of women in a paid job relative to men, the likelihood of death during childbirth, political representation by women and prevalence of anaemia among women.