The Ants and the Grasshopper

"Anita Chitaya has a gift; she can help bring abundant food from dead soil, she can make men fight for gender equality, and she can end child hunger in her village. Now, to save her home from extreme weather, she faces her greatest challenge: persuading Americans that climate change is real. Traveling from Malawi to California to the White House, she meets climate skeptics and despairing farmers. Her journey takes her across all the divisions shaping the US, from the rural-urban divide, to schisms of race, class and gender, to the thinking that allows Americans to believe we live on a different planet from everyone else."

To mark International Women's Day 2023, Birth Companions will be hosting a free online lunchtime screening of The Ants and the Grasshopper. 

This inspiring documentary from Raj Patel and Zak Piper highlights the ways in which women, Black and Indigenous people, and other communities facing racism and oppression bear the brunt of the climate crisis, while also holding effective solutions to it. As Anita Chitaya says in the film, "it takes many ants to move a grasshopper"; it will take all of us working together collectively to combat the environmental emergency we face. 

At Birth Companions, our work to improve the lives and outcomes of mothers and infants facing inequality and disadvantage is underpinned by the belief that interconnected systems of oppression negatively impact women’s reproductive lives and experiences of motherhood. We believe that the climate and biodiversity emergencies undermine women’s access to “self-determined family creation” (SisterSong), and impact marginalised communities most significantly. Building on Birth Companions’ recent work around environmental justice and reproductive justice, we are hosting this lunchtime IWD23 film screening bringing together people from across the women’s, health and environmental sectors to learn from, and be inspired by these amazing activists.

We look forward to celebrating International Women’s Day 2023 with you!