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"My name is Mary and I live in Kabul. I was born during the war, and I grew up during the war".

Mary is a beautiful young Afghan woman who wanted to become a doctor. She leapt at the chance to start medical school. But after one term Mary leaves Kabul university after suffering discrimination because of her sex.

Following the collapse of her education, she resolves to become a journalist, and to document the suppressed lives of Afghanistan’s women. In a video diary styled commentary Mary narrates her fascinating journey. She shows no fear in directly challenging the bigotry she finds – and in so doing putting herself in significant danger.

At first, Mary’s impression is that life for women has improved since the overthrow of the Taleban. But outside Kabul, she soon discovers a very different world. At the marketplace in Mazar-e-Sharif, women refuse to talk to her. "It is because they are illiterate", explains a local man. "For sisters who are uneducated, they should wear a burqha", agrees one of the only women to offer an opinion.

Realising just how difficult her task will be, Mary returns to Kabul to confront some of her own demons. She returns to the medical facility she left a year before. Corruption and sexual molestation are rife in the department. Even the head of the medical faculty at Kabul University has to ask the teachers to help his daughter pass. When the head of the faculty, Dr Cherag Ali, is confronted, he angrily attacks the cameraman, sending the camera flying.

Setting off once more into rural Afghanistan, there is more sadness and frustration. In Kandahar, Mary meets Afghanistan’s first female police officer, Malalai, still the only officer in the former Taleban stronghold. In a nearby rural village Mary investigates the ancient tradition of ‘badd’. A family tells Mary that three years ago a man was murdered. In compensation, his family was awarded three sisters from the murderer’s family. The tradition will continue through to the younger generation.

In sequence after sequence, Mary peers behind the darkest secrets of Afghanistan’s all smothering chauvinism. "All over my country," she said, "I have seen that women are under the control of men. It is hard to believe that this can change. I have hope for the future, but I realise that I must be patient, it will take time".