video transcript

Teaching women to fight in Libya. New female recruits to the Libyan rebels are given military training in a desert near Benghazi Dozens of women gather for the drill led by fighters from the rebel forces. SOUNDBITE: Rebel instructor, saying (English): "They are our mothers, we are teaching them how to use weapons and how to defend themselves to raise their morale." They are learning how to chant and they are learning how to fire. Some are also being taught to fire an antiaircraft gun. SOUNDBITE: Rebel trainee, saying (English): "I feel today I am a free Libyan woman and I hope I can be with my brothers the rebels, that's my feeling. I really want to be with them." Another says she is ready to take the fight to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. SOUNDBITE: Rebel trainee, saying (English): "If they asked me to go (to the frontline) I would go and I would attack him (Gaddafi), put this in his eyes and tongue (holds shell). Muammar, you are a tyrant and arrogant and the women are going to attack you, God willing." Libya remains a deeply traditional, male-dominated society that stands at 91 out of 102 nations for gender equality, according to a 2009 index published by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Deborah Lutterbeck, Reuters.