Hello and thanks for downloading this podcast I've just come back from Raka in Syria

where the group that calls itself Islamic State is making its final stand

and what was really interesting was spending time with the women, the female fighters, Kurdish women who are

battling against IS because they're fighting not just a brutal theocracy but also for equality in their own societies that all too often treats

them as second-class citizens. So I hope you enjoy this edition of assignment on the BBC World

Service.

While we're on the top floor of a building,

the center of the city is about five or six hundred meters away.

This is Raka in Syria where the group that calls itself Islamic State is making its final stand.

There's still sniper fire coming in and as you can hear they're returning fire. This is a female fighter from the YPJ,

Kurdish female fighter, loosing off rounds there, what I think is a sniper.

You're smiling. I'm scared. Are you not scared? You're laughing.

When I hit my target and I kill the enemy I become very happy. It boosts our morale and our power.

We are protecting our friends and our people.

Fighting their way into the capital of this self-proclaimed caliphate are some very strong women. I'm Gabriel Gatehouse and for assignment on the BBC World Service

I'm following their battle to take down not just Islamic State but the very idea

that a woman is not equal to a man.

All my sister is a woman. All my sisters are married. I looked at their lives and thought I don't want to live like that

This is San Juan. Her nom de gaire means red blood.

I remember as a child being told that women cannot do anything. A woman cannot fight. A woman can do any work except in their home. It made

me angry.

Sunquin is a Kurdish military commander. She's from the city of Kobani, 150 kilometers north of Raka, where this story begins.

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