Mirren dedicates her role in `The Tempest` to women

London: Dame Helen Mirren has dedicated her role as Prospera in the movie "The Tempest" to all struggling women.

The British actress takes on the traditionally male role of Prospero in the upcoming screen adaptation of the Shakespeare play and admits her performance was inspired by all women who have suffered because of their gender. "Women have been punished for being powerful for many centuries and I thought that was the remarkable thing about making Prospero into Prospera. You can bring in that history of female struggle. "We can see now in the extreme fundamentalist states, whatever religion they are, that they want to exclude women from education," contactmusic.com quoted her as saying. "An educated female sex is dangerous for the status quo, they believe. Women with any interest in education are persecuted for being witches, herbalists, evil. I thought of all these women, now and throughout history, as I was playing Prospera," she added. IANS