Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide
By Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn (2009)
This book takes a world-wide view of what they claim to be our era’s most pervasive human rights violation – “the oppression of women and girls in the developing world”. Each chapter tackles a specific topic and begins with a story of an individual girl, which is followed by a discussion of the chapter’s topic. The result is a book that manages to be both engaging and educational.
The book explores a human trafficking, rape, education, maternal morality, family planning, women’s rights, micro-credit and more. In addition to discussing the problems, the authors address how helping women can help make the world a better place – how women invest income in their family and education, how women can be an important part of the economy, and how creating oppertunity can help fight terrorism. While the book honestly acknowledges and addresses many of the difficulties faced by people attempting to help women, the authors remain optimistic about the future. This is essential reading for anyone interested in the developing world, as it provides a wonderful and compelling introduction and overview of the issues.
This book was first mentioned to me as suggested reading by a committee my mother was involved in. I remembered the name, and when I found myself in a discussion with a friend of a friend, the other girl was so excited she bought me a copy of the book the very next day. In addition to having my book club read this, I have been recomending left and right and am constantly hearing the title pop up in unexpected places. I highly recommend this book.
