Half the Sky

Today I finished Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide, by New York Times writers Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, who are the first married couple to receive the Pulitzer Prize for their work.

The book is alarming in its endless presentation and collection of horrific stories of abuses women all over the world endure. The faces of the women on the cover (left) all belong to women who are featured in the book, each with a powerful story to tell. Their stories educated me on things that I have always heard of, but until now, never fully understood the complexities and horror of: sex slavery (the authors' correction of the term "sex trafficking"), genital cutting, honor killings, maternal health, as well as simple misogyny and discrimination. Yet the stories these women tell are exceptional because of how they have overcome the adversity to empower themselves and other women. All in all, the book has moved me deeply and inspired me to commit myself as a full member of the movement for equal human rights for women.

Like most of Kristof's columns, the solution that is presented here is education. Expanding educational opportunities for females and males alike all throughout the world is the single most important step that can be taken to combat poverty, terrorism, misogyny, and just about every problem the developing world faces. The book has powerful anecdotes and stories that illuminate the power and the impact education has made on developing populations all over the world.

This has been a good book for me to read while I am here promoting educational development in a very rural village in Kenya, and it has inspired me and reinforced my belief in Kijana. It makes me feel like I need to stay in the developing world and continue promoting education for the rest of my life. That honestly seems to be the best way to make use of a human life at this point in history.

I have a feeling the next book on my summer reading list will only make that feeling stronger: Three Cups of Tea.

In short, you need to read this book. Everybody does. As Kristof puts it, this is the cause of the 21st century, the way abolition was the cause of the 19th.

Two steps I am taking as soon as I return to the States: 1) Setting up an account at www.kiva.org to make loans to women in developing countries, and 2) Photocopying and mailing Chapter 2 to the headmaster of my high school, The Benjamin School. Read the book to understand why.

UPDATE/CORRECTION: It's actually the second half of Chapter 1 that I will be photocopying and mailing...