Half the Sky – Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide

By No Limits on 10/30/2009 @ 10:00 PM

I studied Third World development in the early ‘80s and my professors never mentioned a word about modern day slavery, human trafficking, honor killings, maternal mortality, or mass rape in war zones. As Secretary of State Clinton has repeatedly said, no nation can reach its full potential if half its population is left uneducated, unfed, and without health care, and Half the Sky illustrates this on every page. This incredible book should be required reading for anyone who cares about women and girls – especially those studying international relations.

In the developing world, boys sometimes go to school but girls go uneducated when school fees need to be paid or work needs to be done. When it comes to health care, sons go to the doctor and get vaccinated, but families take their chances when it comes to their daughters’ (or even a wife’s) health. If food is scarce, the boys eat before the girls. In India, girls aged 1 to 5 are 50% more likely to die than boys for lack of health care or food. A woman dies every minute of every day from complications related to pregnancy or childbirth – millions more are maimed for life. There’s a reason that 107 million females are missing in the world today and another 2 million disappear with each passing year. It’s called Gendercide – there’s a record of their birth but somewhere along the way they disappear for lack of food or medicine, or get sent off or taken to some brothel never to be seen again. Sadly, the evening news never tells us about any of this.

The authors of this book – both of whom have been awarded the Pulitzer for their journalistic talents – even admit that they’ve devoted little if any space in their columns and reports to the plight of women and girls. They admit that “[w]hen a prominent dissident was arrested in China, we would write a front-page article; when 100,000 girls were routinely kidnapped and trafficked into brothels, we didn’t even consider it news”.

This book changes everything when it comes to women’s rights on a global scale. It’s got people talking about ways to make this world a better place for all of us. It tells the stories of girls and women who’ve endured horrific things at a very young age. Some didn’t survive, but with a little help, others did. They survived and thrived because of people-to-people, grassroots involvement from folks just like us.

Half the Sky is full of stories of women who have gone from battered and abused wives contemplating suicide, to leaders in their community because someone loaned them a few dollars to buy a cow or plant some crops. It’s both heartbreaking and inspiring and covers issues that all civilized societies should be discussing and taking action on.

Read the book - and then help spread the word and get involved with one or more of the groups listed in the book - http://www.halftheskymovement.org/get-involved. Sponsor the construction of a new school or go to Kiva's website and loan someone $50 to start a small business in their community. Every little bit makes a huge difference in someone’s life – and from what I’ve seen in the stories in this book, it really doesn’t take much at all.

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