Half the Sky

Book, 2009

Premise - A non-fiction novel on worldwide gender inequality, the subtitle for this book is "Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide." Half the Sky covers a variety of humanitarian women's issues, most notably sex slavery and trafficking, maternal mortality, gender-based violence, and social entrepreneurship/aid projects. The book offers both personalized stories, as well as larger facts and figures. The purpose of the novel is to call more people to action to assist in aiding the developing world. The best way to do that is to invest in girls' education.

Review - This is perhaps the most life-changing book I have read in my entire life, at least within the realm of non-fiction materials. The hope is that this will not instill a temporary change, but rather a permanent one in my life. Half the Sky discusses worldwide humanitarian issues that the majority of people are aware of, yet ignore because it is assumed that not much can be done. Some examples include sex slavery, maternal mortality (death during childbirth), or wife-beatings. I consider myself to have a healthy awareness of social issues, yet something about this book was able to evoke a much more visceral reaction. Most surprisingly to me, it introduced issues that I was not even aware existed. Prior to reading this book, I had never even heard of the word fistula before, as it is a medical issue that is non-existent in the United States. There are entire hospitals in Africa dedicated to the treatment of fistulas, a tear that occurs during childbirth that results in the women being unable to control her release of waste from her body. It's a horror that happens frighteningly often. There are a number of other, non-glamorous social issues that the book highlights, including iodine deficiencies that influence fetal brain development, particularly in females, or the common occurrence of throwing acid in women's faces.

The section of the book that had the most impact on me was about sex trafficking and sex slavery. The book was able to put it in terms that made it entirely clear how vastly important this issue is - there are more women enslaved today than there were blacks enslaved during the transatlantic slave trade of the eighteenth century. We still discuss slavery today as it pertains to black people, mostly because it is something we dealt with in our own country. However, worldwide, there is still a massive slave trade in existence that warrants no U.S. attention.

The book has an admirable balance between pathos and logos. While there are several women's personal stories shared, these are interspersed between intellectual discussions of research, statistics, aid organizations, bipartisan politics, and ways in which ordinary citizens can help. The book is most careful about not hyperbolizing figures. Many times the authors mention how harmful it is for aid organizations to spread false or even exaggerated information in order to evoke pity and earn more donations. Instead the authors take a far more economic and practical approach - finding specifically which are the most cost-effective strategies to decrease worldwide poverty and injustices towards women. Time and time again, the findings are in favor of increasing girls' education. This method is aimed more towards prevention than it is towards treatment, as the book acknowledges the high cost of medical care in comparison to schoolbooks. The education can be about family planning and sexual health to reduce STI's and unwanted pregnancies, but it is also just as economically useful to teach women vocational skills so they can earn an income, outside of the brothels, that is. The title of this book is based on a Chinese proverb that "women hold up half the sky." This was actually proclaimed by Mao, but... that's besides the point. It's accurate. If women are 50% of the population, and are unable to work, it is natural that what follows is a less economically successful region. Investing in women's education, therefore, would not only benefit women, but all people.

This novel is bold in its prioritization of other countries, and specifically the rural villages within them. The U.S. is seldom mentioned, except in reference to the ways in which we can help. Of course there are problems at home, for men and women alike, but it doesn't take much exploration abroad to see that the developing countries are where the needs are greatest. The novel is also bold in saying that the greatest worldwide injustice is gender inequality, so the most important issue to support in the developing world is that of empowering women. Prior to this novel, I believed gender inequality to be an important issue, but this book makes it difficult to believe that there is any greater humanitarian crisis. Gender inequality is linked to everything from traditionally women's issues, such as rapes and honor killings, to "everyone" issues such a poverty and hunger, due to lack of population control.

The book is also very helpful in not only educating readers where help is needed, but how they can do so. The methods discussed most often are fueling grassroots organizations by financial donations, fundraising, and actually going as far as to volunteer abroad. I definitely took the time to reevaluate my life several times while reading. I don't think I have the capacity in me to travel abroad in somewhere so remote, which was hard pill to swallow. At the very least, if I were to ever do it, now is not the appropriate time in my life. Then again, I don't even have enough income to support myself at the moment, as I just finished college. If I can't donate time or money, what can I do?

I have started by sharing my knowledge of this book to literally everyone I come across. If I can't do anything directly, I can at the very least spread the word. Secondly, I want to refocus my career goals and make sure there is a greater purpose in mind. Of course I still want to pursue psychotherapy, but I have reconsidered areas of focus. I even briefly considered getting a social work degree, though I don't know if that would be the best fit for my personality. I think by focusing on young girls and women and making sure to keep them out of hospitals or other institutions, and able to participate in school, then I am doing my part, I hope.

Nevertheless, I will likely carry this passion for gender equality for the rest of my life and opportunities may arise in the coming years for me to lend a helping hand. If I ever do, I will credit this book first and foremost as being my inspiration, along with my idol Emma Watson for recommending this book for her feminist book club, "Our Shared Shelf" and speaking out about these issues enough to make me interested to give the book a try. (99/100)

Quotes - “More girls were killed in the last 50 years, precisely because they were girls, than men killed in all the wars in the 20th century."

“When India feels that the West cares as much about slavery as it does about pirated DVDs, it will dispatch people to the borders to stop traffickers.”

“The equivalent of five jumbo jets’ worth of women die in labor each day, but the issue is almost never covered. The remedy? America should lead a global campaign to save mothers in childbirth. Right now the amount we Americans spend on maternal health is equivalent to less than one twentieth of 1 percent of the amount we spend on our military.”

“Yet it’s not hyperbole to say that millions of women and girls are actually enslaved today. (The biggest difference from nineteenth-century slavery is that many die of AIDS by their late twenties.) The term that is usually used for this phenomenon, “sex trafficking,” is a misnomer. The problem isn’t sex, nor is it prostitution as such. In many countries—China, Brazil, and most of sub-Saharan Africa—prostitution is widespread but mostly voluntary (in the sense that it is driven by economic pressure rather than physical compulsion). In those places, brothels do not lock up women, and many women work on their own without pimps or brothels. Nor is the problem exactly “trafficking,” since forced prostitution doesn’t always depend on a girl’s being transported over a great distance by a middleman. The horror of sex trafficking can more properly be labeled slavery.”

“American feminism must become less parochial, so that it is every bit as concerned with sex slavery in Asia as with Title IX sports programs in Illinois.”

"Social entrepreneurs are not content just to give a fish or teach how to fish. They will not rest until they have revolutionized the fishing industry.”

What to read for - The book references several organizations that it supports, as well as resources to find other aid and charity organizations. I believe the one that stood out to me the most was Camfed (Campaign for Female Education), but I want to look back at the book and find other mentions of important grassroots efforts so that I can check out the information they have released as well.

If you liked this book, I recommend scholarly articles actually, as opposed to another book. I can't think of another book off the top of my head that would do this justice. But any public health or global health scholarly journal is great.

Written by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn
Published by Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group