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Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide |
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Amazon Sales Rank: 195
Publication Date: 2009-09-08
Release Date: 2009-09-08
Publisher: Knopf
ISBN: 0307267148
Type: Hardcover
Number Of Pages: 320
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From two of our most fiercely moral voices, a passionate call to arms against our era’s most pervasive human rights violation: the oppression of women and girls in the developing world.
With Pulitzer Prize winners Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn as our guides, we undertake an odyssey through Africa and Asia to meet the extraordinary women struggling there, among them a Cambodian teenager sold into sex slavery and an Ethiopian woman who suffered devastating injuries in childbirth. Drawing on the breadth of their combined reporting experience, Kristof and WuDunn depict our world with anger, sadness, clarity, and, ultimately, hope.
They show how a little help can transform the lives of women and girls abroad. That Cambodian girl eventually escaped from her brothel and, with assistance from an aid group, built a thriving retail business that supports her family. The Ethiopian woman had her injuries repaired and in time became a surgeon. A Zimbabwean mother of five, counseled to return to school, earned her doctorate and became an expert on AIDS.
Through these stories, Kristof and WuDunn help us see that the key to economic progress lies in unleashing women’s potential. They make clear how so many people have helped to do just that, and how we can each do our part. Throughout much of the world, the greatest unexploited economic resource is the female half of the population. Countries such as China have prospered precisely because they emancipated women and brought them into the formal economy. Unleashing that process globally is not only the right thing to do; it’s also the best strategy for fighting poverty.
Deeply felt, pragmatic, and inspirational, Half the Sky is essential reading for every global citizen.
Average Rating: 
Review: 2010-03-14
Realistic solutions to realistic situations
Kristof & WuDunn provide a realistic examination of the problems faced by millions of women around the world - sex trafficking, female genital mutilation, prostitution, child prostitution, rape, violence, lack of education, denial of life due to favoring of males - suffering. However, the authors do not propose "pie in the sky" actions to effect change, instead they suggest supplying iodine to women to reduce the loss of IQ, educating young girls and women, increasing the number of fistula hospitals to help women harmed by childbirth, etc. They discuss comparing cost effective strategies to determine which ones are the most effective at improving the lives of women and families. The authors provide endnotes for further research or verification should one choose to check their facts. They also list numerous organizations for individuals who want to help. Kristof & WuDunn explain the problems faced, meet with women who are resisting the extreme pressures to conform to cultural norms and finally describe women in the U.S. or other wealthier nations who support women effecting change within their communities. This is one of the most logically, clearly and realistically argued texts I have read in a long time. If we want to reduce terrorism in the world, supporting women's HUMAN rights is key!! Just as when slavery existed in the U.S., when dictators came to power in the past as well as today, the Holocaust and other genocides, and when men have or had absolute control over women - one will find people behaving extremely badly, without any moral filters, without any concern for the human being or for human rights, killing those over whom they have power without consequence or remorse. Once again, absolute power corrupts absolutely. If we have any hope of ending/reducing terrorism, violence, and war, women MUST have the right to exist, to be treated with dignity and respect just as any other human being deserves. If you read nothing else this year, PLEASE read this book! Everyone can help, everyone together can create the kind of world we all want to live in - "You must be the change you wish to see in the world."
Review: 2010-03-13
WORLD CLASS SIGNIFICANCE
This carefully documented, illustrated and written with commitment and concern for the welfare of the world's peoples book is, as many reviewers have said, "A MUST READ"!
Review: 2010-03-09
Eyes Wide Open
Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn outline the gravity and magnitude of the issues that affect women across the globe - trafficking, rape as a tool of war, access to health care, institutionalized oppression et cetera. The book provides human connectiveness through stories of women as seen through the eyes of Nick and Sheryl. There are heroes, villains and hope. Hope is dependent upon what we do as individuals to address these problems. I can't save everyone, but I certainly will make a difference in at least one life.
(For charity donations, I use [...] that specializes in microloans. All my charity donations are managed as loans and then reimbursed over time, with a little interest, and I'm able to donate again. Most loans are focused on extremely poor women. Muhammad Yunus pioneered microcredit/microloans in the 1970s and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006. The founder of EBay set up Microplace.)
Review: 2010-03-06
Essential reading; expands your worldview
I read this on Kindle...fascinating...horrifying...compelling...the best book I NEVER wanted to read. This was inspired writing by two outstanding journalists (husband and wife) who managed to get way beyond statistics and do-good platitudes to gather stories from women throughout the world, from all races and levels of society, who have been exploited, abused and tortured.
Somehow their awful stories were never unbearable to read, simply because the authors were able to convey the sense of hope and survival instincts that these and other women have mustered when given just a little help, support, and encouragement. Even more powerful is the persuasive case the authors make that if we can improve the lot of women in societies where they are marginalized, we are doing the most effective thing to also help their families, their villages, and indeed, their entire countries.
The power in this writing and these stories was the authors' ability to make the reader feel that they have been forever changed and actually empowered to do something to help these awful situations, and they are convincing in their belief that these are not just women's issues. They are human rights issues and must be addressed. They provide concrete guidance to organizations that are already making a difference, what they are doing, and what is working (always substantiated with facts and figures and accompanied by caveats and realistic commentary. I finished the book and went straight to my computer, where I donated to my Kiva account and adopted a little girl from Africa through Plan USA. This book makes you want to DO something!
I bought this book based on a recommendation by Steve Leveen who wrote a terrific review of this book for The Huffington Post [...]. He wrote, "...I hazard a prediction: the most influential book of the decade will be Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide. Of course I don't know that Half the Sky will be the most influential book, but I believe it should be."
I believe it should be too, and I plan to join Steve in doing my part to make it so. "If it's going to be, it's up to me." (Robert Schuller title)
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