Just finished reading Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide by Nicholas Kristof & Sheryl WuDunn. It came highly recommended from my good friend Desiree. A kindred spirit, she is (:
I wanted to read this book when it was first released and so was excited to dig in. This book speaks out against human rights violations all over the world, especially as they relate to women and girls in the developing world. As I have written many times on this blog, development and empowerment are eternally interconnected. More specifically, the empowerment of women in any culture or society has been shown to drastically impact the development of an economy. Half the Sky turned out to be quite a bit different from many of the development books I read. Often they are loaded with stats and facts and can tend to be a bit dry and boring (perhaps you are not surprised by this, as they often relate to economics...but we'll leave that for another day). This book was very accessible and much more narrative in it's delivery.
This book provided a helpful overview of
- the many forms of oppression that hinder development
- a plethora of stories--real women who have struggled to overcome (some successful, some less so)
- the different sectors of development (education, health, economy, law, etc.) and how they are tied to the bigger picture of women's rights
The first section is largely focused on human trafficking and sex slavery in developing countries; discussing what drives women into this awful trap, and what keeps them there for so long. Through stories of the women they have met in their travels, the authors provide a more realistic look at how slow the fight against sex slavery really is on the ground. They cover some practical ways to help end this slavery that is often forgotten. If you are not well versed on this issue, I would especially encourage you to read this section.
Women's health issues are another meaty part of this book. The authors do not shy away from discussing maternal mortality and its gruesome details, the mutilation of women's bodies in many forms, family planning, violence against women and even more personal accounts. The atrocities committed against females in this world are horrendous and disturbing. Not only are many people in poverty limited in their health care access, but health care distribution is even more disparate for women.
Education was the other common thread woven through this book. It was another refreshing reminder for me that education is at the cornerstone of any development initiative, and critical for any kind of development to be successful and sustainable. As long as people have been tracking the results of aid programs and projects, education at the grassroots level has been the constant. Giving women access to education reduces population growth, improves health care, increases their earning potential and can positively impact the next generation's propensity for attending school beyond their elementary years. But this is not strictly related to school rooms and math problems...education is important in health care (family planning, AIDS prevention, disease control), it comes into play in economic development (business classes, microfinance education, etc.) and is useful to men in society as well.
"Education is the key issue for overcoming poverty, for overcoming war...If people are educated, then women will not be abused or tortured. They will also stand up and say, 'My child should not be married so young.'"
We can dump all the money we want into a country, continue to bloat a corrupt government, or even continue to provide basic rations to help a impoverished population continue to scrape by...but until education is accessible to all, we will not see development take root. "Those [kinds of aid] that have been most effective have involved health and education."
But this work is not easy. Lest you think that opening 100 schools in every country will solve the problem, let Kristof give you pause--he shares many insightful stories of how Murphy's law is prevalent no matter where you go. If it can backfire, it probably will. If someone can abuse the system, they will definitely try. If you could offend someone and their cultural traditions, you likely will. Kristof writes:
"While empowering women is critical to overcoming poverty, it represents a field of aid work that is particularly challenging in that it involves tinkering with the culture, religion, and family relations of a society that we often don't fully understand"
There is no easy fix, and the authors recognize this. But herein lies my one frustration of the book--they are rather lengthy in their explanation of everything else, and the shortest chapter comes at the end...almost as an afterthought, titled "What You Can Do." It seems to reason that if you are spending 232 pages to explain why you know so much about development, how your travels and contacts have so helpfully illustrated the right way and wrong way to do things, then you might have a bit more expert advice to offer. I did appreciate their discussion of "grassroots vs. treetops." It's not just changing laws or government regulations, a "treetop" approach; but instead doing what really works and what is needed--grassroots help, advocacy and education. That rings very true, from the first page of the book, to the last. There is no doubt they believe this to their core....but there are so many things we can be doing, so lets really talk about what real change looks like, and what the richest nation in the world should be doing to help the rest of it.
So, my final evaluation, if you care...I'd give it a B. Definitely informative, an interesting read, but excessive length or detail at times. I appreciated the comprehensive view of empowering women that Kristof and WuDunn offer, because it is rare. Often a book will focus on one issue and how women play a role in that particular area. Half the Sky gives a well rounded look at all the issues that are wrapped up in the term "development." Some really hard stuff to read, but very necessary stuff to expose.
