Analysis Of Half The Sky

In modern American society, women’s rights have become so much of a political controversy that oftentimes we forget the global reality of the female situation: that every decade, more girls are killed simply for being girls than all people in every genocide of the twentieth century combined. This is the reality that Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn describe in their novel Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide. Half the Sky chronicles Kristof’s and WuDunn’s journeys across third world Asia and Africa to uncover the truth about three abuses that afflict the world’s women on a massive scale. Namely, the novel portrays how the devastating realities of sex trafficking and forced prostitution, gender-based violence, and maternal mortality are based in the cyclically oppressive, ultra-conservative cultures of the third world and lays down a clear path for how we, as citizens of the western world, can help.

The message of Half the Sky is clear; we need to invest more time, energy, and indeed, money, into empowering the world’s women instead of tearing them down. Although

It was sad and happy. It was optimistic and realistic. It was well-written, well-presented, and well-sourced. It was eye-opening and life-changing. And most of all, its call-to-arms was potent and revolutionary. It effectively cast light upon the issues that too many women face today and, although it wasn’t perfect, it opened the door for a whole new realm of change. Perhaps my favorite quotation from the work is located at the beginning of the book: “In the nineteenth century, the central moral challenge was slavery. In the twentieth century, it was the battle against totalitarianism. We believe that in this century the paramount moral challenge will be the struggle for gender equality in the developing world.” With these words, Half the Sky has illuminated a fight that will impact generations to