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“The stories that Kristof and WuDunn share are as powerful as they are heartbreaking. Their insight into gender issues and the role of women in development inspires hope, optimism, and most importantly, the will to change. Both a brutal awakening and an unmistakable call to action, this book should be read by all.”
-Melinda Gates
“Women facing poverty, oppression, and violence are usually viewed as victims. Nick Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn’s Half the Sky shows that unimaginable challenges are often met with breathtaking bravery. These stories show us the power and resilience of women who would have every reason to give up but never do. They will be an inspiration for anyone who reads this book, and a model for those fighting for justice around the world. You will not want to put this book down.”
-Angelina Jolie
“More than just journalism . . . [Half the Sky] is unashamedly intended to outline a problem and convince its readers to take action to solve it . . . The problem here is the invisibility of the oppression, the silence and powerlessness of the humiliated and the uneducated, the indifference of the unknowing world. It becomes clear that the answer is to bring what is hidden into the light . . . and to make it matter . . . In the book, Kristof and WuDunn have done exactly that.”
-Rohini Pande, Harvard Magazine
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About the book:
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.
Check out Half the Sky’s appendix of women’s aid organizations.
This is a tough-to-read, yet tough-to-put-down book. It feels like peeking into the private diaries of brave women in unimaginable situations. I thought I would just START it this book this weekend. I think I may be FINISHING it this weekend. Riveting.
Growing up as an orphan, I can relate to some of the struggles as many young girls and young women face on a daily basis around the world. This book was intriguing, and yet clinching to the ongoing will to resist such battle of independence and respect. They are countless issues that we face, read, hear, and learn about. But we have yet to acknowledge the pains of these remarkable children and women, who’s stories are yet to be heard. You will not put this book down till you reach the very last page. Embrace each story with compassion, respect and love.
When is Half the Sky going to be out in paperback. I want to buy about 20 copies but can’t afford them in hardback
Rose Marie – Half the Sky will be out in paperback in September of 2010.
The authors of this book, for some reason ignore the importance of abortion in maternal mortality, for women who are raped, in girls completing their education, and in the ability to become full players in a country’s economy. Sad, because so much in this book is so good.
As a female born in California, I have many privileges. As fortunate as I am, I realize that not every woman in the world is born with these same rights and I will make it my duty to fight for women’s rights each and every day of my life.