Half The Sky
by Nicholas Kristof & Sheryl WuDunn
Nicholas Kristof and
Sheryl WuDunn are a husband-and-wife journalist team who have travelled
the world extensively. Along the way,
they have come face-to-face with many examples of women’s oppression. Far beyond the gender discrimination
experienced by women in some sectors of the developed world, the stories
Kristof & WuDunn heard in their travels were horrific and, in many cases,
life-threatening.
The book visits many countries on several continents, and
includes first-hand accounts of abuse, neglect, torture, slavery, rape, and
other atrocities in searing detail. As you read, you feel you have come to know
each woman intimately. The pain of each
story is balanced to a degree by examples of what is being done in each
instance to make things better. There
aren’t always happy endings, but there are some; and it is clear that some slow
progress is being made to improve the plight of women who have so little hope. The people spearheading these efforts are
truly heroes.
In 2010, there was a one-night-only special event in
theaters across the country. On-screen,
a panel of experts discussed women’s oppression, and there was a short
documentary film by Marisa Tomei depicting one of the stories from the book. It was very powerful. Just this week a two-part Half The Sky
documentary aired on Public Broadcasting, with Kristof visiting six countries
to highlight a form of oppression in each, and talk with people about what was
being done to change it.
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