Midterm Paper

I am an American female.  I go to college - I have aspirations to a professional career, as well as reasonable prospects for a secure future. My status as an equal citizen is protected legally and, as a person, I am valued. I do not count myself as being disadvantaged by the chance of being born a woman. Not so, however, for millions of women in countries and cultures which exploit and abuse women, condone rape and violence against them, and deny them basic civil rights.  The oppression of women around the world is precisely the subject tackled in the seminal book by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, Half the Sky.  The title suggests the book’s thesis. This phrase comes from the Chinese proverb that women hold up “half the sky”- implying that we should remember women are half of our population and that empowering them releases tremendous untapped resources for economic and social progress. 

 In 1990, soon after covering news on the Tiananmen Square protests, spouses Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn learned that 39,000 baby girls are killed in China each year because they are denied the same amount of food and healthcare as their male counterparts. A number of years later, while writing a piece on child prostitution, Nicholas Kristof spoke to two Cambodian girls who were sold into brothels (one by her stepfather, the other kidnapped). Their mothers had come and gone, having no money to buy them back. They were sexually coerced and beaten daily.  Kristof was dismayed to see that, even as young as they were, there was no hope in their eyes. He was deeply moved and, with his wife, resolved to bring attention to the oppression of women around the world.  Sheryl WuDunn, a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist herself, was eager to begin writing. She remembered the stories of her own Chinese Grandmother, whose feet were bound to make them small.  Their book, published in 2009, a national best seller, describes instances of sex trafficking, gender based violence, maternal morbidity, honor killings and mass rape- all loosely bound by the central theme of gender inequality. While Nicholas Kristof did not have the same sense of relatability that his wife did, he stood by her in the Half the Sky process, obligated to heighten awareness. Little did either writer know, they would do much more than gain a response – they would become social entrepreneurs.

In the past three years this book has gained incredible momentum. Like slavery and totalitarianism were once a core human rights issue in the past, the authors argue that the oppression of women today is a moral wrong and demands the world’s attention.

Melinda Gates states, “The stories that Kristof and WuDunn share are as powerful as they are heartbreaking.” (Melinda Gates on Half the Sky) The authors describe the scope of the problem as follows: “More girls were killed in the last 50 years, precisely because they were girls, than men killed in all the wars in the 20th century. More girls are killed in this routine gendercide in any one decade than people were slaughtered in all the genocides of the 20th century.” (Half the Sky) An addition to this already loaded statement is the point that if we empower these women, not only will they be valued, they are likely to go on and create businesses. Thus, the book is subtitled, “Turning Oppression Into Opportunity.”

            Kristof and WuDunn proved their brilliant insight through Half the Sky. They explain that when a woman is given the chance to be educated, and goes on to get a loan, research shows that that investment will produce higher returns than the same investment with her male counterpart. With scarce resources, females invest money more wisely than men.  Moreover, in a world where billions are being spent on security, experts say the best way to fight terrorism is to invest in girls (Sheryl WuDunn on Colbert)

 The writers were able to conquer the feat of both bringing awareness to a moral issue and providing an empirical agenda that will be universally beneficial.

It is particularly fitting that this story of female oppression is told by the first married couple to win the Pulitzer Prize. Both Kristof and WuDunn are public intellectuals who write about economic and social issues. Nicholas Kristof is an Op-Ed writer who focuses on societal injustices. Kristof’s intellectual influence is Victor Zorza, the author of The Guardian. Zorza has inspired Kristof with his anecdotal writing- the writing style used in Half the Sky. Sheryl Wudunn writes about female entrepreneurs and was a journalist for the New York Times. Her contribution to the partnership was to bear the facts and figures, the statistics and a sense of relatability, being a third generation Chinese American female. Kristof at his best is a storyteller. His individual vignettes of oppressed woman, and stories of triumph over adversity bring an empathetic tone to Half the Sky.  He exposes the issues through individual narratives. WuDunn’s hefty economic background introduces hopeful statistics suggesting that we can turn both the lives of women and the global economy around. The ultimately positive tone of the book is no accident.  After doing research, Nicholas Kristof said, “It turns out that empathy and moral judgments are an emotional process, not a rational one. They're based on storytelling, and people want to be a part of something positive, not something depressing and failed.” (Interview with Kristof and WuDunn on Book) It’s amusing really - the couple is so articulate that even gaining the correct emotion from the public was watchfully thought out. The book seems to be as much an expose of oppression in the developing world as it is a call to action. Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn proudly and boldly claim that change is not only a moral requirement, it is an economic one. They have made it their obligation to use Half the Sky as a tycoon for this message.

            As public intellectuals, Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn grasp the reader’s attention with staggering statistics of oppression and boldly equate female injustice to slavery and totalitarianism. While they speak of creating female economic entrepreneurs, they’ve become social entrepreneurs; and they tell us how we can invest in their enterprise. They call upon us to become involved, going so far as to provide links to donation sites, and they have created their own website titled: http://www.halftheskymovement.org/.  

However, asking Americans to help these invisible women overseas has brought some controversy, discounting all of the blatant appreciation. The oppressed women are mostly spiritual people. To ask an American to help someone with a completely different way of life is easier said than done. Of course we would assume anyone with a heart would help a struggling person regardless of faith, however the rift between the secular and spiritual is massive. Kristof and WuDunn claim that if the two can come together and fight against oppression, we would be “emulating an era when liberal deists and conservative evangelicals joined forces to overthrow slavery.” (Changing Lives, NY Times Article) While some think the couple’s correlation between slavery and women’s injustice is bold, Kristof and WuDunn explain that the parallelism is a lens to how imperative attention is needed.

Another problem with Kristof and WuDunn is that they do not equally represent each oppressed country. Chapter Six of Half the Sky is titled: “Is Islam Misogynistic.” The spouses go into detail about how Islamic females have their genitals mutilated. While this is horrid, critics feel like other nations dealing with oppression are not spoken of. Saudi Arabia’s abuse of female workers has been said to be “slave-like.” Kristof and WuDunn claim that they don’t mention this cruelty “Because ultraconservative Saudi Arabia has outlawed slaves, the Koran must be open to progressive interpretations on other human rights issues, like women’s equality.” (Changing Lives, NY Times Article) If the Saudi Arabian government have outlawed slaves, but still treat their women as slaves, they should be exposed. The Middle East has caused the most friction with Kristof and WuDunn as intellectuals on oppressed women.

Empowering and educating women does not just benefit the oppresses life. As public intellectuals, Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn have been able to prove that it is universally beneficial. They have craftily forged a thesis of oppressed women and the economy. Kristof and WuDunn will not be satisfied with Americans putting on a T-shirt reading “Women’s Equality” - claiming to join the movement. They expect donation and time, because with donation and time, a real difference is possible.

A great American parallelism to Half the Sky’s message is John Lennon’s “Something You Should Know:”

Woman, I can hardly express
My mixed emotions and my thoughtlessness
After all, I'm forever in your debt
And woman, I will try to express my inner feelings and thankfulness
For showing me the meaning of success

Our nation is aware of women’s potential. Our nation is aware of women’s rights. Our nation is aware of female injustice in developing countries. So, why is our nation absent in righting this wrong? Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn are powerful writers alone. However, as a team, they have been able to bring momentous awareness to a biting issue, as well as find a practical solution.