Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide

A impassioned appeal to action against the most widespread human rights violation of our day, the subjugation of women and girls in the developing countries, comes from two of our most morally strong voices.

We embark on an odyssey through Africa and Asia to meet the extraordinary women struggling there, including an Ethiopian woman who suffered catastrophic injuries during childbirth and a Cambodian teenager who was sold into sex slavery, guided by Pulitzer Prize winners Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn. Utilizing the depth of their combined journalistic background, Kristof and WuDunn portray our reality with clarity, indignation, despair, and, at the end, optimism.

They demonstrate the power of little donations to change the lives of women and girls throughout the world. After ultimately breaking free from her brothel, the Cambodian girl established a successful retail store that provides for her family with help from an aid organization. After her wounds were treated, the Ethiopian lady eventually trained as a surgeon. A mother of five from Zimbabwe, advised to go back to school, went on to get her PhD, and became an authority on AIDS.

By telling these tales, Kristof and WuDunn enable us to see that maximizing women's potential is essential to achieving economic success. They clearly show how many individuals have contributed to achieving that goal and how everyone of us may play a role. The female half of the population is the largest untapped economic resource in a large portion of the planet. China and other freed nations have succeeded because they allowed women to participate in the official economy. Not only is it morally acceptable to unleash that process on a global scale, but it's also the most effective way to combat poverty.

Half the Sky is a profoundly felt, realistic, and motivating book that every global citizen should read.