Half the Sky

March 25, 2010

In reading Half the Sky, Nicholas Kristof’s and Sheryl Wudunn’s new book about tragic and empowering stories of women around the world, I am flabbergasted at the level and vast tolerance and perpetuation of violence against women. It takes so many forms, some subtle, some brutal, but all devastating to the physical and emotional status of women and their chances for empowerment. While not always taking the brutal forms that it takes in other parts of the world, such as the way rape is almost a standard protocol in the Eastern Congo, the tolerance of violence against women allows women to be subjugated in many forms here in the United States too. From reproductive rights to the lack of health insurance coverage of women who have been victims of domestic violence, violence against women is seen not just in the unfortunate result of a domestic abuse incident. The violence is seen as an intergenerational seed that propagates the potential for poor health and bad choices for future generations that may not have the resiliency to cope with everyday challenges, thus perpetuating a cycle of violence and self-destruction.

Half the Sky, however, shows what a little effort can do for women in dire straits. A microloan to a woman in east Africa, for example, can tap into the previously untapped will, entrepreneurial spirit, gumption, and tenacity of women who can and do have a major impact in their communities. Expanding access to educational opportunities and capital, we can catalyze a new generation of women who can perpetuate a new cycle of healthy generations to come. The book implies that violent communities stem from unequal communities; unbalanced gender dynamics create instability, war, poverty, injustice and worse. In response, don’t we all out it to ourselves to help establish, even if in small bits, gender equality wherever possible? Don’t we owe it to everyone to help women become healthy, productive participants in our society? In so doing, we create balance; we create equality; we sustain peace in the homes and in our communities.