Half the Sky

Tonight I went to hear Nicholas Kristof, author of Half the Sky, speak here in Davis. If you haven’t heard of it, Kristof book’s subtitle describes it better than I can: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide. He’s started an organization and he and his wife are writing a follow up book to guide people in how they can help.

To say his book and his talk were inspirational isn’t sufficient. The suffering he describes is almost overwhelming, yet he finds a thread of hope that made me feel like there are solutions and that we can make a difference. Kristof feels that the treatment of women is and will be the central moral struggle of our century as slavery was the moral struggle of the 19th century and totalitarianism was the moral struggle of the 20th century. The statistics he lists pretty much made all the blood rush from my head. His estimates of how many girls and women have died due to lack of nutrition and health care are astounding.

Still, he managed to sound a message of hope. I’m not sure what I can do to help beyond contribute to the efforts he suggests, but maybe letting other people know about his message will help.

So go, read the book. Watch the movie. Go to his website. Women and girls matter. We hold up half the sky. Or we will if we’re allowed to.