Half the Sky by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn is a novel, and more recently has been made a documentary, that encompasses global issues that affect women. This book was assigned to me in my writing class and it has become the single most informative and inspiring books I've ever read. Every woman in the world today needs to read this book to understand the feminist movement and just how many topics it encompasses.
Half the Sky covers quite a lot of grotesque issues about women's health, women's rights and their cultural interaction with the world. There were many times I was left cringing while reading because the novel recounts real life stories of abominable violence against women in underdeveloped countries. There were times I was left too stunned to formulate a reaction as I read a chapter on the exasperating maternal mortality rates in poorer countries. There are stories and people you meet throughout the novel that make you emotional and irritated that such vengeful things are taking place in this world. There are also stories told that will inspire you to know no bounds and to achieve anything you want in this world. The novel tells stories from both ends of the spectrum to produce a realistic review of things happening around the world, specifically to women.
This novel is empowering, plainly put. The stinging feel of guilt that I experienced while reading was the reason I regard this book so highly. It honestly made me reevaluate my priorities and made me feel utterly embarrassed when I thought about what I consider "problems." Beyond the stinging feel of privilege that I experience, I learned so much about global healthcare and why it is so difficult to have an efficient, or even the mere existence of, a healthcare system in places like Africa and Southeast Asia. The authors, along with writing about and filming the characters you meet in the novel, also provide contact information for Americans to get involved and donate to these various causes. There is a specific contact in the book that allows you to get in touch with someone who will help you micro-finance a Somalian women. These tactics of putting the donor right in front of the recipient has statistically proven that it's more encouraging and lucrative. The first step is informing yourself, and after that it's time to get involved.
As a woman in a first-world society, it is so crucial to be aware of what other women have to go through every day. That worldliness and humbleness that's sure to come after reading this novel is the first step to inspiring real change in this world. The more informed each woman is about the injustices in the world the more empowered we can be as a group, and the more determined one would be that can actually make the difference in the lives of these women.
