Review

By VERONICA MATTA  

Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity Worldwide is a beautifully written book about the issue of global gender inequality. It explores the problems associated with it and possible means of redress.  Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn of the New York Times paint these injustices in a real and immediate way in order to awaken readers from the West to work for change. A large chunk of the book deals specifically with human trafficking, but also focuses on issues such as female genital cutting and maternal mortality. Mr. Kristof and Ms. WuDunn intersperse personal narratives, pictures, statistics, and practical suggestions. While focusing mostly on issues in Third World countries, they emphasize the role the West should play in combating these injustices. Several times Mr. Kristof and Ms. WuDunn compare human trafficking to the Atlantic slave trade, calling attention to the magnitude of the crime and the necessity for a comprehensive, international movement to fight it.

Mr. Kristof and Ms. WuDunn feature the stories of young women and girls who were trafficked but eventually became free through their strength of will. These stories of individuals reveal simultaneously the intensity of their sufferings and the possibility for hope existing within the victims themselves. One beautiful story is about Meena Hasina of India, who, after escaping the brothel to which she was trafficked, seeks to free her children from the same fate. The story of Srey Neth, a Cambodian girl who is rescued from a brothel and who struggles for financial security and economic independence, similarly inspires.

Beyond the victims themselves, Mr. Kristof and Ms. WuDunn include the stories of groups and individuals who tried to help. These include the Overlake School in Washington State which sponsored a school in Cambodia, Ruchira Gupta, the advocate from the Apne Aap organization who helped Meena rescue her children, and Bernie Krisher of American Assistance for Cambodia who helped Srey Momm and Srey Neth, two former trafficked women, to set up businesses to support themselves and ensure that they were not compelled to return. In addition, they tell the stories of Usha Narayane, the educated hotel manager who stands up to the leader of the local gang for the sake of her low-caste neighborhood, and Zach Hunter, the seventh grader who started a movement at his school to stop human trafficking. These stories reveal that the heroes can be anyone, from former victims, local business leaders, Western aid groups, even elementary school students. This partnership between the East and West, victim, advocate, and charity is essential to tackling this problem. While the dimensions of the issue are very complex, there are ways to help, even if only in the smallest of ways.

Besides telling these individual stories, Mr. Kristof and Ms. WuDunn analyze the many dimensions of the issue. They examine the relationship between prostitution and trafficking, cultural attitudes towards women that enable trafficking to occur unimpeded, the ways in which women can and do fight back, the limitations of legal and aid efforts, and the difficulties of preventing former trafficking victims from being re-trafficked. The most effective ways to fight trafficking, Mr. Kristof and Ms. WuDunn argue, is to invest in girls’ education and social entrepreneurship. Education can change cultural values regarding women for the better, allow families to see their value, give women and girls the confidence to fight for their rights, and enable women to support themselves financially and to become leaders in their own communities. Social entrepreneurship helps women gain control of their lives, provides the economic security necessary to avoid being trafficked, and takes positive action to promote leadership. Furthermore, Mr. Kristof and Ms. WuDunn recommend for Western readers to expose themselves to the issue, travel abroad, and increase their own awareness. At the end of the book is a glossary of the various organizations described in the book, detailing their efforts and including contact information, encouraging the reader to pursue action immediately.

If this book has a weakness, it is that it focuses exclusively on gender inequality in the Third World.  While the West may have a relative advantage over the East in its evaluation of gender, there are still issues worth discussing related to injustices which occur in the West.  The West is not quite off the hook yet.  However, there is no doubt that Half the Sky is an inspiring book which will enlighten the mind, touch the heart, and stir the desire to act.