Half the Sky

I highly HIGHLY HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGHLYYYYYYY recommend you go out and buy this book right now:This is the best book I've ever read. It's the most important book I've ever read. And it's the best and most important book you will ever read too.

First and foremost, it's the subject matter. It describes the oppression and enslavement of women all around the world. It's full of awful, horrible, heartbreaking stories. But it's also full of incredible stories about women who came from these awful situations and created change, either by sending girls to school, getting girls out of brothels, or helping communities end female genital cutting. Seriously, you WOULD NOT BELIEVE some of these stories, they're so incredible either in their horribleness or in their miraculousness. One of the authors' arguments is that what is happening to women and girls worldwide is akin to the 19th century African slave trade (except that there were far fewer African slaves than there are enslaved girls today), and we need to get angry. They argue that it's THE human rights issue of the 21st century, and I believe them.

What is also wonderful about the book is its fairness. The book doesn't posit that men repress women, men are evil and women are victims. No. It discusses how both men and women and cultural institutions and governments ALL perpetuate the oppression of girls and women. They discuss how complicated some of this repression is, how just sending money or changing the law isn't successful (I particularly identified with the idea that changing the law is great, but that doesn't mean the law will be enforced, particularly in rural areas. When I lived in Taiwan, it seemed to me that very few laws were enforced).

I really appreciated the discussion on female genital cutting. As an anthropology major, it seemed like people were always asking me, "Well, what if you were observing a group of people and they started doing female circumcision? Would you just sit there and let them do it? Wouldn't you help the girl? How can it possibly be moral to let them do that?" And I've always struggled with it. But this book made me feel a lot better, because they talked about how NOT UNDERSTANDING THE CULTURE is why a lot of aid groups going into Africa to stop FGC fail. A successful aid group started by an American woman gathered communities together and encouraged THEM to discuss whether or not they should stop FGC, instead of marching in and insisting that communities stop.

I also loved how they REALLY ANALYZED the statistics they used. They conceded when certain statistics may not be as reliable as others, and they always looked at who funded the study. They didn't just throw statistics out there. I wish ALL journalists would do that.

What I also found interesting was while it is a human rights issue for these countries to stop treating women and girls the way they do, it's also in their economic best interest. How do they expect to develop when half their population isn't working (except in brothels or on farms)?

And of course, the book is wonderful because it tells you what you can do, and I intend to do many of those things listed.

My mom and my sister have also read it, and we're all in awe. And Mike is reading it now. Seriously, whether you're a dude or a girl, GO BUY THIS BOOK.