You’d be hard-pressed to find a more devastating look at life than the situations faced by women around the world in Half the Sky, by NY Times husband-and-wife team Nicholas D. Kristoff and Sheryl WuDunn. You’d also be hard-pressed to find a book I could recommend more highly. It is required reading as far as I’m concerned.
You will be shattered. You will be gutted. You will also be incredibly inspired and, if you’re anything like me, jumping out of your skin wanting to find a way to help. The problem of gender-based inequality in all it’s brutal forms, is so ingrained in so many societies that hold themselves down by their actions in the name of gods or history or simply the way it has always been done. This is no man-bashing tome making men villains, though there is often cause to do so. It is a tour through widely varied cultures and societies, getting to know local girls and women as individuals (the authors cite important studies that show people get overwhelmed by statistics, but respond to individual stories–opting to help one person over helping dozens or hundreds). The big picture is examined here alongside individual lives. The magnificence of the human spirit in answer what faces so many of these women blows the roof off your own limitations. And the ease with which we can help–truly help–and truly make a difference will make you wish you had read this ages ago–even though it made you cry and a little sick to your stomach to do so.
But please do read it.
Change by Doing 
Posted by Games for Change–Having an Impact Isn’t All Blood, Sweat, and Tears « Change by Doing on January 27, 2012 at 8:08 PM
[…] Times über-journalist, Pulitzer Prize winner, and co-author of the outstanding and inspirational Half the Sky (like a burr under your saddle inspirational–you cannot sit still after reading it) […]