Half The Sky Analysis

Half the Sky by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn is an acclaimed book about the oppression of women and described in detail as the couple traveled to developing countries such as Cambodia, China, Afghanistan, and Congo. Kristof and WuDunn explored the inadequate women’s rights by meeting and interviewing various women around the world. From brothels to hospitals, the couple heard stories about the mistreatment of women that is unheard of in the Western society. At the end of the novel, some solutions are provided that range from the individual level to globally. Today, many organizations exist to try to correct some of these inequalities. Some of the most effective nongovernmental organizations in fighting women’s inequality issues such

as insufficient educational opportunities, sexual violence, and workplace discrimination are the Women’s Initiative in Education, National Women’s Coalition Against Violence and Exploitation, and World Health Organization.
One of the largest issues in developing countries is the lack of education and schooling that women receive.

In Half the Sky, Kristof and WuDunn met a thirteen-year-old, Dai Manju, from the Dabie Mountains in central China in 1990. Dai’s parents forced her to drop out of school once she hit the sixth grade because they saw no purpose in girls receiving educations because they would eventually spend their days laboring in fields or making clothes anyways. Her parents also could no longer afford the $13 annual fee the elementary school charged. Furthermore, her parents were ill, so because she was the eldest of her siblings, she unwillingly had to withdraw from school to help with housework. However, after the couple published their article about Dai’s predicament, a reader donated $100 and the Morgan Guarantee Trust Company bank donated about $9,900. Dai was able to be the first in her family to graduate elementary school and went so far in her education that she graduated from the equivalent of an accounting school. She became so wealthy that her family soon became one of the wealthiest in the

village.
Sadly, this is not the case for most young women in the Middle East. Today, over two thirds of the 774 million illiterate adults in the world are women. In a study of ten third-world countries including Yemen, Pakistan, Niger, and Liberia, about half of all women never enter school and nine in ten females do not complete their schooling. For example, 95% of poor females in Somalia between seven-years-old and sixteen-years-old have never even been to school. This not only hinders their abilities to have a decent paying job, but based on research by the United Nations, also increases women’s birth rates, maternal deaths, and malnutrition rates. The Women’s Initiative in Education (NEWI) is an organization based in Kenya that provides mentorship, counseling, and scholarships to girls in need. They offer programs such as free literacy classes, both at home environments and public settings, across the country to women. Another program offered is tuition support for orphaned and vulnerable children (OVCs), enabling them to receive a public education. Although the Women’s Initiative in Education is just one institution that has made a small difference in Kenya, there are many other global organizations that focus on female education and collectively can greatly impact women’s educational opportunities.
Another substantial problem in third-world countries is sexual violence. This includes issues like sex trafficking, forced prostitution, and arranged marriages. In Half the Sky, Kristof and WuDunn were introduced to Geeta Ghosh, a young woman in Bangladesh who was forced to prostitute at the ripe age of twelve. A friend’s aunt first brought Geeta to Sonagachi, a district in Kolkata that boasts hundreds of brothels and houses over six thousand prostitutes, both “voluntary” and forced. She was locked in a room with a strange Arab man and was stripped of her basic rights. She was not allowed outside, was regularly beaten, and threatened with knives. Geeta was never once paid and was told that if she were to try and run away, she’d be “chopped up” and her pieces would be “thrown down the drain.” Sexually transmitted diseases are abundantly common because if the price is high enough, condoms do not have to be utilized.
In 1992, the World Health Organization (WHO) supported the Sonagachi Project after numerous health experts were concerned over the spreading of AIDS.

This project created a union of sex workers, the Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee (DMSC), whose main goals were to encourage the use of condoms and reducing the spread of STDS through prostitution. It is estimated that because of the Sonagachi Project, consistent condom use increased by 25% and only 9.6% of the female sex workers contracted HIV, compared to 50% in cities without unions. Another successful nongovernmental organization fighting sexual violence is the National Women’s Coalition Against Violence and Exploitation (NWCAVE). NWCAVE provides a variety of services and resources, including education programs/outreach, conferences and seminars, and task forces. Recently, the organization launched Operation Runway, a task force that investigates the increasing problem of fake modeling sites. Websites are created that are disguised as counterfeit online modeling sites, but actually result in sexual abuse, such as forced prostitution, rape, trafficking, or murder. Not only does NWCAVE have active task forces employed, but they also heavily focus on prevention and

awareness.
Kristof and WuDunn revealed an abundance of violations of women’s rights while traveling throughout third-world countries. Although there are numerous governmental organizations in existence, there are still inequalities that should be corrected as soon as possible. Women should not be uneducated because they are forced to do skilled labor or too impoverished. Being forced into prostitution, like Geeta was, is unethical and promotes the spread of deadly STDS. The most effective types of nongovernmental organizations prove to be ones that focus on one violation of women’s rights, so they can direct all of their time and money towards one issue, like the Women’s Initiative in Education, National Women’s Coalition Against Violence and Exploitation, and World Health Organization.