Review: 'Half The Sky: How To Change The World,' Women in our world

‘Women hold up half the sky,’ goes the Chinese proverb that finds a place in the name of this book. Nicholas D Kristof and Sheryl Wudunn, the journalist-couple who work with The New York Times, are in campaign mode in Half The Sky.

The authors note how mundane violence against women is, and how the issue often slips through the cracks. “In India, a ‘bride burning’ — to punish a woman for an inadequate dowry or to eliminate her so a man can remarry — takes place approximately once every two hours, but these rarely constitute news. ….When a prominent dissident was arrested in China, we would write a front-page article; when 100,000 girls were routinely kidnapped and trafficked into brothels, we didn’t even consider it news.

"Partly that is because we journalists tend to be good at covering events that happen on a particular day, but we slip at covering events that happen every day,” say the couple in the introduction to the book.

Conventional wisdom is questioned, and convincing and practical alternatives are suggested. Not for nothing is the subtitle of this book ‘How to change the world’. The book argues that oppression of women in developing countries is akin to slavery and campaign against it should be on the same war footing as was the one against slavery.

Each of the chapters is something of a case study.  Ideally, this is a book one should read alongside something else; that would give the reader some respite from an otherwise long engagement with the most brutal kinds of violence against women, who, in many parts of the world, remain enslaved.

The cases are drawn from across the world — Afghanistan, Rwanda, Cambodia, Congo, India, Burundi — almost all parts of the less developed world find place. And many of these are tales of bravery and survival. Sometimes, the struggle is aided by organisations or individuals from the Western world, and the narrative thus shows how the cause of safe womanhood is a site for meaningful networking and aid.

Some measures recommended to improve the ability of girls to remain within the education system are remarkably simple — like providing older children means to better manage their monthly period, without embarrassing leaks and stains.

There is healthy sarcasm for some arms of the United Nations, and great regard for the small, individual-driven initiatives that succour women. Many of the women who reach out to others in distress in these stories have themselves been victims of the most brutal violence. Read, for instance, the chapter on the work of Zainab Salbi, the Iraqi woman forced into marriage with a stranger, and transported across continents.

When doctors are scarce, the authors argue, nurses and midwives could be trained to perform medical procedures like C-sections. There is the unique story of Mamitu at the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital, ‘a master surgeon who couldn’t read,’ who lived the life of victim, and later transformed into a healer.

There are unique insights too, that come as little asides. Here’s a description of childbirth: “The Huichol (a Mexican tribe) believed that the pain of childbirth should be shared, so the mother would hold on to a string tied to her husband’s testicles. With each painful contraction, she would give the string a yank so that the man could share the burden.” The authors suggest that if such a practice were more widespread, injuries in childbirth would garner more attention.

Sections of Half The Sky will probably find a place in courses at schools and colleges. There is reason to hope that an acquaintance with this book will make for a generation with greater empathy.