Why does life so often seem to be defined by person A getting over on person B? It seems almost a universal characteristic of human civilization that the people who have something will always endeavor to keep it while the people who lack that something will always endeavor to take it for themselves. Is this a reflection of an inequitable society? Is it a natural outcome of scarce resources? Is it a side-effect of poverty? Or is it just who we are, half-civilized animals who, when our want of something overpowers our better judgement, succumb to a willingness to exploit every advantage we have in order to get what we want, no matter the cost to someone else? Though Half The Sky is, primarily, a heart-rending, first-hand examination of how women in the developing world are entrapped, exploited, used and thrown away, this question of who we are and what we're willing to do when we have power over other people, throbs at its core.
Mr. Kristof and Ms. Wudunn, who have both written extensively for the New York Times, have assembled a harrowing and wrenching account of the plight of women in challenged, Asian countries. From assaulted Pakistanis silenced by rural life and unsympathetic police to Cambodians pressed into sex work by gangsters who have nothing to fear from disinterested authorities, the authors are eyewitnesses to some remarkable displays of depravity and oppression. But though much of the blame should be put at the feet of the pimps and hoodlums who so shamelessly exploit these women, such practices seem far too widespread to be the result of a defect in our human character. Rather, it is the outcome of a toxic blend of societal poverty and legal indifference which has cut a miles-wide hole in the safety net meant to catch the less fortunate and prevent them from tumbling down into Hell.
As much as Half The Sky is an expose of stomach-churning criminality, it is equally a call to arms. For every villain framed, Mr. Kristof and Ms. Wudunn counter with a portrait of a local hero who, often in the face of threats to her life, devotes herself to the cause of justice, for herself and for those like her. In addition to profiling the organizations these women champion, the authors promote a collection of their own charitable endeavors whose goals are to create economic opportunities for women ignored by their own countries. In this, the authors achieve a welcome balance between darkness and light.
For all the awareness this book will hopefully bring to the plight of women in the developing world, I found the economic and legislative solutions offered here far less compelling. Giving financial backing to local entrepreneurs, willing to hire and train the exploited, makes sense, but the scale of their operations are incredibly small. How much good will they actually do before their business, their service, is hoovered up by some textile giant who can keep costs down by paying their workers a pittance? In any event, however much one may want to quibble with the solutions, the problem is terribly stark. The things we are capable of doing when the opportunity exists to take advantage... The depths to which we will sink in order to feed and clothe ourselves... A moving and terrifying read. (3/5 Stars)
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