Summer Reads: Half the Sky by Nicholas Kristof & Sheryl WuDunn

Women hold up half the sky. -Chinese Proverb

For the month of July I’ve been reading Half the Sky by Pulitzer Prize winning authors Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn. Over the course the last several weeks my husband has asked a few times what I am reading. And I find that question hard to answer.

I’m reading about women and girls brutalized for being female.

I’m reading about how terrorists now rape women and girls instead of conducting genocide to make communities submit and resist fighting back.

I’m reading about how educating women can rise nations from poverty.

I’m reading about women being sold into slavery because they are less valuable than goats and cows.

Femininity does not entail docility. pg 47

I didn’t know where this book would take me or how it would change me, I can tell you I am grateful for my femininity. As well as a husband, family, and culture that supports my independence, fierceness, and my inner girl.

People get away with enslaving village girls for the same reason that people got away with enslaving blacks two hundred years ago: The victims are perceived as discounted humans. pg. 24

I knew a lot about injustice toward women around the world. But deep down I didn’t really know. My heart breaks for these girls who are seen as less than, tossed aside and told they are unworthy of an education, of food or clean clothes.

Maternal mortality is an injustice that is tolerated only because its victims are poor, rural women. Maternal mortality is a human rights issue. pg 122

The value of creating opportunities for education and hope for the future for women needs to become a priority. Fashion has been a passion for the last year and half, and I’m getting engrained into the ethical fashion movement, I’m beginning to feel this is how I can change the world. One top, one bag, one necklace at a time. Buying products that give women the opportunity to go to school, or provide for their families means they control the money in their family and that means more money for health care, education for children and nutritious meals.

If we are to overcome terrorism & violence, we need education. That is the only way we can win. pg 165

My notes from this book where exhaustive. Travis cringes when I write in books and for his sake I didn’t in this one. I feel one day, he too, will read this and become as fed up with the worlds status quo as I am. He probably already is but I would just love to have him read this. Grab your own copy & help change the world, HERE

I read this book as a part of the Sseko Brave Collective July Book Club. Sseko Designs is a company that employs young women between the time they graduate high school and can attend university. Half of what they earn is saved for tuition and at the time of tuition is due Sseko matches their saves for the term.

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