Eddaoui

Half The Sky is written by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, two American journalists who have been traveling the countryside and the slums of Asia, Africa and MiddleEast for five years. The book gives examples of girls and women who were not just deprived the most basic human rights such as security, food and health care but who have been subject to an unbelievable level of cruelty such as sexual slavery, honor killings, mutilations and gang rape. This book is a shock to every reader who never experienced or knew about these kinds of violations to human dignity. Fortunately, women that were victims of such inhuman behaviors didnt mourn their sufferings throughout the rest of their lives, some of them turned to be real heroes and refused the oppression. The book has examples showing that women oppression is not inevitable and that women, in such oppressive animal societies, are not productive only because they never had the opportunity to exploit their potential. These women are stereotyped to be inferior than men because it seems to be the case since they grew up in societies that limit their role to sex and house work. Why do such barbaric societies continue oppressing women while they can be sometimes much more productive and helpful for their society than men? Gender inequality is a big issue in the developing world, which is ironically one reason for their economic and social underdevelopment. I believe that if women were given the opportunity, they would contribute positively to their countries economies by generating more wealth and educating better future generations. The book is plenty of individual stories of women passive only in appearance but that fate has made combative. It starts with the story of Rath, a Cambodian teenager who was trapped by a job agent who induced her to be prostitute in a brothel instead of a working as a dishwasher in a restaurant in Thailand (Kristof and WuDunn, xi). The teenager was raped by the

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owner of the brothel and then was forced to please customers to generate money for her boss. Fortunately, she was able to escape two months later, which is unusual for other girls cases, and met a social worker who helped her get in touch with the American Assistance for Cambodia. This organization donated $400 to buy her a cart so that she could become a street peddler. Rath grew her business, got married and helped feed and educate her younger brothers and sister. The $400 donated to her by the organization changes enormously her like. This is only a starting story. Saima, beaten by her husband and her step-mother and might got divorced because she was unable to give birth to a son, who, through microcredit, has become chief family and could improve the standard of living of her family by starting a her own small business (Kristof and WuDunn, p186). Her business created jobs to people in her village, including her husband. Mukhtar Mai, victim of gang rape who, instead of committing suicide like what all Pakistani women do after such event, spoke up and pursued the case, which was picked up by the international media creating pressure on the Pakistani government and the police to address the rape (Kristof and WuDunn, p76). The authors shared such success stories of women who suffered unbelievable atrocities, as to show that women oppression is not fatal and that there are strong women that only need a shot to turn their hidden energy into productive entrepreneurship and political will. In order to appeal for the reader, the authors used the following methodology. They showed pictures, sometimes heart breaking, of women that were subject to violence. This gave their text more vivacity to engage the reader in a reel world of suffering. The book also presents individuals who, through their purely humanitarian efforts, have had a difference to many women and at the same became an inspiration to others. Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn really wanted to convince their readers to commit to the cause of martyred women. They also

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gave at the end of the book a list of American organizations and associations that work to help women all over the world. Just by looking at the world, we can pursue that most underdeveloped societies are those that most oppress women. Women hold the half of the sky, a Chinese proverb meaning that women are fully bringing their unique gifts to their society, bringing their ways of holding up the sky, of making hard tasks achievable, of giving birth of generations that would hold the sky in the future. Chinese men made up a society that has been neglecting womens rights for centuries even though they have such wonderful proverb. Behind every great man, a woman, an Arab proverb that acknowledges that mens success is always helped by a womans care and assistance. However, Arab men are of those who most oppress women. And it is not surprising that such societies are of those the most vulnerable, because maybe men in such societies are not aware of the fact that women could help them improve the standards of living of their nations. Men are just worrying about their power. They are afraid that someday women will take over, that is why they prefer oppressing them. Living in an Arab nation, I confirm that the less educated men are those who oppress the women by beating them and treating them as subordinate human beings. This kind of oppression makes women unmotivated to continue their education, get into the job market, and further detrimental consequences. We have seen that nations that oppress women fail to reach their full potential. If these societies were to empower their women, would they be capable to improve economically?

The direct relationship between women empowerment and economic development is clear, though sometimes complex. First of all, if women have equal access to education as men, they would be more educated, have access to the job market, earn an income and spend more on

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the education and health care of their children and younger siblings. However, if they stay home, they would not generate any wealth; cooking and housework is an unproductive activity that has no added value to the economy. The contribution of women might be better than men. The book states that an early study found that womens income is more likely to be spent on nutrition and children health care (Kristof and WuDunn, p194). Consequently, children are healthier and better educated. Another study found that an increase in the fathers income, in some countries, is more likely to be spent on alcohol and prostitution rather than on their childrens needs (Kristof and WuDunn, p193). Those children represent tomorrows labor force; the more educated they are, the more skills they bring to the job market and the more productive it would be. Empowering women will help the future generations to be more educated and skilled to face economic challenges and eventually improve the economy of their countries. Women also tend to be more considerate and kind to people in their environment; women are generally less corrupt than men. When an international organization aimed to increase girls school attendance, they first started bribing father to not keep their girls home, or sell them to a foreigner, the money given to fathers had no seen improvements on the childs health, however, when the pension started to be given to mothers, childs overall health and nutrition improved significantly. Overall,

empowering women should be a priority towards fighting poverty and illiteracy in the developing world. Second of all, societies that oppress women dont take advantage of the creativity of women and their intelligence. Bill Gates commented on the fact Saudi Arabia aims to be among the top ten countries in technology, if you are not fully utilizing half the talent in the country, you are not going to get too close to the top ten (Kristof and WuDunn, p154) .Women represent half of the unexploited human resources of these economically backward countries, and it is

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obvious that not using all the inputs will not lead to a great output. For instance, the book states that women make up only 6 per cent of the nonagricultural labor force in Yemen, 9 per cent in Pakistan, whereas it is between 40 and 50 per cent in countries such as USA (Kristof and WuDunn, p159). Indeed, the rise of women is in fact a prerequisite for an Arab renaissance, according to the UN Arab Human Development Report (Kristof and WuDunn, p159). Women should be involved in other economic sector other than agriculture. This is to let them exploit their skills and let their countries achieve the success they wouldnt achieve otherwise. To conclude, women empowerment is a key factor to fight economic and social backwardness in the third world. Women economic participation is definitely the solution to many social problems. I personally was inspired by this book. I am now aware that the governments of third world countries, including Morocco, have a great opportunity to cease: helping women overcome male oppression. However, this is itself a big challenge since these governments are themselves dominated by men who, even though educated, have an inferiority view of women. This is why the intervention of international organizations is crucial to help change the culture first, then the people.

Eddaoui Bibliography

Kristof, N. D., & WuDunn, S. (2009). Half the sky: Turning oppression into opportunity for women worldwide. New York: Vintage Books