“Women hold up half the sky”, a Chinese Proverb, exemplifies the importance of women to humanity. It is the woman who carries life into this world, one of the most valued feats in our society. Although women worldwide provide humanity with this extraordinary gift, many women are treated terribly globally. Half the Sky is a novel that shines light on some of the tribulations that women face in our global community. Half the Sky is a collection of personal stories from women worldwide that wanted to share their reality. Much of the subject matter presented in Half the Sky is extremely disturbing, and touches on issues of sex trafficking, prostitution, rape, sexual violence, drug use, AIDS, education and many more topics. An aspect that made
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While individuals belonging to first-world countries desire to help these women, they do not adapt their thinking to consider the cultural differences that exist. Due to these differences of worldviews, solutions that would work for developed countries, will not work for developing countries. The best way to get involved is to donate to an organization that is involved directly with women in third-world countries. Volunteers from various support organizations have established a personal connection with women in the respective areas. Therefore, by adapting and learning the new culture they know how to assist women in the most beneficial way. The most valuable insight I received while reading Half the Sky was the chapter on prohibition and prostitution. I was unaware of the complexities involved with sex trafficking, and the problems associated with dismantling the practice. Women are lured into modern-day slavery by false pretenses. . Many of the girls and women introduced have been kidnapped from their hometowns with promise of finding a job in the city. However, they are misled and sold to brothels and remain captives, and forced to perform sexual acts against their …show more content…
The chapter focuses on the main ways women are terrorized and justifications associated with each situation. The most disturbing narrative comes from Eastern Congo, which is “the world capital of rape” (Kristof & WuDunn, 2010, p.84) The Congolese terrorize women by raping them “with sticks or knives or bayonets, or else they fire their guns into the women’s vaginas.” (Kristof & WuDunn, 2010, p.84) The youngest fatality of their brutality was a three-year-old who had guns fired into her. Reading this gut-wrenching story left me extremely emotional. I personally don’t understand how someone can justify committing these obscene crimes against women. Many of the women from these Congolese villages live with their scars daily, which are painful reminders of the evil and vicious acts inhumane soldiers executed against them. Knowing this book was a required reading, I didn’t anticipate for the content to be so heavy, and moving. This particular passage had the most shock value to me, and motivated me to look into the matter with greater detail. As well as, let others know of the many injustices that plague women worldwide.
Another aspect of Half the Sky that surprised me was the multiple comparisons between the Atlantic slave trade, and current injustices happening worldwide. While I understand the authors wanted to create a context, the continuous links between these two different
While individuals belonging to first-world countries desire to help these women, they do not adapt their thinking to consider the cultural differences that exist. Due to these differences of worldviews, solutions that would work for developed countries, will not work for developing countries. The best way to get involved is to donate to an organization that is involved directly with women in third-world countries. Volunteers from various support organizations have established a personal connection with women in the respective areas. Therefore, by adapting and learning the new culture they know how to assist women in the most beneficial way. The most valuable insight I received while reading Half the Sky was the chapter on prohibition and prostitution. I was unaware of the complexities involved with sex trafficking, and the problems associated with dismantling the practice. Women are lured into modern-day slavery by false pretenses. . Many of the girls and women introduced have been kidnapped from their hometowns with promise of finding a job in the city. However, they are misled and sold to brothels and remain captives, and forced to perform sexual acts against their …show more content…
The chapter focuses on the main ways women are terrorized and justifications associated with each situation. The most disturbing narrative comes from Eastern Congo, which is “the world capital of rape” (Kristof & WuDunn, 2010, p.84) The Congolese terrorize women by raping them “with sticks or knives or bayonets, or else they fire their guns into the women’s vaginas.” (Kristof & WuDunn, 2010, p.84) The youngest fatality of their brutality was a three-year-old who had guns fired into her. Reading this gut-wrenching story left me extremely emotional. I personally don’t understand how someone can justify committing these obscene crimes against women. Many of the women from these Congolese villages live with their scars daily, which are painful reminders of the evil and vicious acts inhumane soldiers executed against them. Knowing this book was a required reading, I didn’t anticipate for the content to be so heavy, and moving. This particular passage had the most shock value to me, and motivated me to look into the matter with greater detail. As well as, let others know of the many injustices that plague women worldwide.
Another aspect of Half the Sky that surprised me was the multiple comparisons between the Atlantic slave trade, and current injustices happening worldwide. While I understand the authors wanted to create a context, the continuous links between these two different