Half The Sky Summary

In the world today, women have a say in what they want to do and things that they desire to do. Back in the day, before the 1800’s, women had to be submissive to their male counterparts and do according to what was required of them. In the end, this led to the demeaning of the woman and the concept that women were inferior to men. Even though this concept and perception changed, there have been some countries and regions of the world that have not yet recognized the equality that women deserve. Such areas do not allow women to vote, attend school, have a say in the community, and the women are at the mercy of their husbands, fathers or male superiors (Hartmann, Susan M).

“Women aren’t the problem but the solution. The plight of girls is no more a tragedy than an opportunity” (Kristof & WuDunn, 2009, p. xviii). This quote does an excellent job of introducing the issues discussed in the book Half the Sky. In this book, Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn present us with the issue of the unjust and cruel treatment of women in today’s world. Women throughout the world are treated in unthinkably bad ways, but the majority of people are not even aware of the suffering these women face on a daily basis. According to Kristof and WuDunn (2009), “Women aged fifteen through forty-four are more likely to be maimed or die from male violence than from cancer, malaria, traffic accidents, and war combined” (p. 61). However, Kristof and WuDunn (2009) also point out that if something dramatic such as a school shooting or bombing takes place, it makes breaking news, and everyone is aware of it all at once (p. xiv). Plenty of women are being mistreated every minute of

The culture of Mango Street lends itself to espousing two main gender roles for women, most importantly the role of mother and caretaker, and less significantly, as sexual figure. Women on Mango Street commonly embrace or are forced to embrace at least one of these roles. Marin, a woman who takes care of her cousins by day and sits outside smoking by night, easily embodies both roles. Sally particularly exemplifies that women cannot get away from the gender roles that bind them. In her family, being a female means becoming a vulnerable person for the man to control. However, Sally prefers to ignore this gender role and advertise herself as a seductress. As she agrees to give “a kiss for each” boy (Cisneros 97) in exchange for her keys back, “beauty is linked to sexual coercion …; there are no promises of marriage here, only promises of giving back to Sally what is already hers” (Wissman). Her family rejects his role, though to some extent accepted by Mango Street. By accepting the alternate gender role, Sally tries to break away from the gender role her family expects of her. However, she is unsuccessful. To escape from her father, Sally is “married before eighth grade” (Cisneros 101) to an equally controlling man who “won’t let her talk on the telephone” or “look out the window” (Cisneros 102). The marriage is a way

People have their own purposes and reasons why they undertake their missions. For example, Farah Ahmedi climbed a steep mountain on a prosthetic leg to reach freedom. Aengus went through "hollow and hilly lands" to find a "glimmering girl" and true love. Rikki-Tikki-Tavi fought dangerous cobras to protect his family and the ones he cared for. These three characters all had different reasons for doing what they did. Farah wanted to achieve freedom, while Aengus and Rikki-Tikki-Tavi fought obstacles to be with the ones they love; however, all three characters shared the ability to be courageous to accomplish their goals.

In the novel, Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide, written by authors Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn in 2009, these two call attention to the oppression of women. These authors label the incidents that occur throughout our world involving women oppression as an epidemic of our generation. The novel demonstrates the severity of sex trafficking, sexual violence, and lack of education of women that are seen amongst us. There exists many relations of opportunities concerning educational and professional studies among the women portrayed in the novel and myself. Although, related opportunities are seen, the underlying severity of what these women endure to reach those opportunities are much more challenging than mine.

Life is often hard for most of the people, particularly women in general as they are the ones who are still considered as a “weaker gender.” It is hard for those poor women in developing countries like Afghanistan, who cannot afford basic needs such as clothing, shelter and transportation. Women are titled as care-givers. Although, life consists of many challenges and obstacles that everybody goes through, the way one approaches such challenges and reacts to it varies from person to person. Also, overcoming such hardships of life strengthens one’s soul and it enables them to reveal their inner strength and true character. In Afghanistan, in order for a woman to survive, she must handle adverse situations both physically and emotionally.

Can you imagine being sold to someone that consistently beats you every day and also makes you sell your body for money that you don’t even get too keep. In “Half the Sky”, the author Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn gives the readers a glimpse of the oppression of women worldwide. “Half the Sky” is one of the most important books I have ever read. I would highly recommend this book to everyone. The first three pages I read already had me in tears. What makes this book so outstanding to me was reading and learning about all these different women and girls that has suffered in a way I didn’t think people were doing. Some of the stories were dealt with sex trafficking, maternal death, attacks on women, and not sending girls to school because of income. But the moving portrayals of the survivors improve the issues. Many of these survivors are healthy and doing very well. I never thought most of these stories that was in the book was going on in the world.

This book is a crucial dose of reality for those of us that are spoiled by the comforts we have grown used too. Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn explain in the book “Half the Sky” why empowering women in the developing world is ethically right and extremely vital.It is a gripping story of how customs and culture have historically oppressed women. The strength of the human rights movement and of actual change across all cultures is going to be asteadfast task of courageous women who give themselves permission to say no to so many years of unthinkable tyrannical cultural customs and fight for a new way of life. Many of us close our eyes

The book “Global Woman” edited by Barbara Ehrenreich and Arlie Russell Hochschild focuses on the lives of women that leave their third world country to work in homes as nannies or servants and others even sex work. These women take on that labor without knowing what results will come from their desperate action. The authors explain and recount the stories of many of the women whom have had to sacrifice their lives. These women sacrifice it all to provide for themselves and their families and give them a better life, this is told through different chapters.

In this book they tell how women are promised work, then sold into sexual slavery and imprisonment, while authorities turn a blind eye. They tell how these women are beaten, and raped, and drugged if they try to resist the men who have bought them; how many contract AIDS from forced sex work without protection, and die in their twenties; and how returning them

Ann Levine and Naomi Neft's article "Women in Today's World" asserts that although the status of females in developed countries has vastly improved with society's movement toward a more gender-equal condition, the majority of women remain in a dire state of oppression. Women are more impoverished, illiterate, unemployed, and more destitute than men. In spite of some women's improvements under developed countries' more progressive, gender-equal regimes, education, literacy rates, employment, civil rights, health, and public representation remain substandard for most of the world's females.

The heat wave of the summer of 1952, Djinda wiped her hands against her dress. Her mother would kill her, it was dirty and the pink had faded. Her feet were bare and she hurried across the burning sand toward the small house her father had built. They’d both compromised each of their cultures; her father could do whatever he wanted that involved his culture but as long as he built her mother a house. This had been before she was born; her mother had also wanted to go to the hospital for her birth but had compromised to let the women of her husband’s tribe in there with her – much to the doctor’s protests.

Half the Sky written by Nicholas D. Kristoff and Sheryl WuDunn is a novel that in dept depicts some of the horrific cases of the oppression of women and girls in developing countries.The novel takes you through Africa and Asia, with detailed accounts of how so many women have been treated poorly simply because of their status and sex. Not only does the novel give you shocking and almost surprising information that most people in more developed countries don’t know, because they are sheltered by their countries ways; It shows the light at the end of the tunnel, that women can rise from this status of oppression, that by being educated, by speaking up and giving ourselves a voice, we can overcome these barriers and achieve greatness, no matter where we are or the troubles we face along the way. The excerpt that I chose is a brief

Nicolas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn’s novel, Half the Sky, is primarily a call for social equality and freedom from oppression for women across the globe. The authors are actively taking the first step of achieving a global feminist movement by informing Westerners of the injustices are that are being done to women worldwide in the name of tradition and culture; they do this through personal stories and by exposing legal or cultural inequalities. As Cynthia Enloe (2004) writes in The Curious Feminist, “if something is accepted as “traditional”- inheritance passing through the male line…it can be

Although they have been given more rights and equality, women still lack fairness in areas such as education, domestic abuse, crime, and lower class value. Cassandra Clifford states in her article “Are Girls still marginalized? Discrimination and Gender Inequality in Today’s Society”, “Woman and girls are abused by their husbands and fathers, young girls are exploited by sex tourism and trafficking, girls in many countries are forced into arranged marriages at early ages. Twice as many women are illiterate as men, due to the large gap in education, and girls are still less likely to get jobs and excel in the work place than boys.” She describes some of the issues that women face today around the world. These issues are what keep society from coming together to form a better world.