Half the Sky Seminar Prep
CRITICAL REACTION
Half the Sky is a compilation of stories about turning the oppression of women into empowerment through the power of education. The chapters of this bestseller are composed of stories the authors witnessed first hand around the world. The first part of book focuses on stories about girls who were trafficked or sold into prostitution while the second part of the book focuses on maternal mortality. Finally, the last third of the book focused on promoting education throughout the entire world. It seemed to me that the authors suggested the solution to practically all problems worldwide is education and women empowerment. The book showcased many organizations, which support efforts the authors approve of and which the authors trust as credible and effective.
While I enjoyed this book and thought its points were credible and respectable, it is important to realize that it is biased and was created somewhat as a piece of propaganda. In the introduction, the authors addressed this openly, writing: “So let us be clear about this up front: We hope to recruit you to join an incipient movement to emancipate women and fight global poverty by unlocking women’s power as economic catalysts.” (Page xxii) With this biased recognized and knowing that their may be other solutions to world poverty besides women empowerment, this book had significant emotional impacts on me. One specific passage that was especially impactful was speaking about the cultural reasons why oppression is so common around the world: “One of the reasons that so many women and girls are kidnapped, trafficked, raped, and otherwise abused is that they grin and bear it. Stoic docility – in particular, acceptance of any decree by a man – is drilled into girls in much of the world from the time they are babies, and so they often do as they are instructed, even when the instruction is to smile while being raped twenty times a day.” (Page 47) It’s hard for me to accept that there is such grave inequality around the world, especially between genders.
It’s uninspiring that it’s hard for aid an impact on the villages because the treatment of girls is based cultural norms: “While empowering women is critical to overcome poverty, it represents a field of aid work that is particularly challenging in that it involves tinkering with the culture, religion, and family relations of a society that we often don’t fully understand.” Countries that are notorious for gender inequality aren’t striving for equality because their traditions advocate for inequality. Another passage that struck me describes a Cameroon woman named Prudence whose baby died before delivery. Prudence needed a C-section, but the local doctor refused to perform the surgery before the family paid and the family didn’t have the $100 they needed. The doctor went home and left Prudence to die. This was by far the most shocking story and severely disturbed me. This would never happen in America and it’s unsettling that this type of inequality exists in the world. According to John Rawls’ Theory of Equality and Veil of Ignorance, societies should be created so all people have the same opportunities in their lives. This is not yet true or even achievable in most parts of the world, and that it severely unsettling to me.
QUESTIONS
· What is the bias in this book?
· What may be some counter-arguments to the authors’ points based on their bias?
· Did this book inspire you to give more to charitable causes? If so, are you skeptical of those drives because the book didn’t show any other arguments except for their own?
· Which story was the most striking to you? Do you remember one in particular? Why do you think you remember that specific story?
· What was the authors’ goal and do you think they achieved it?
Half the Sky is a compilation of stories about turning the oppression of women into empowerment through the power of education. The chapters of this bestseller are composed of stories the authors witnessed first hand around the world. The first part of book focuses on stories about girls who were trafficked or sold into prostitution while the second part of the book focuses on maternal mortality. Finally, the last third of the book focused on promoting education throughout the entire world. It seemed to me that the authors suggested the solution to practically all problems worldwide is education and women empowerment. The book showcased many organizations, which support efforts the authors approve of and which the authors trust as credible and effective.
While I enjoyed this book and thought its points were credible and respectable, it is important to realize that it is biased and was created somewhat as a piece of propaganda. In the introduction, the authors addressed this openly, writing: “So let us be clear about this up front: We hope to recruit you to join an incipient movement to emancipate women and fight global poverty by unlocking women’s power as economic catalysts.” (Page xxii) With this biased recognized and knowing that their may be other solutions to world poverty besides women empowerment, this book had significant emotional impacts on me. One specific passage that was especially impactful was speaking about the cultural reasons why oppression is so common around the world: “One of the reasons that so many women and girls are kidnapped, trafficked, raped, and otherwise abused is that they grin and bear it. Stoic docility – in particular, acceptance of any decree by a man – is drilled into girls in much of the world from the time they are babies, and so they often do as they are instructed, even when the instruction is to smile while being raped twenty times a day.” (Page 47) It’s hard for me to accept that there is such grave inequality around the world, especially between genders.
It’s uninspiring that it’s hard for aid an impact on the villages because the treatment of girls is based cultural norms: “While empowering women is critical to overcome poverty, it represents a field of aid work that is particularly challenging in that it involves tinkering with the culture, religion, and family relations of a society that we often don’t fully understand.” Countries that are notorious for gender inequality aren’t striving for equality because their traditions advocate for inequality. Another passage that struck me describes a Cameroon woman named Prudence whose baby died before delivery. Prudence needed a C-section, but the local doctor refused to perform the surgery before the family paid and the family didn’t have the $100 they needed. The doctor went home and left Prudence to die. This was by far the most shocking story and severely disturbed me. This would never happen in America and it’s unsettling that this type of inequality exists in the world. According to John Rawls’ Theory of Equality and Veil of Ignorance, societies should be created so all people have the same opportunities in their lives. This is not yet true or even achievable in most parts of the world, and that it severely unsettling to me.
QUESTIONS
· What is the bias in this book?
· What may be some counter-arguments to the authors’ points based on their bias?
· Did this book inspire you to give more to charitable causes? If so, are you skeptical of those drives because the book didn’t show any other arguments except for their own?
· Which story was the most striking to you? Do you remember one in particular? Why do you think you remember that specific story?
· What was the authors’ goal and do you think they achieved it?