August 2010: Half the Sky (Kristoff and WuDunn)

Post date: Aug 21, 2010 5:27:22 PM

Many thanks to Mary Ann for welcoming us to her lovely north Berkeley home for our discussion of Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide on August 18, 2010.

About a dozen of us, from class of 1947 through 1995, discussed the many international women's issues the book covered, from sex slavery (human trafficking) in Asia to prostitution in Oakland, from women's microfinance in India to the bay area's Women's Initiative for Self Employment, with Smithies on the board and staff (see Spring 2010 SAQ article), to education for girls worldwide. We appreciated that the book focused on successful solutions, and encouraged engagement even though much of the news they reported is rather depressing.

We were very curious what it's like for an entering college student to read the book -- is it inspiring? Off-putting? Overwhelming? Certainly plenty of discussions for college orientation can arise, and it will be a treat for the incoming Smithies to hear from the author(s) directly.

Suggestions for what we can do to help address the issues the book raised included donating and volunteering at the Alameda County Food Bank, which our club does usually once a year, donating to some of the international organizations the book describes, and led to mention of the scholarship fund the EBSC book club contributes to, which is able to provide almost $20,000 financial a year to an east-bay Smith student from the endowed fund that was started in our club many, many years ago.

From the comfort of Mary Ann's living room, the discomforts of living without fresh, safe, running drinking water, dangers of refugee camps, high maternal mortality, and cultural oppression of women were distant troubles. We have to go out there into the world where these struggles exist to truly conceive of them -- and to make lasting change, we must empower and educate not only the women themselves but their whole communities. The authors stressed that to bring about change, we need more Americans to spend time in underdeveloped countries to understand the problems. Instead of studying art in Florence, college students could be encouraged to work in a poor community. They also portrayed how much more effective change is if it comes from within the community itself -- either from a local group or one person who can mobilize a group -- than if it comes from a foreign NGO.