Book Review: Half the Sky
Half the Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity for Women Worldwide
by Nicholas D Kristof & Sheryl WuDunn
Knopf (2009)
By Irshad Manji (The New York Times), Sept. 17, 2009
An ancient Chinese proverb goes that women hold up half the sky. Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn want that to be appreciated — on the ground. In the opening pages of this gripping call to conscience, the husband-and-wife team come out swinging: “Gendercide,†the daily slaughter of girls in the developing world, steals more lives in any given decade “than all the genocides of the 20th century.†No wonder Kristof and WuDunn, whose coverage of China for The New York Times won them a Pulitzer Prize, declare the global struggle for women’s equality “the paramount moral challenge†of our era.
