This is a book that is both deeply disturbing and incredibly uplifting. It's disturbing in the sense that countless women are still being treated horribly all across the globe and the authors give the numerous detailed accounts of these atrocities which are very hard to read. But it's also uplifting because they all also include stories of many individual women who have managed to overcome seemingly unsupportable obstacles to create better lives for themselves, their children and for humankind itself. A really eye opening read ! ( )

Amazing book that outlined various injustices around the world towards women, from sex trafficking/slavery, to inequity in education, to lack of maternal and infant health care. The authors stage these issues not solely as women issues, but as human rights issues, and then offers stories of how individual women have risen out of oppression on their own or through the help of others. A very inspiring book. ( )

A passionate call to arms against the oppression of women around the world -- "the central moral challenge" of our time. Through inspiring stories of extraordinary women, the authors show that the most effective way to fight global poverty is to unleash the potential of women. They also offer an uplifting do-it-yourself tool kit for those who want to help.

“…more girls have been killed in the last fifty years, precisely because they were girls, than men were killed in all the wars of the twentieth century. More girls are killed in this routine ‘gendercide’ in any one decade than people were slaughtered in all the genocides of the twentieth century.”

Sex trafficking, forced prostitution, honor killings, rape and not giving girls the same medical attention and treatments as boys are given are all reasons for the above. “Every year, at least another 2 million girls worldwide disappear because of gender discrimination.” And barely any of this makes the ’news’. Horrific. The firsthand accounts of the cruelty and abuse suffered by women made my stomach turn. And ache. Reading about a world in which a girl's virginity is more important than her life, was just unfathomable. But it happens. And is happening.

“…far more women and girls are shipped into brothels each year in the early twenty-first century than African slaves were shipped into slave plantations each year in the eighteenth or nineteenth centuries…”

"Women hold up half the sky." - Chinese proverb ( )

Half the Sky is an extremely powerful book detailing the suffering many women in developing countries face on a daily basis. Kristof details the cultural beliefs in many regions which perpetuate discrimatory practices which women may face, from lack of medical care in preference of boys, lack of educational opportunities, genital mutilation, forced prostitution, and second class citizenship. As hard as these realities are to face, and as depressing as the information may be, Kristof does describe some programs which are working, and opportunities to help on a small scale. This is an important book which should make all Americans appreciate how lucky we are living in the U.S. ( )