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Half the Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity for Women Worldwide, by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn. Vintage Books. 2010.
Ever wanted to fight global poverty? The answer is simple: "UNLEASH THE POTENTIAL OF WOMEN!!!
Attend to the needs of impoverished women and elevate the future of their nations. Through a series of stories of women in many poor countries, this married couple Kristof and WuDunn encourages their readers to pay attention to the women, give them a little (such as a goat, or small amount of money and opportunities for education) , and watch them turn their efforts into gold.
The first several chapters of this book concentrate on the slaves of the 21st century through the horrors of trafficking and slave trade. In their dire poverty, women resorted to prostitution to make a living and put bread on their family tables. Many third world women (and girls) followed invitations "for a better life" and a "chance to study aboard" and found themselves enslaved instead. Rape and the accompanying health problems ruined the lives of many women (and little girls) and made them infertile and left them with suffering and diseases that lasted a lifetime.
Another section of the book deals with how important education is in the lives of all women, especially of impoverished women. Give them a chance to be educated and watch their opportunities for advancement blossom. This section offers stories from many poor women who made good after receiving an education. Incentives were offered and women accepted these with open arms and raised the status of their home life, their childbearing, their number of children who did not die in infancy, the possibility of providing proper nourishment for their families, and so much more.
The book contains names and addresses of many organizations working for the improvement of the status of women in disadvantaged countries, and it offers invitations for involvement in these ways of alleviating poverty and raising the standard of living of the poor. (Thanks to Sr. Irene Hartman OP for this review)
Hardback. Kindle version available.
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Saint of the Week
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Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179): December 17
Hildegard was a most remarkable woman, and one of the greatest figures of the 12th century. This German mystic was a poet and a prophet, a physician and a moralist. She fearlessly rebuked popes and bishops, princes and lay people.
Becoming a nun at 15, Hildegard led an uneventful life for the next 17 years. But more and more she found herself foretelling the future in her conversations. After she became prioress of her community she felt the need to begin writing down the visions and revelations that were coming to her. The archbishop of Mainz examined her writings and declared, "These visions come from God." Encouraged, she began her greatest work, 26 visions dealing with God and man, creation, redemption and the Church. Full of apocalyptic language, warnings and prophesies, the writing took 10 years to complete. Pope Eugenius III examined the results and cautiously told Hildegard to continue to write whatever the Holy Spirit told her to publish.
With the blessing of the pope, Hildegard, overcoming much opposition, built a larger monastery for her nuns in a place that had been revealed to her in a vision. The new monastery had such things as running water for the 50 women religious who resided there. And Hildegard was able to entertain the community with hymns and canticles for which she wrote both the music and the words. She composed a sacred cantata and wrote 50 allegorical homilies to be used for community reading.
Her more than 300 letters, written to popes and kings, to clergy and abbesses, are full of warnings and prophecies. As was to be expected, she was widely criticized by some, including her own nuns, while others valued her counsel. Despite sickness, she continued to write. One book was on natural history, another on medicine. Some of her ideas on blood circulation and mental illness were far ahead of her time.
Hildegard was named "Doctor of the Church" by Pope Benedict XVI in 2012; she is one of only four women to hold this title (with Catherine of Siena, Teresa of Avila, Therese Lisieux)
americancatholic.org site
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