Half the Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity for Women Worldwide

Founded by Ruchira Gupta and 22 women sex workers in 2002, Apne Aap Women Worldwide is a grassroots Indian organization. Its mission is to empower girls and women, especially those from marginalized communities, to resist and put an end to human trafficking. The organization puts girls and women into small groups to help them collectively access their basic human rights.

Founded by Bill Drayton, Ashoka is an organization that provides support and training to social entrepreneurs around the world. These individuals, called Ashoka Fellows, tackle some of the most pressing social issues, including women’s rights.

The Dalits, or Untouchables, represent the lowest caste in India. The caste system represents the Hindus’ traditional religious and social hierarchy. Simply because of their birth into the Dalits caste, the broader Indian public deems Dalits individuals impure and less than human. Human rights abuses have occurred against the Dalits for millennia, and they’re often relegated to the worst jobs. They live in constant fear of being raped, beaten, or publicly humiliated by upper-caste members. Dalit women face some of the worst oppression, including an extremely high number of sexual assaults, often for trying to protect their family. Police generally refuse to help the Dalits. Grassroots efforts are starting to change the cultural stigma against them.

According to the UNFPA, female genital mutilation (FGM)—also known as female genital cutting or female circumcision—refers to any procedure involving the partial or total removal of the external female genitalia for non-medical reasons, including cultural reasons. Today, approximately 200 million girls and women have been subjected to FGM. While it primarily occurs in sub-Saharan Africa and the Arab states, it can be found throughout the world. The custom can occur at birth or in the early teenage years, depending on the cultural context. FGM rates are on the rise, partly because of global population growth. Estimates hold that 68 million girls will be cut over the next decade if FGM practices continue on their current trajectory. The purpose of FGM “is to minimize a woman’s sexual pleasure and hence make her less likely to be promiscuous” (222).

According to the UNFPA, female genital mutilation (FGM)—also known as female genital cutting or female circumcision—refers to any procedure involving the partial or total removal of the external female genitalia for non-medical reasons, including cultural reasons. Today, approximately 200 million girls and women have been subjected to FGM. While it primarily occurs in sub-Saharan Africa and the Arab states, it can be found throughout the world. The custom can occur at birth or in the early teenage years, depending on the cultural context. FGM rates are on the rise, partly because of global population growth. Estimates hold that 68 million girls will be cut over the next decade if FGM practices continue on their current trajectory. The purpose of FGM “is to minimize a woman’s sexual pleasure and hence make her less likely to be promiscuous” (222).

The term Global South is used interchangeably with developing countries, while the term Global North is used interchangeably with developed countries. Countries in the Global South, such as China or India, are poorer and less economically developed than countries in the Global North, such as the US or European countries. The authors focus on the Global South because they believe oppression impacts women more severely and lethally in those countries than in the Global North. Many people take issue with the terms “Global South” and “Global North” because they originated in colonialism and racism, which created a false division among countries by ascribing a higher value to some countries (i.e., those in the Global North) and allowed other countries to be subjugated and exploited (i.e., those in the Global South).

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) attacks the immune system. Primarily a sexually transmitted infection (STI), it can also spread via contact with infected blood, via shared needles, or from a mother to her children during pregnancy, childbirth, or breastfeeding. Left untreated, HIV can lead to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), which is potentially life-threatening. No cure currently exists for either HIV or AIDS, but medication can prevent the progression of the disease. Antiviral treatments for HIV have decreased the number of deaths caused by AIDS around the world. However, such treatments remain expensive, especially for people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds and in the Global South. Many women whom human trafficking traps into having sex in brothels are not allowed to use condoms, increasing their risk of contracting HIV/AIDS.

The term honor killings refers to a family killing a daughter it believes has violated the family’s honor, including by behaving immodestly or falling in love with a man that the family doesn’t want the girl to marry. The authors note that families rarely have proof of this dishonor. In many cases, the victim’s autopsy reveals that the hymen is intact, meaning that the daughter didn’t have sex. Kristof and WuDunn suggest that “the paradox of honor killings is that societies with the most rigid moral codes end up sanctioning behavior that is supremely immoral: murder” (82).

Human trafficking is the action or practice of illegally moving people from one place to another for sexual exploitation. According to the US State Department, traffickers move around one million people across international borders each year, and most are women and girls whom traffickers sexually exploit. However, not all sex slaves, such as Meena in Chapter 1, cross borders. In fact, the State Department acknowledges that millions of people are trapped in brothels in their own country. The authors take issue with the term “sex trafficking” primarily because it doesn’t encompass how this practice is a form of modern-day slavery. In fact, they prefer the term slaver to trafficker, although they use both in the book. Traffickers manipulate women through force, fraud, or coercion to engage in commercial sex. While the authors focus primarily on the Global South, they underscore that anyone can be a victim of sex trafficking, including in the US.

Founded by Roshaneh Zafar, Kashf is an example of a microfinance organization. Located in Pakistan, it “lends almost exclusively to women, in groups of twenty-five, who guarantee one another’s debts and meet every two weeks to make their payments and discuss a social issue” (187). The meetings are held in women’s homes, creating a space strictly for women. Because the program enables women to earn money, it helps improve their status among family members, as it did for Saima Muhammad. To further help Pakistani women, Kashf began to offer life and health insurance and home improvement loans. In addition, it started a bank, which helped women build their savings.

The term maternal mortality ratio (MMR) “refers to the number of maternal deaths for every 100,000 live births, although the data collection is so poor that the figures are only rough estimates” (98). Based on MMR data, Ireland is the safest place to give birth. The MMR in the US is 11. In contrast, the MMR in South Asia and Africa is substantially higher. Importantly, the MMR only measures risk for a woman during one pregnancy.

Microfinance is a category of financial services that provides financial support to groups that traditional banking typically excludes, including individuals from low-income backgrounds. Most microfinance organizations lend only to women. According to the authors, “microfinance has done more to bolster the status of women, and to protect them from abuse, than any laws could accomplish” (187).

Somaliland was an autonomous region in northern Somalia. In 1991, its people declared independence. Currently, no foreign power recognizes Somaliland’s sovereignty. However, it has its own government and democratic elections.

Sonagachi (which means golden tree) is a red-light district in Kolkata, India. Health experts were concerned about the spread of HIV/AIDS among women who were sex workers in India, so they launched the Sonagachi Project in 1992 with backing from the World Health Organization. The project helped create the Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee (DMSC), a sex workers’ union that encouraged condom use, which helped reduce HIV/AIDS transmission. The authors note that the DMSC became media-savvy, offering tours of the red-light district and proclaiming that no underage girls were sex slaves. However, as the authors examined the project’s data, they immediately saw issues. For example, the condom use rate wasn’t as high as officials claimed. Moreover, the DMSC apparently “provided cover for traffickers” (28), who continued to trap girls into sex work.