Women hold up half the sky

This proverb attributed to the Chinese is the basis for the title of a book I've just finished reading, and it has totally rocked my world. It's in the sidebar menu of books I've read this year and I highly, highly, HIGHLY recommend it. The subject matter is the ways in which women are exploited, abused, and discriminated against worldwide, and what ordinary people, including the victimized women themselves are doing about it. I wasn't aware that it was possible to be horrified AND inspired at the same time - until now. Subjects include - obstetric fistula, female genital cutting, disproportionate female illiteracy, disproportionate female poverty, spousal abuse, mass rape as a weapon of war, maternal mortality, forced prostitution, and honor killings. A lot of heavy, controversial topics - ones that need to be talked about way more than they actually are.

I am not sure why, but I've never been a feminist's feminist. I believe in the equality of the sexes and believe that discrimination in any form is wrong. But I've never been one out marching in the street against any particular cause, nor have I ever been particularly inspired to take up a specifically pro-women's cause - until recently. Whether it's random (which I doubt) or whether it's the knowledge that I'm carrying a girl right now, I don't know. But all of a sudden I feel very strongly that unless we as a human race value our girls just as much as we value our boys, we will not get very far in solving many enormous issues facing our world.

Most of us know about the now-fading Chinese practice of female infanticide (which, I found out a few years ago, was also widespread in India). I knew about female genital cutting from having read Warrior Marks by Alice Walker (a book I also highly recommend), and from working in my current field. But I did not know that lack of access to iodine can affect IQ by as much as 10-15 points in utero, and that girl fetuses are especially susceptible to this. And that it would cost a ridiculously low price to fix, all things considered - $19 million to iodize salt worldwide. Not very glamorous, but consider the impact it would have on learning capacity. Or the fact that providing girls with school uniforms - that helps them stay in school - reduces teen pregnancy and early marriage, as well as incidence of STIs. Or the fact that girls starve to death in disproportionate numbers where there is famine or drought. Boys and men get fed first, and women and girls second. Or the fact that girls in many developing nations miss school several days a month for their periods, just because they don't have access to reliable feminine hygiene products, nor the sanitation facilities to change them. How utterly ridiculous is that? How have I lived for so long taking for granted that I have never been in danger of starving to death, or being married off at 12, or missing a day of school because I don't have underwear or pads or a place to change them?

Not only did I come away horrified, I also came away inspired by what women (and men, this is not a man-hating book) are doing to change the status quo. I've written about how much Greg Mortenson inspires me, but now Edna Adan is one of my new heroes as well.

After you finish reading this book, you will want to do something to change the way things are. Fortunately, there is an appendix full of websites that for people who want to help change things - and there is a wide range of things people like you and me can do, from writing letters to politicians (which I am not a fan of, since I tend to dislike government BS anyway), to going abroad to volunteer at hospitals, to making microloans to women across the world to help them succeed at business. It's really cool. I'll make another post with the links that I found most inspiring.