Half The Sky by NicholasD. Kristof and Sheryl DuDunn

The book is titled after an ancient Chinese proverb: Women hold up half the sky. Of course I liked that. 

The authors are a married couple, he is a Pulitzer prize winner for his op-ed columns in the Times. There is a bonus feature at the end, an appendix about Organizations Supporting Women in Developing Countries Worldwide,  and  websites with this headline: Four steps you can take in the next ten Minutes. In short it is about human rights violation: the oppression of women and girls in the developing world. 

An intensive and good read, giving perfect insight and also optimism! Yes. There are many stories, they are all based on interviews in a grim world! Telling the lives of women and girls abroad. Many stories. The lowly Pakistani girl who was raped by men from a higher caste. They expected her to go home and kill herself, as was the custom in her village, but she applied for redress and caught the attention of then-President Pervez Musharraf, who sent her $8,300 in compensation. Instead of being eternally grateful and shutting up, she started a school, learning to read and write along with her students. The attention she brought to the issue of rape in Pakistan sent Musharraf into fits, and she was hounded mercilessly by the government. But Musharraf is gone now, and the school still thrives. An Cambodian girl eventually escaped from her brothel and, with assistance from an aid group, built a thriving retail business that supports her family. An Ethiopian woman had her injuries repaired and in time became a surgeon. A Zimbabwean mother of five, counseled to return to school, earned her doctorate and became an expert on AIDS.
Through these stories, the authors help us see that the key to economic progress lies in unleashing women’s potential. They make clear how so many people have helped to do just that, and how we can each do our part. Throughout much of the world, the greatest unexploited economic resource is the female half of the population. Countries such as China have prospered precisely because they emancipated women and brought them into the formal economy. It can be done!