Half the Sky, Sheryl WuDunn

On Friday I attended the January Series lecture featuring Sheryl WuDunn, one of the co-authors of the influential book, Half the Sky. The book tells the stories of oppression, gender based violence, and health problems many women face around the world, especially in developing and war-torn countries. WuDunn along with her husband Nicholas Kristof wrote this book using their gifts of journalism to bring attention to issues that are not normally talked about such as sex trafficking, and maternal mortality. The goal of the lecture in addition to the book is to bring awareness to the general public about these issues and bring about a movement to change and fight against the injustice many women face just because they are female. If you would like more information about the book, or topics visit: http://www.halftheskymovement.org/blog/P20 or you can view the PBS series based off this book (trailer is above). When looking at this lecture as a cultural artifact, it is very easy to see that this movement is trying to say that both men and women have an equal human purpose, and therefore both genders should be treated with respect. Women should be allowed to have education, and good nutrition just like the men in their villages. This book also highlights how many times our culture, or cultural attitudes can produce evil if individuals do not discern for themselves. For example the culture in some of these countries such as India, or the Congo, women live in a very patriarchal society. When women are not viewed as equal by the culture that can lead to families even selling off their own daughters into sex trafficking when if the daughter had the chance to become educated she would most likely be able to bring in more income through using her gifts to sell homemade goods, or by creating her own business. If individuals do not stop to process the cultural pressures around them it can be very easy to begin to see evil as normal, or acceptable which is very dangerous. Half the Sky and Sheryl WuDunn however do not leave the audience in despair but provide hope. Through many different solutions such as micro-lending, fair trade businesses, education, and supporting various aid organizations it is possible to further God's Kingdom and fight against the "Empire" of cultural lies, and standards. WuDunn left the audience with a great quote, "We have all won the lottery of life ..with that comes great responsibility."After learning all this information I am left with two questions. What are some other ways that we can help as students? What are my gifts that I can use to address this issue?