Thursday, December 2nd 2010
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| Two teenage girls in the room they share in a brothel run by Sav Channa. (Photo: Nicholas D. Kristof/The New York Times) |
By Anastasiya Matsveyenka
Midwood High School
Adviser: Catherine Kaczmarek
First place, Arts/Entertainment
New York Daily News
Srey Rath, a 15 year old Cambodian girl, wanted to earn money for her family by washing dishes in Thailand. Instead, the man who promised her the job sold her into a brothel, where fighting back just meant more beatings and rape.
Woineshet Zebene, a 13 year old girl from Ethiopia, was peacefully sleeping in her hut, when four men stormed in and kidnapped her. Battering and raping went on for two days until she finally escaped. Upon her return to the village, she was expected to marry one of her rapists, Aberew Jemma.
Dina, a 17 year old from Kindu, Congo, was returning home from her farm, when five militia men surrounded her. They told her, if she screamed, she will be dead. All five of them, one after the other raped her. When she was pinned down, one of the men forced a stick inside her.
What do all of these stories have in common? Oppression of women.
Whether it’s a mother killing her baby girl because she believes girls are unlucky, or a militia man thinking that he has the right to rape any woman he desires, tyranny towards females exists. The trick is not to only change the law, but to change people’s points of view through education.
Nicholas D. Kristof, NY Times journalist and his wife, Sheryl WuDunn, former NY Times journalist and editor, portray in their new nonfiction book, Half the Sky, how, if given the opportunity, women can shine even in the darkest corners of life.
The title is part of an ancient Chinese proverb: Women hold up half the sky. I’m guessing the other half lies on the shoulders of men. When either side falls, it’s harder for those who are still standing. Just like the 13 colonies – ‘United we stand, divided we fall’.
The shock of statistics in each chapter is personalized with an individual story giving the whole book a more humane feeling. Photographs of women and girls throughout the book make reading their life trials feel as though they are right beside me.
Kristof compares oppression of women to slavery. Just like there was a beginning for equality with the Emancipation Proclamation, this could possibly be the beginning for emancipating women and girls worldwide. The quote in chapter two in Half the Sky cleverly analyzes slavery. “Although volume upon volume is written to prove slavery a very good thing, we never hear of the man who wishes to take the good of it, by being a slave himself,” said Abraham Lincoln.
Kristof came into a brothel in western Cambodia and pretended he was a customer. The woman pimp sold him a girl, Srey Neth, for $150 and gave him a receipt. What shocked me the most was when I realized over the weekend I found this amazing pair of shoes for $145, which I didn’t purchase. If I bought them I would have my shoes and a receipt, and Kristof bought a human being for almost the same price and has a receipt. I can’t wrap my head around the idea that I can buy a woman for $150 and own her.
Of course Kristof bought Srey Neth and another girl, Srey Momm, for $203 only so they can go back to their families. Unfortunately, buying them is the easy part. Because girls are usually dependent on drugs that pimps give them, they return to the brothels voluntarily..
Compared to the prenatal care in the U.S., where practically every inch is though out and planned even before the pregnancy, for many women in Africa becoming pregnant is a death sentence. One woman dies of childbirth around the world every minute.
Every person should read this book. It’s not only inspiring but also real because while reading I wanted some parts to be surreal. All these women, who survived rape, beatings, acid burns, fistulas, and more, and are still able to not give up and turn their horrific experience into strength - truly hold up half the sky.
