Half the Sky

Learning to Speak Up. Kristof and WuDunn claim that one reason so many women are oppressed is the societal expectation for women to be docile. The authors make clear that they don’t blame the victims, since practical and cultural reasons motivate women to be complacent. But, the authors argue, as long as women and girls allow themselves to be abused, abuse will continue. Education can show girls that submissiveness isn’t inherent to being a woman.

In the Indian slum of Kasturba Nagar, Usha Narayane, a young Dalit woman (the typically poor, darker-skinned Untouchable caste), showed what can happen when women self-advocate. Remarkably, Usha’s parents managed to send her and her siblings to university. Usha was visiting home one day when she encountered Akku Yadav.

Akku Yadav, a higher-caste man, was the ruling mobster of Kasturba Nagar, a place virtually unprotected by law enforcement. His preferred way to terrorize the community was rape and sexual humiliation, such as raping a pregnant woman in public, or burning a naked man with cigarettes and forcing him to dance in front of his daughter. The more grotesque Akku Yadav’s crimes, the authors write, the more likely residents were to submit, especially since the stigma of rape discouraged survivors from telling others.

Akku Yadav didn’t target Usha’s family, because their education made them more likely to receive aid from police. One day, when Akku Yadav terrorized Usha’s neighbor, smashing furniture and threatening to kill the family, Usha reported him to the police. In retaliation, Akku Yadav and forty thugs surrounded her house with a bottle of acid to throw on her, demanding she withdraw the complaint. Usha barricaded the door and called the police, who never came, while Akku Yadav yelled lurid descriptions of how he would rape and kill her. Usha turned on the cooking gas and threatened to light a match if they broke into the house, blowing them all up.

A crowd of Kasturba Nagar residents, who took pride in Usha’s schooling, were enraged on her behalf. They threw stones at Akku Yadav’s mob until it retreated, then burned down Akku Yadav’s house. The police then arrested him for his own protection, and a rigged bail hearing was held. Hundreds of women from Kasturba Nagar marched to the courtroom, where Akku Yadav mocked and threatened them. The women attacked, throwing chili pepper in the police officers’ faces and knifing Akku Yadav until he was killed, even slicing off his penis in retaliation for his having once cut off a woman’s breasts.

Kasturba Nagar erupted in celebration. Although Usha wasn’t at the courtroom, she did organize the attack and was arrested. Enormous resistance from the women, however, led to Usha’s release. All the woman claimed responsibility, reasoning that if hundreds participated in Akku Yadav’s killing, they could not all be imprisoned. Now, the authors report, Usha is certain that Akku Yadav’s gang will try to retaliate, but says she isn’t worried. Usha became the hero of Kasturba Nagar, and the slum’s new beloved leader.

The authors write, “The saga of Kasturba Nagar, is an unsettling one, with no easy moral,” as they do not condone murder of anyone. But, the women of Kasturba Nagar found the voice to demand their own rights. It’s necessary, the authors argue, for outsiders to support such women who resist docility. The most effective tool of empowerment, though, is girls’ education. In the end, oppressed women and girls must take leadership in the human rights revolution.

The New Abolitionists. Kristof and WuDunn introduce Zach Hunter in Atlanta, who was twelve when he heard that modern slavery existed, and started the organization Loose Change to Loosen Chains (LC2LC) to fundraise for modern slavery abolitionism. He belongs to the recent surge of social entrepreneurs. Bill Drayton explains social entrepreneurs as people who do not simply work within current aid or government bureaucracies, but create their own context by forming a new movement or initiative. From the 1700s to the 1980s, most economic growth was confined to half the world’s population, Drayton says, but now that transformation has extended to developing countries and change is happening rapidly.

Women’s emancipation would be much stronger, Kristof and WuDunn argue, were it backed by more social entrepreneurs. Advocacy beyond the UN and aid bureaucracies is necessary, they write—for instance, investment in charismatic leaders in the tradition of Martin Luther King, Jr. would stimulate the movement. Today, women are often excluded from political office, but occupy most social entrepreneurial roles outside government, bringing extraordinary change worldwide.

Sunitha Krishnan is one such social entrepreneur. A social worker in Hyderabad, India, she has a small stature and a detached manner when speaking about the abuses she underwent, the authors write. One day, a group of men, who opposed Sunitha’s literacy work in a village, raped her, which caused the community to ostracize her. The rape and its effects motivated Sunitha to advocate for sex workers. Soon after her decision, a police crackdown on Hyderabad brothels, with no resources for the newly homeless sex workers, led to suicides and devastation among the sex workers and their children. In response, Sunitha collaborated with a Catholic missionary (despite being Hindu herself) and founded Prajwala, a school and shelter for rescued prostitutes and prostitutes.

Sunitha worked on the ground, confronting pimps and gathering evidence with which to convince police to raid brothels. Thugs retaliated by stabbing to death Sunitha’s first employee, himself a former pimp. It became clear that Sunitha and her workers were in serious danger, so she shifted her approach to work more with the government and aid groups. Prajwala has expanded to also rehabilitate former prostitutes and train them in vocational skills—not only in making crafts, but in welding and carpentry, uncommon careers for Indian women.

Sunitha downplays Prajwala’s success, saying that prostitution has nonetheless increased. But Abbas Be is evidence of the good Prajwala has done. Sold to a brothel, Abbas watched a rebellious girl in the brothel be hog-tied, beaten, and stabbed to death as a warning to other girls. When she was freed in a brothel raid, Abbas found shelter in Prajwala and is now a bookbinder and a counselor for other girls. Sunitha had Abbas tested for HIV, and because she tested positive, Sunitha is trying to find Abbas an HIV-positive husband.

Prajwala’s workers want all brothels shut down, not just regulated, Kristof and WuDunn report. “Aid groups would have been too sensible to tackle the problem” of prostitution in Hyderabad, they write, but Sunitha’s tenacity led to great change. Further, while it was Sunitha who led the charge, American donors including Bill Drayton’s organization and Catholic aid services, made it more impactful.