On October 1, 2012, roughly 100 University of Pittsburgh’s Panhellenic Sorority women gathered in the O’Hara Student Center Ballroom. The objective? Support Panhel’s philanthropy, Circle of Sisterhood, by watching an abbreviated version of the PBS documentary, Half the Sky: Turning Women’s Oppression into Opportunity.
“As I watched Half the Sky I felt sad and angry. My eyes become full of tears at many parts, and at the same time I felt compelled to do something more,” said Panhel President Kirsten Meenan.
The documentary represents the movement labeled “the moral challenge of thiscentury” by New York Times journalists, Sheryl Wu Dunn and Nicholas Kristof. This husband and wife team felt compelled, after years of reporting, to tell the stories they uncovered, first through a book and eventually the film.
Half of our world’s population is left to the wayside, through acts of violence, rape, exclusion from education and consideration as citizens’ with political rights. Countries all around the world suffer because women are not granted political and social equality.
“This is the unfinished business of the 21st century,” says Secretary of State Hilary Clinton in the film.
Half the Sky documents the story of incredible women from 10 different countries: Cambodia, Vietnam, Somaliland, Sierra Leone, India, Liberia, Kenya, Pakistan, Afghanistan and the United States of America. Each story depicts the reality of gender inequality through women’s personal accounts of rapes left unpunished, girls sold into sex slavery, heinous acts of violence such as female genital mutilation, young girls forced to marry and left with no choice to bear children before their bodies are ready – all this, simply because they are, well, female.
Talent is universal but opportunity is not. For this reason, journalist Nick Kristof capitalizes on the status of A-list celebrities, Meg Ryan, Diane Lane, America Ferrera, Olivia Wilde, Eva Mendes, Gabrielle Union, among others to capture the public’s attention and spread the message.
But the stories don’t always end in sadness or complete defeat. Many women find ways to turn their oppression into opportunity. Not simply for themselves but to ensure history does not repeat itself for with younger generations.
Wu and Kristof highlight that women are the key to economic prosperity and the elimination of poverty. It is a fact that women return $80 of her paycheck to her family, while men return $50.
“The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world,” says Desmund Tutu, “if we are going to see real development in the world – than are best investment is women.”
“This is not rocket science, this not a problem that is unsolvable, that we have to invent something new. It just takes political will,” says Sheryl Wu.
* * *
Find out more or view the film at: www.halftheskymovement.org/pages/film
Half the Sky trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRfDzznfEOU