Half the Sky Honors Project

Liam O'Brien
Response and Reaction
The book Half the Sky tells the stories of girls from Cambodia to South Africa
who have gone through everything from being sold to brothels against their will to
being beaten by their own family members or murdered in honor killings. It makes a
compelling argument that the most important human rights issue of the 21st
century is that of women. This book tells the truth of the world in a brutally honest
manner that is often hard to take. However, for every bloody and awful instance in
the book, there is an example of philanthropy or taking action. This book has made
me aware of injustice in the world, and because of this I have become inclined to
take action in my own life.
The stories of women and girls in this book are often very graphic and while
reading I would have to forget that the stories are real. I cannot fathom the hatred
that many people feel towards others for no reason at all. At first I greatly struggled
with reading this book and was so frustrated by the reality of life for the women and
girls in this book that at first I thought that I would not be able to finish it.
The story of Sunitha Krishnan is especially inspiring and has made me realize
what you can do if you are willing to experience pain and risk your life. One of the
passages that best represent her bravery and ability to force action is the following:
Sunitha began to organize rescues from those brothels. She prowled the foulest,
most sordid neighborhoods of the city She confronted pimps and brothel owners
and gathered evidence that she took to the police, browbeating them to mount
raids. There are other examples of
Education is outlined in this book as an extremely important, possibly the
most important, asset for striving towards gender equality. Its emphasis has had an
effect on the importance that I give to education and has inspired me to possibly
look into this line of work in the future, or to helping improve schools throughout
struggling regions in developing nations around the world as well as in my home
country of the United States.
This book outlines many of the conservative and liberal minded courses
methods of promoting womens rights throughout developing nations as well as the
follies of both sides. If you do not count misogynists, the writers of this book did an
excellent job of eliminating unnecessary political bias but simultaneously were not
afraid to criticize either side of the political spectrum.
Since reading this book, I have visited the websites recommended including
www.kiva.org and www.globalgiving.org . I have also looked into Peace Corps
projects around the world on the website, because in the future I am definitely
considering working for them or a similar philanthropic organization.
Overall, there is no doubt that I am glad I have read this book. At first I did
not think that I would be able to finish, but after accepting reality that I was
previously unaware of and at first shocked by, I became inspired by the success

stories of many of these girls and women and have become inspired to dedicate my
own life to education, human rights, and rights of women. One of my passions that
has emerged in the past year is to learn languages. Just one small thing that this
book has done for me is having connected my interest into a cause that could make
a real difference in the world that in the future I could become a part of.
Discussion Questions
What proves to be the most effective way to close gender gaps and fight the
enslavement of women through proof of this book?
Are men the only people at fault within the cycle of misogyny is the main problem
the social norms which have been commonplace generation after generation due to
the imbalance of physical power?
Why is suppression of women so widespread throughout the world?
Would you consider gender inequality the most important human rights issue of
today, or are there other problems with equal amount of importance?
Project Proposal
I have chosen to write a literary analysis for this choice project because for my last
choice project I chose to focus on one of my weaknesses, writing poetry. This was
pushing myself because I had never written a poem up until that point. Now I
believe I should focus on one of my strengths which is writing in a less abstract
manner than a poem; a literary analysis could be one form of this. With my literary
analysis I intend to highlight my strengths by concisely expressing one of the
lessons taught by Half the Sky, this lesson is how it is possible for anyone to make a
difference in the world. I intend to focus on the cause of this problem, poverty, and
how if we accept the terrifying reality we live in, we can change it.