Preventative Factors

Half the Sky by by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn
Chapters 6-10

In chapters six through ten of Half the Sky by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, the authors focus on the causes of the inhumane outcomes of many women in third-world countries, and preventative factors that can decrease those outcomes. They first introduce the frequency of these outcomes with statistics. They mention that there are“30,000 to 130,000 new cases of fistula,” a passage between an organ and the body surface which are often caused by gang rape “develop each year in Africa alone.”  The authors then discuss the “why” of the conditions of women in third world countries through analogies. They compare women to the idea of war and claim that they “become a weapon of war-meant to be disfigured or tortured to terrorize the rest of the population,” unlike men who are victims of war.  To conclude, they provide a solution to the problem using syllogism. Kristof and WuDunn propose that the solution to the issues is education because education is associated with “lower desired family size, greater use of contraception, and increased use of hospitals.” So with education more women would be less likely to become pregnant, and if they became pregnant, they would be “more likely to likely to deliver in the hospital.” The purpose is to propose factors that can decrease the detrimental events women are undergoing. Their audience is adults and young adults who are willing to make a change for women in developing countries because they mention several ways of improving their circumstances and give several examples of people who have already made a change in those countries, with a sincere and informative tone.

Vocabulary:

•Dissipated- Overindulging in sensual pleasures

•Sanctimonious- Making a show of being morally superior to other people

•Obscenity- An extremely offensive word or expression

•Ostensibly- Apparently or purportedly, but perhaps not actually

•Sadistic- Deriving pleasure or sexual gratification from inflicting pain on another

•Constituency- A body of voters in a specified area who elect a representative to a legislative body

•Galvanizing- Shock or excite (someone), typically into taking action

•Catatonic- Either rigidity or extreme laxness of limbs

•Excoriated- Censure or criticize severely

Tone(s):

 Passionate, Sincere, Informative

Rhetorical Strategies:

•Statistics- “there are 5,000 honor killings a year, almost all in the Muslim world…” (82) “90 percent of girls and women over the age of three were sexually abused in part of Liberia during Civil war there.” (83) “30,000 to 130,000 new cases of fistula develop each year in Africa alone.” (97)

•Facts- “Social psychologists argue that that all this reflects the way our conscious and ethical systems are based on individual stories and are distant from the part of our brains concerned with logic and rationality.” (100)

•Expert opinion- “All militias here rape women, to show their strength and to show your weakness,” said Julienne Chakupewa, a rape counselor in Ghana.” (84)

•Anecdotes- “a tall, genial man who served us dinner in his comfortable mountain lair.” (85) “After interviewing several women who told of having been raped when leaving their camps to get firewood, we asked the obvious question…” (86)

•Rhetorical questions- “If women are raped when they get firewood, then why don’t they stay in the camp?” (86)

•Analogy- “But whereas men are the normal victims of war, women have become a weapon of war-meant to be disfigured or tortured to terrorize the rest of the population.” (87)

•Imagery- “ The family members had no electricity, no running water, no bicycle, no wristwatch, no clock, no radio- virtually no possessions of any kind- and they shared their home with a large pig.”(167)

•Telegraphic sentences- “So we introduced processing equipment.” (177) “We were delighted.”(177)

•Syllogism- “Education is associated with lower desired family size, greater use of contraception, and increased use of hospitals. So with more education, Prudence would have been less likely to have become pregnant, and if she had become pregnant, would have been more likely to deliver in the hospital.” (114)

Discussion Questions:

•What was the purpose of the author(s) criticism of George bush on page 98?

•What is the significance of the author(s) frequent use of statistics?

•Why do many people in society continue to ignore what is happening to women in these poor, developing countries?

“It has probably become more dangerous to be a woman than a soldier in an armed conflict.”

“One of the great failings of the American education system, in our view is that young people can graduate from university without any understanding of poverty at home or abroad.”